Unplanned Moments of Happiness
Sometimes your plane drops you off in a different city. Sometimes the buses don't run until 30 minutes before your flight so you're forced to take a Taxi. Sometimes you lose the number of the taxi place and have to wander around a city at 4 AM until you find one.
Traveling abroad comes with many surprises and problems to solve, no matter how many hours you plan for your trip in advance. And while sometimes these are stressful "oh my gosh are we going to make it to the airport in time" moments, a lot of time they're they "oh my gosh we couldn't have planned how perfect this was if we tried" moments. And those, my friend, are the most magical kind. The kind where you can't keep your face from breaking out in a smile if you try. The kind where you think to yourself, "Yep, this is what it's all about."
Oh by the way, Hi I'm Allie! Abigail's weird but maybe sort of cool sometimes friend from high school who came to visit in Florence on my way to study abroad in Trier, Germany. I was super stoked (and flattered) that Abigail wanted me to guest blog about my two weeks here. And while I was reflecting over my time, I couldn't help but think of all of those magical moments that just happened without us trying. Today, I'm calling them the "Unplanned Moments of Happiness", and I want to share these moments that I had in Italy with you!
The first unplanned moment of happiness actually came from a moment of stress, when my plane dropped me off in Pisa instead of Florence because of "high winds". And while navigating alone in a foreign country for the first time was a little scary - I will never forget when I stepped out of my Taxi and heard Abigail yelling "Allie you're here!" from the fourth story window. After hugs & laughter and lugging 80 pounds of luggage up the stairs, we went to get pizza. And on the way we passed by IL DUOMO, a building I had only previously seen on flash cards I was memorizing for an art history test. So this all ecompassing moment of Abigail calling to me from her window, the hugs, and the sight of the Duomo will forever be in my mind.
You know what they say, "Hop off the bridge and eat your gelato on the concrete slab that overlooks the river". Or maybe thats just something I made up. But that's exactly what we did when wandering around the city of Florence one day and thew view, the gelato, and the company was perfect.
Okay so this moment was kind of planned because my friend Anna told me about this rooftop terrace cafe, but I couldn't of imagined how perfect it would be. Abigail and I found it one afternoon and you know we went crazy taking pics, panos, and snaps of that view. CAUSE I MEAN LOOK AT THAT VIEW. The espresso was delicious, the tiramasu tasted like heaven, and we had real life chats about our travels and the future. Sure we may have ran around that patio like tourists taking pictures of every view, but we did the dang thing and it was perfect in every way.
When I think about our trip to Venice, I think about how the sea was a main character in our story. So many times we just sat by the sea. Sometimes while eating strawberries, sometimes while drinking champagne. It was blissful, peaceful, and exactly what we needed.
Another unplanned happiness moment happened on the rooftop of the same coffee shop I was telling you about before. Madi, Hannah and I were exploring Florence when Abigail was in class and we ended up here watching the sunset. I came back from our coffee date so refreshed, because it was so wonderful to get to know Madi & Hannah as friends and to have meaningful conversation. We talked about our fears for the future, how studying abroad has changed those future plans for the better, and how the Lord knows how to paint a killer sunset.
Hiking Mt. Etna was a favorite moment of Abigail and I's, but I don't think either of us forsaw that the hike would look something like this. Our surroundings were absolutely engulfed in fog. And as weird as it sounds, it was perfect. I distinctly remember one point of the hike where I could only see our guide Danileo in front of me and nothing but fog around me, and I couldn't help but smile. I was just walking on this snowy mountain, tripping ever other step, and beaming. You can't plan an overwhelming feeling of peace like that.
If I could give one piece of advice to anyone else studying abroad, it would be to take a run or walk by yourself each place you go. Obviously once you feel farmiliar with the surroudnings. Leave your place of stay, go alone, and don't have a certain destination in mind. When I went on a run in Florence I knew I wanted to run along the river, but I didn't know how far or the exploring I'd do along the way. This bit of grafitti stopped me dead in my tracks to capture a photo. You never know what you'll find when you don't have a destination.
I thought it would be appropriate to end on a moment of food, as nothing can warm your heart quite like a nutella croissant. Also, Abigail and I have a mutual respect and understanding for the importance of delicious food in ones life, so it seemed fitting. Yesterday Abigail and Hannah brought home nutella croissants when they came home from school as a fun afternoon surprise. And Abigail, I don't know if I have loved you more than I did in that moment.
Even just reading back over this post I can't help but feel happy and comforted for how many blissful, exciting, scary, and humbling moments we shared and laughed about. Ironically Abigail and I have gotten to spend more time together in the past two weeks than we have in the states the past two years. But it's refreshing to know that nothing will ever change our friendship no matter the time or place, and we'll always be there for eachother in moments when all we need is our friend yelling "Allie, you're here" from the fourth story window.
And last but not least, here's a hella cute pic of Abigail and I.
xx, Allie
