If no other time in my life firmly grounded me in the belief that "everything happens for a reason," my first day living abroad and the 24 hours leading to that moment did. To begin, I had been in such a frenzy to pack up my apartment in New York City because it was official: I was moving abroad, and to do that, I needed to put as much distance as possible between "my boyfriend" -- NYC -- and me. So as much as I wanted to hold on, my cozy little Midtown Manhattan studio had to go. And bittersweet it was!
After packing aaaaall the stuff I had accumulated during my years in NYC, I hadn't gotten a real chance to tell NYC or my lovely friends in NYC goodbye. However, as I say, "Jesus is my homeboy" and on my way to the airport I got an alert that my flight was delayed...by fifteen whole hours! I can do a lot of x's and o's and street running in NYC in fifteen hours. Thank God -- yaaaay!
It took no time to schedule a small goodbye dinner (NYC has no shortage of delicious food!). We chose old-faithful Eataly (which according to their website stands for “Eating Italian”) -- didn't even realize that I was pre-gaming on my upcoming trip/life abroad in Italy (or so I thought...). Eataly was Eataly: consistently delicious (but more about that at another time).
The real treat was getting to have dinner with a dear NYC sister-friend before my sojourn abroad. I had become so accustomed to rushing everywhere all the time (including literally running through airports to not miss flights) in my every day life; however, having a delightful sit down dinner and saying goodbyes (really "see you sooner than laters") really set my trip in motion in a more calm and affirming way. Plus, a good ol' meal goes a long way, especially after many long days and nights of packing!
So a tad bit calmer, off to Milan I went! Little did I know, the calm was preparing me for the storm that was coming in Milan. Let's say things got real crazy, real fast...and I do mean crazy! Given a love affair I had with Milan years prior, which left me yearning to return, I wasn't ready for the new and (un)improved Milan. #iwasntready
Check out my next blog post to see what happened...no one could have guessed what would happen next!