Silence is Golden

I finally realize how annoying I was. All thanks to my best friends and roommates.

See, last year I was the one that studied abroad in Tuscany for three months. This past summer, the three of them sailed across the speckled blue sea to Cannes, Oxford, and Norway.

But, for some reason, I still keep imagining myself trotting down the giant hill through Cortona, mingling with the locals, tasting true, robust wine, and dancing away my teenage years at the local discotech.

Oh, America, how you so quickly snapped me out of that.

You tricked me into eating fast food over pasta alla Quattro formaggi, walking on mere concrete over crackled cobblestones, and pretending that some grand, canyon could rival the splendor and immensity of the Musei Vatican. Call it a reverse culture shock.

In Europe, especially on a study abroad, you can travel with no hesitations or worries. The rolling, green hills and dotted lakes are both your backyard and playground. A train ride masks itself as the Hogwarts Express, transporting you somewhere equally as magical and remarkable as the place before. And then suddenly, when you’re back on American soil, a veil of dullness and ennui settles around you.

Granted, this didn’t keep me from wanting to tell every, single person that, “I just got back from Italy, and this is my first quesadilla”. Sadly, I was that irritating. Even worse, I didn’t even realize the magnitude of my obnoxiousness until a full calendar year later.

When my roommate, Cassie, arrived back from Cannes after attending the film festival this past May, she was high on Europe. Literally. We couldn’t go thirty seconds without discussing how fantastic it was walking with Tilda Swinton into the Grand Theatre, or how four men, each from a different continents, hit on her in a single night. Does anyone have a vacant brick wall I can pound my head into?

So as I settled fully back into my monotonous, American life, I made myself one promise: I will live in Florence again during my twenties. But, I swear, whole-heartedly, not to mentally waterboard my family and friends with every story.