2 March: Roma as the chubby ugly friend

Throughout the week, I questioned how much of a true traveler I really am. I don’t know how much I really like adventure. I mean, I do love going to different places and meeting new people and seeing so many amazing things, but I get scared pretty easily. I worry too much about money and I imagine everything that could go wrong: with flights, with language barriers, with bad neighborhoods. I enjoyed Rome entirely, I am so glad that I came here and got to experience it all. But it was a dirty city and that dirtiness scared me just because it jut set the scene for something frightening to happen, if that makes sense at all. My homesickness hit me too this past week so maybe that was part of it too. I found myself missing weird little things that I wouldn’t expect to. I miss the familiarity and the security. Security is a big thing that is so easy to take for granted. Life would simply be horrific without that essential basic sense of safety. It’s not that I’m scared for my life here, but it’s easy to be wary of people and things when in a new surrounding and especially when they speak another language. I liked Rome for its history and it’s beauty but I really disliked it for it’s uncleanliness. The people are amazing- the restaurant owners and the store workers- they all wanted to help way more than the Parisians. But to me, Paris’ beauty gives it a better score by far. Italy has the right personality and the ancient beauty but it was too ugly on the surface to love it for me. Rome is the fat girl with the great personality and Paris is the stuck-up bombshell. You want to dislike Paris but you can’t keep your eyes off her. You know she thinks she is better than you but you just can’t pull away. You know that if Rome just shed those ten pounds of excess, she would win hands-down. Either way, it was nice to be in the company of someone a bit kinder, even though she looked a little haggard.

Anyways, we're heading out tomorrow. I really did enjoy Rome but I'll be excited to not be living out of a suitcase anymore and sharing one bathroom with eight other people.