The One When A Mini Euro-trip Turned Into a Massive Erasmus Reunion (By Chance)

Hi.

This is me again. First post of 2019. I bet you were all waiting for it holding your breath. 

Enjoying the sun in Dresden, and of course some coffee was involved. 18/02/2019

So, here I am, in my house in Milan, pretending I have nothing to do instead of catching up with work and responsabilities that I put on hold when I left for a ten days on-the-road trip through Central Europe (this was almost one month ago because I took my time writing this ngl). Well, that's exactly why I left - to forget for a moment of all the things I am supposed to be doing and to find myself again.

For a long list of different reasons, the last couple of months haven't been easy. I really needed to go away for a while, possibly alone, and do what I like to do most: getting lost in a new place I also get lost a lot in places I already know but this is not the point

Hello Dresden. 18/02/2019

Maybe because, while I was planning the trip, the one-year anniversary of the official end of my Erasmus was about to strike, I decided to start my journey in Berlin, where some of the annoyingly friendly people I met in Lisbon live, and then move all the way down through Central Europe. After all, during my Lisbon life I was reminded at least once per day that everything is cheaper and better in the Czech Republic, so I had to check out if it was true.  

On the way to Prague. 19/02/2019

It's not like I actually planned anything apart from buying the one way ticket to Berlin at first. My first plan was to come back to Italy slowly and by land, whenever I felt like it, but then more responsabilities came and I had to set a date and a flight back home from Budapest (because why shouldn't I go there since I was already on the other side of the Alpes).

Anyway, for the first time in my life I felt perfectly ok improvising my next move on the spot and caring only about listening to my body and mind. 

Prague, 19/02/2019.

One might suppose that we actually planned to be all in the same place at the same time. I mean, that would be something normal, well-organized, "I-have-my-life-together" people would do. Instead, as the Lisbon tradition requires, everything happened by chance. Davide was visiting Berlin with other friends on the same weekend we were there; Andrea and Jara were done with their semester at the same time me and Alice sent in our master thesis; Tomáš decided to come back to Prague on the same day I arrived there. I am pretty sure this concurrence of events would not have happened as perfectly if we had planned it properly (Also some better communication skills from each part including myself could help but hey this is why we love each other) 

And even though I complained a lot about not being able to be alone for as much as I wanted, I hope those who took the time to be with me know how much I appreciated it. I left for the trip looking for some alone time and lazy walks around cities eating cakes and reading books, instead I got heart-warming reunions and way better coffee than I expected. (Excellent coffee in the Czech Republic and Hungary. 10/10 would drink again).

So, without further ado, here are some highlights from my trip:

- The Alternative Berlinale film festival, whose wrong beginning time that allowed us to

- Have the best Vietnamese food in town;

- Coughing up a lung on the way up the Dresden tower but the view was worth it (see picture above);

- The Pub quiz where we learned New York City has a fuck-ton of inhabitants, and my batchelor degree in art history is useless since other people know Degas' distinctive subjects are ballerinas;

- I made it to Prague by bus but at one point there was so much fog along the way that I felt back home on a November night;

- The astronomical clock was disappointing. I don't need a stupid skeleton shaking a hourglass to remind me I'm one hour closer to death. I just need to look around and see the amount of people wasting time (theirs and everybody else's who had to walk around to avoid them) taking selfies in front of it, that's dreadful enough;

I love globalization. Read on the side for more details. Prague, 19/02/2019.

- Speaking of this, was it a government plan to ship all the obnoxious Italians on vacation in Prague when I was there or is it like this all the time;
- You are right, Italian tourists are obnoxious everywhere and at any time; 

- Yes, I, too, am an obnoxious Italian tourist sometimes;
- I really like the word "obnoxious";
- At least my stop in the clock square led me to witness something weird and amazing at the same time. Out of the blue a group of ten-twelve men dressed in traditional Arabian clothes started singing and playing drums, celebrating Kuwait's Independence day (or at least this is what I heard), giving out gifts to kids and just being joyful all around; 

- Me and Tomáš randomly walking into the same place to have dinner ten minutes apart from each other. At least we knew we were going to meet later (in a completely different place) and it didn't turn out to be a scene like this:

- Also me and Tomáš bitching about tourists and Italians' slow walking pace (it's a thing, try being in a rush and make it through a random Italian street);

-  So at this point I had somehow made it through without getting lost  a n y w h e r e  and I was quite proud of myself. Then I got into the metro station in Vienna, and since I was in a rush to go downtown I jumped into the first train pretty sure it was the right one. It wasn't. It was going out of town. A trip that should've taken me ten minutes took half an hour. 

- At least I didn't get lost in the neighbourhood I grew up in (any reference to real events here is totally done on purpose);

Vienna. No obnoxious tourists here. Maybe because it was 9 in the morning. 22/02/2019

- Got into the Secession palace when it had just open so it was empty. Ran down to the Beethoven frieze by Klimt. Enjoyed it in silence and on my own for two minutes. Then a class of rowdy Italians walked in. Why are they always Italiannnnnnnnnnnnnnnns

- I was walking through the Naschmarkt, everything was fine and quiet in the Austrian/northern European session. Then I reached the Turkish part and it was a triumph of people offering me tastings, complimenting my look, yelling about discounts and having the best things in town. I love when stereotypes come to life;

- So, I get off the bus in Budapest and I am in the middle of nowhere, like, they really left us on the side of a road in the suburbs and if it hadn't been for Google maps I would still be there looking for the metro station. My first meeting with Hungarian culture was a kind lady who didn't speak more English than "fifty cents", which is all I needed to know I could use the toilet and avoid dying there;
- Considering I got into a different country with no local currency for the second time in three days, I am truly grateful Euros are accepted everywhere;

- I forgot Budapest was the second capital of a freaking huge empire which included Transilvania:

Nice castle in Transilvanian style in the middle of Budapest. 22/02/2019 

- How blue the sky can be even in this part of Europe and how much, much colder it is;

- Hummus. All the hummus. Good hummus in the Jewish quarter in Budapest;

- The hummus was probably too good and that's why I accidentally sent myself and Jara on the other side of town instead of going back to our hostel; 

- Still, getting lost only twice on a ten days trip is my personal record;
- One Italian lady somehow managed to not realize I was Italian too, not once but twice at the Budapest castle area, as she asked me to take a picture of them in two different places at two different times;

- The thermal baths in Budapest should be considered a human right all around the world;

Budapest Parliament by Night. 24/02/2019.

- The trip had gone too smoothly so of course I had to fuck up at the last minute. I arrived at the airport one hour and a half before my flight back and was planning to drop my bag at the drop off since it was included in my ticket. I got in line, which was massive. Ten minutes go by. Then twenty. Then I had been there for almost half an hour. At that point I am freaking out I will never make it to the gate before it closes. Then it hits me: the display I was queuing up at (which, in my defence, was like 50 metres away) didn't say "all gates" but "Marrakech".
- Yes, I am an idiot. A blind person too, but an idiot nonetheless.
- Yes, it took me two seconds to drop off my bag at the right counter.

So, this is a not-so-brief summary of my trip. It was fun, a little bit tiring, sometimes surprising, and way too short for me to accept it was over and I had to come back. I guess I can plan an other one soon considering I will unemployed forever more than anything else, it made me appreciate more being born in the 1990s and being able to enjoy border-free Europe in a way only twenty years ago wasn't possible.