Milan it is! The city where I arrived on Saturday afternoon and the city that welcomed me with an excess of sunshine over the weekend, only to treat me to those typical Milanese grey skies today. The photo above this blog, taken this morning by my dear friend Julia, is the very first photo from Milan. At times, it still feels unreal and can’t quite believe it myself.
This time Milan is my final destination, as the elegant setting of the third chapter of my Italian adventure
After all, I don’t know Milan very well. Not yet, that is. I was here only four times before, and always just for a few days. Sometimes I was in transit to Rome or Naples, where the first two chapters of my Operation La Dolce Vita – as it all began over three years ago – took place. But this time Milan is my final destination, as the elegant setting of the third chapter of my Italian adventure.
I remember it so vividly though. I was lying in bed and couldn’t catch my sleep. Out of nowhere I got this feeling
Perhaps it will be the biggest chapter yet. But honestly, I don’t really think about it in that way. If I did, I would probablynot have dared to make this choice at all. After all, choosing something ‘forever’ is quite something, and can feel veryoverwhelming. Moving to Milan was like an instinct I followed, which first occurred to me sometime in April. It all started very small. I remember it so vividly though. I was lying in bed and couldn’t catch my sleep. Out of nowhere I got this feeling: Milan. I put it as a note in my phone at the month of September this year, with a question mark behind it. And that was really it.
Although the months passed, the thought never completely disappeared
After all, in May I would be in Turin for the Eurovision Song Contest, and in June I already had several things planned in and around Rome. And then summer was yet to arrive! So I knew I wouldn’t do anything with this feeling in the short term, and perhaps never at all. But although the months passed, the thought never completely disappeared. But whether I would actually go to Milan, why, and what exactly I would do there remained completely unclear to myself too all this time.
Although I wasn’t thinking about it at all, there in beautiful Puglia, it suddenly became crystal clear
The turning point came last summer while I was in the shower. Although I wasn’t thinking about it at all, there in beautiful Puglia, it suddenly became crystal clear. It felt like it was being whispered to me. I had to go to Milan. I didn’t know how I was going to go about it, but I also realised that I didn’t have to worry about that yet. In that moment, this one realisation, this one decision, was already more than enough.
With the summer coming to an end, I took the first tentative steps that would later prove fundamental
Because from then on, all my antennae were tuned to Milan. I also started to tell it to the people around me. With the summer coming to an end, I took the first tentative steps that would later prove fundamental. Because I knew that just moving to a city on the off chance was not going to give me the satisfaction I was looking for. That sense of fulfilment I had experienced so strongly at the Eurovision Song Contest, in that dynamic world of music and showbiz. And so I set out to see what exactly those elements were that had made me feel like flying there in Turin. And much more importantly: whether and how I could find those things in Milan too. And how that went on, I’m going to tell you in the next blog!