ITA Blog #6- Who are you?

'Who are you?' When I was little it was pretty easy to answer this question when the adults asked. “Sono Arianna Bassi che mangia i sassi” (I’m Arianna Bassi, and I eat stones. In Italian my surname, Bassi, and the word stones, sassi, rime. It’s a game we play in kindergarten to help the kids to remember their family name).

But as I grew up things got complicated.

In Middle school I became a teenager and everything got sooo complicated. I lost any type of self-confidence I might have had before. So, not only I no longer knew who I was, but I didn’t even know what I liked. And after those three crazy years you even have to choose an high school (in Italy we have different types of high school, that have slightly different curricula that concentrates on different aspects, like languages, history, science, art, etc.). 

I was completely lost, but I knew that writing made me feel better, so I choose the Classical high school, in which you concentrate on the study of 'humanities' (Italian Literature, philosophy, history, Greek, Latin, etc.). 

But as I was walking towards the huge wooden door on the first day of school I kept asking myself: “Did I make the right choice? Is this really ‘me’?”

And, luckily, I did.

 In high school I found an amazing group of friends. When I was with them I didn’t have to think about everything I was going to say, I could just say it- I knew they were not going to judge. 

I never had something like this. 

For the first time I could really be myself, no filters, no masks, just me...and that's how I learned who I really was. I was a passionate and carying young women who really loved the planet on which we live and all the creatures in it (yes, even the human being). I was sensitive and generous, but at the same time I would stand up for myself. And not only for me. I would fight any type of injustice and violence, because it’s just wrong. Of course I knew I couldn’t change the world, but I could at least change my neighborhood.

So yeas, I finally kind of knew who I was, thanks to eight crazy people with witch I played board games on the weekend…life really is weird and unexpected.

Then I decided I wanted to discover more. 

This renewed confidence gave me the strenght to really follow my dream: I wanted to know  better this amazing world we live in and to see cultures different from mine. So during my third year of high school I applied to AFS-Intercultura to spend the forth year abroad. 

Spoiler alert: I was accepted. 

So on august 2015 I was on a plane flying above the Atlantic ocean. 

And again…

'who are you?' 'Ehm…. I’m Arianna, an exchange student from Italy.' And that was it. 

I had a “new” identity, a fitted in a new category. I was no longer the passionate and nerd school girl, but I was 'just' an italian girl. And I liked it. I liked representing my country aborad. Because this is what I was doing. I had the opportunity to tell people things about Italy. I could answer all those annoying questions to show them that we (italians) are more than the stereotypes. 

And I felt so blessed to have that priviledge.

A year went by so fast and it was already time for me to go back. I went back to my old life but I didn’t just “took my identity back”. 

Now I had a bigger view of what was out there, I had pieces of the world in my heart, forever. I had friends everywhere…and it was crazy to think about it. So I was both the same confident and selfless girl that I was before, but now I was also more aware of the world outside: I was a richer person.

This new prospectives helped me, after my last year of high school (we have 5 in italy, crazy, isn’t it?!), to choose my college: I wanted to do international relations to be able to represent my country and who we really are abroad and at the same time to understand other cultures (as I did with the American one). 

And I was off to college. Everything new, different, strange.

Who are you? Ehm…

Where are you from? I’m actually from Italy, but I spent a year in the USA, and I’m really connected to that country so…

Where’s your home?! Really?! Are you trying to make it harder and harder with every question? Anyway…I don’t know…my home is where the people I love are, I guess…

After people kept telling me...I starting really thinking about it, so I could answer them the next time they asked....

Where’s your home? Everywhere and nowhere. My home is where I decide it to be. And I am, who I am, but I’m constantly changing, open to new ideas and views. The world it’s huge, and the universe it’s even bigger…and we are so small. We have to realize how small we, and all our porblems, are and just live life to the fullest always carrying with us a big smile. 

So who am I? Just somebody very curios who loves the world and thinks we should all love each other and cooperate together to solve the problems that we created. Just somebody who wants to learn. Just somebody who wants to discover more.

 Fennec Fox

P.S.: You are probably wondering why did I tell you all this? Well I just wanted to make it easier for you to understand what happened to me in the last months... Ready?! Here we go…

In december I finished my first semester and I went home…I went back to Ravenna, my hometown where my family lives…I spent some very good days with them: we decoreted the Crhistmas tree, we went over to my grandparents house for luch, we played board games…it was a lot of fun…

And then my parents gave me the biggest present ever…. Tickets to go back to the USA for winter break!! So the 22nd of December I was on a plane heading…home!! I was so happy to see my host family again! All the family friends and my school friends. I spent there Christmans and New Year’s Eve…it was like nothing had changed…we still all loved each other and it was great. The best part was that my boyfriend was able to come with me! It was really important for me that he got to see also this part of my life: my other family, my other friends…it was great! 

However time flies by so fast and we had to go back to italy again. And then a week ago I started the second semester…so I’m back in Venice in my little home here! I’m so glad I’m here again with my amazing rommates and my college friends.

So there we go...

a lot of 'homes' as you can see... and they all have a special and different meaning to me, but they all made me who I am and I will not change a thing. Even if this means never really being home. 

That's all for today, thanks for reading.