Back to 21st August 2019. I was on the moving stairs in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
On the left wall was: Travelling is the only thing you buy which makes you richer. I was surprised by that sentence. And this is why I remember that moment. But it’s true. The memories created while travelling will always belong just to you. Nobody could never delete them. There is a question which makes me think every time: “will my life be interesting enough to be told?”. And every time I promise myself it will be. And I chose Erasmus Plus as starting point.
I started this uncommon path because I couldn’t believe that the world was just the view from my bedroom’s window. I didn’t trust all the humans didn’t have any aspiration or vision in their lives. I wanted to move and meet people with my same values and desires. I wanted to create more out of this my live. Because I have just this one.
Probably the fact I grew up in a small village, nurtured even more my willing and passion for exploring. A lion can’t be in a cage for all its life, at one point he wants to run free in the savanna. With Erasmus Plus I am having the possibility to travel and meet international people with my same thoughts, fears and unanswered questions about themselves. And with the deep desire to explore and discover more and more.
But it not all about travelling, are the people you meet there to make it unbelievable and priceless. Neither the most precise and clear words could describe fully these experiences. At the beginning you are nothing together, but then there is nothing without you .
Every time on the first day, everyone is looking to each others trying to figure out who are those faces there. Then someone starts to talk. Usually the loudest of the Italians. And hours later you are talking and laughing until crying with people who usually live thousands of kilometres far from you.
You start to share with them happy moments. But are the tough ones that make the group and the bonds stronger and stronger. In a indelible way.
And on the last day you all are a huge family. And it always emotionally harmful to say bye to them. You wish it will not be the last time you see those faces in your life. But I can say it’s hard and challenging keeping the connections. After all my Erasmus I learnt it’s not about the distance but the silent. It requires a lot of effort from both sides but it’s possible. And when this happens you are amazed by what young people can create.
You are amazed by the person who are becoming and by your new way of thinking. You recognize no more yourself. Because these experiences change and make you grow. It’s inevitable.
I am trying my best to keep being part of my Erasmus people’s lives because they are special. They chose to live your same way. This makes them different and they always will be so.
I could lose everything, but I will never stop travelling and meeting people. They are the only things that defines me as a person.