A Love Letter To Italy

I’d heard it dozens of times prior to studying abroad— “This semester is going to change your life”. From my friends, from my followers, even from my mom who studied abroad in Italy thirty years prior. And yet still it seemed rather cliche to think. I mean, how life-changing could thirteen weeks really be? 

Yet here I sit, just a week away from packing my bags to move back to the United States. A week away from graduating from Kent State’s Fashion Merchandising program and all I can think is “wow, this semester really changed my life.” 

I had very low expectations prior to moving to Florence. I had never been to Europe, in fact, I’d only ever been out of the country once before. Rather than being excited about a change in scenery, constant weekend travel, and the opportunity to experience a new culture, I was close-minded about how my whole world was about to change. I was nervous, fearful, and anxious. About everything— how my relationships would change, how my routine would change, how my life would change. 

After all, I’ve never been very good with change. 

Yet these days I walk home from school and wonder what the heck I was so worried about. Life is the same and yet life is so different here. My mornings start the same way—alarm clock, get ready, breakfast, school, repeat. I go through the same motions as I did in America. The differences are simply in who I’m waking up next to, what I’m eating, and the scenery around me. But truly, what was the need for all the worry? Like all situations thrown at me, I’ve simply adapted, finding a new routine amidst the chaos that is life lately. 

This semester has challenged me to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. It has allowed me to experience new cultures, new people, and new places. It has opened my eyes to how truly fortunate we are in America—to dream whatever dreams we want. We can be whoever we want in this life, and I learned quickly that not everyone here has that same luxury. It has forced me to slow down, to appreciate the little things; a reminder that time does not stop so every once in a while, we must do so ourselves.

But most importantly this semester has shown me that home is all around me and that my heart will always be my heart. Home is in the roommates that have grown up with me all four years of college. Home is in the friend calling me while I eat dinner when they are just now making lunch. Home is in the gelato man down the street who knows my order before I’ve even told him. Home is in my mom’s favorite meal being served at my favorite restaurant. Home is in the church I found that has English mass on Sunday mornings. Home is in Country Roads blaring over the grocery store speakers each Sunday. 

Home is all around me. 

Home is where the heart is, and I am so lucky that my heart is in so many places at once. How lucky am I to be able to love the same love even 4,400 miles away from home? How lucky am I that distance has made my heart grow a million times bigger for so much more than just my people—for my mom’s homecooked meals, for the dryer in our laundry room, for the ceiling fan in my bedroom. 

What an incredible blessing to be taken away from familiarity and to be challenged to find new. 

Italy has inspired me in all the ways imaginable. It has inspired me to find joy in simplicity. To appreciate a three-hour meal with my loved ones. To really be present with what’s right in front of me. To put the phone down, but also to pick it up. After all, a picture really is worth a thousand words. To call home more. To say yes more often. To hold onto this life, because it really is so special. 

Italy has shown me that there is so much more to life. And these things, these practices, these realizations don’t have to be stopped here. They too can come back to America with me, alongside the dozens of stories and momentos I’ve collected along the way. 

It’s freeing to slow down. It’s a privilege to slow down. To find beauty in the mundane and in the repetition.

With just a week until graduation I’ve never felt so confused yet so sure that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. God only knows where I’ll find myself next, but right now I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be leaving a piece of my heart right here in Florence, Italy. What a blessing to know that wherever I am in the world, I’ll always have a piece of my heart waiting for me here. 

All my love from all over, McKenz

Latest Post: Florence Outfits + Week In My Life
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