The confused question has now been replaced by a delighted exclamation:
“Oh! You speak English!”
At least this time, this reaction does not come as a surprise. I started my trip in the less-touristy region where my parents were born, but with every new destination since – Milan, Turin and Cinque Terre – I have been encountering more tourists and fewer locals.
I suspect that In the eyes of the tourists, I am the local-with-a-friendly-face. And when I see myself reflected in the window panes of the Rome Metro, with tanned arms, dark, curly hair and relaxed body language, I can understand why I stand apart from the droves of pale, camera-laden tourists that cast a worried glance at every sign.
Despite the beautiful sensorial overload of Rome, questions of identity, the importance of travel and, as one friend put it, “what am I looking for out here” persist, and I have come to the following conclusions:
By definition, I am a tourist in this country and yet, I don’t think of my myself as being a tourist. Not because I have romantic notions of being a global citizen or a born nomad. Simply, I see travel as, being Adriana, just someplace else. It is then my individual experience of that place that enables me to imagine new possibilities. Simply, travel is another tool that I use to ensure that I keep evolving – to ensure that my creativity continues to get fed.
When I arrived in Rome on Friday, I had two and a half days to explore one of the greatest cities on earth. I was a little concerned that I did not have sufficient time to explore the essence of Rome, but when I spotted the hundreds of people clustered around the Trevi Fountain, cameras a’blazing, I realized that it did not matter. I did not travel to Rome to satisfy a checklist. I travelled to Rome out of simple curiosity. So regardless of whether or not I experience all the “must-sees”, as long as my curiosity has something new to feed on, then the trip has been worth it.
And this trip has been everything that I wanted it to be. But more on that soon. I have to get to my boarding gate!
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Odds and ends, Rome, Italy
“Oh! You speak English!”
At least this time, this reaction does not come as a surprise. I started my trip in the less-touristy region where my parents were born, but with every new destination since – Milan, Turin and Cinque Terre – I have been encountering more tourists and fewer locals.
I suspect that In the eyes of the tourists, I am the local-with-a-friendly-face. And when I see myself reflected in the window panes of the Rome Metro, with tanned arms, dark, curly hair and relaxed body language, I can understand why I stand apart from the droves of pale, camera-laden tourists that cast a worried glance at every sign.
Despite the beautiful sensorial overload of Rome, questions of identity, the importance of travel and, as one friend put it, “what am I looking for out here” persist, and I have come to the following conclusions:
By definition, I am a tourist in this country and yet, I don’t think of my myself as being a tourist. Not because I have romantic notions of being a global citizen or a born nomad. Simply, I see travel as, being Adriana, just someplace else. It is then my individual experience of that place that enables me to imagine new possibilities. Simply, travel is another tool that I use to ensure that I keep evolving – to ensure that my creativity continues to get fed.
And this trip has been everything that I wanted it to be. But more on that soon. I have to get to my boarding gate!