When September comes

September is the new January.
Let's be honest this is nothing new, at least for me September has always been my January, with the new school year and the end of the summer. You know exactly what I mean if you were on vacation and just came back to start again with high school, university or work.
It's that time of the year when everything goes back to how it was before you left. Materially speaking, because of course I'm not the same same and so are you.
Last year at the end of August a big adventure started, so everything changed, and almost exactly a year after I feel like I made the right decision. I have to say I can't wait for the many more adventures awaiting.
This year was the first one "on my own", not completely and recklessly on my own, I mean living far from home and figuring out life myself. Thrilling. This summer I decided to spend some time working in order to be able to go on vacation the whole month of August. I went to Rome to my best friend, visited a friend in the Dolomites, then to the mountains to my family and finally I flew to Barcelona. I've been waiting to visit the city forever. Actually not really forever, but at least since I was 15, when I started reading Zafon's books (novels taking place in Barcelona). During my staying there I walked through the city and discovered all the places I remembered from his books, and it was great. I also fully experienced how cool hostel life is, so many people from different parts of the world with many stories to tell.
This year I did so much (and a lot happened), traveled so much, learnt so much and understood that I still have a long way to go, but I'm all ready to go for it.

It's so funny when people ask me 'Where do you see yourself in 5 years?', and I reply, 'I don't even know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow morning.' This to say that 5 years ago I would have never even imagined to be where I am right now. Some says life takes you where you're supposed to go, and that eventually you'll end up where you're meant to be. Well, I think it's mostly what we decide, what we choose, what we pursue, and what we do that takes us places or situations. Of course there is always going to be the feared Random Variable Of Life, but what is life without a little chaos, little risk and little surprise? There would be no feeling of fulfillment, achievement, accomplishment. No one likes the Random Variable, but we might just as well accept it, because it's not going away.
Life can hit you hard and make you fall, but it can also surprise you and leave you speechless. Isn't it what we all strive for?
Let's take travelling as example. Why do I like to travel so much? I think I finally figured it out. In the end it is to get to those five seconds of holding my breath in front of something new and marvelous. When I finally entered the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and stared speechless for solid ten minutes at the sealing and those giant windows, I knew it was one of those moments I strive for. The feeling of breathtaking and the reminder that I am so small in this big world.

What happens when you finally get on the top of that enormous mountain you decided to climb? I'll leave the answer to you, and if you haven't reached the top of a mountain yet, well what are you waiting for?

Quote of the post: 

 "What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does."

                                                                      - J.K. Rowling

P.S. Feel free to leave a comment and ask anything!

Bye Bye Teens

In a week I'm turning 20. Which means that I already lived more or less a quarter of my life. It's a lot if you think about it. I obviously do.
There are moments in which I am so positive and enthusiast about life that all I want to do is to put that energy into a bottle, to use it when I feel down. How cool would that be?  Whenever you feel demotivated or sad, you could just open the cupboard and take a sip from your magical bottle filled with ImsohappyIcouldrunamarathon kind of drink. I know I know, I am such a dreamer.

Unfortunately that cannot be done, at least not yet. What happens though, is that for every bad thing or sad moment in life, there is always something that comes later and makes you smile again. Prove me wrong if you think differently.
It can't always go well, we encounter challenges that make us  grow and learn. Ok, sometimes life just happens and you can't do anything about it; but it is always your choice to decide from which perspective to see things. To stand up to obstacles and overcome them or stand still and let them stop you.

Today I'm writing something to remind myself what I wanted from life when I was still in my teen years.
- I want to see sunset and sunrise in the same day
- I want to walk barefoot on the North Sea beach
- I want to write a book
- I want to go to Barcelona
- I want to watch the stars and talk my heart out as many times as I can
- I want to never stop traveling and falling in love with new places
- I want to read as many books as I can
- I want to fall in love multiple times
- I want to make the best of all the crap that will happen to me
- I want to keep being friend with my best friends til death do us part
- I want to never ever give up
- I want to surround myself with people who bring me happiness, energy and light
- I want to keep making my parents proud of what I become
- I want to be an inspiration for my little sister
- I want to climb the Machu Picchu in Peru' and scream from the top of it
- I want to make a change in someone's life
- I want to take as many opportunities and chances as life throws at me, knowing that there are not second chances, there might be similar opportunities, but circumstances will never be the same
- I want to always remember that life is tough, but so am I

And I could go on and on for pages.

I don't know what life has planned for me, actually I don't even think there is a plan, it is probably all about the choices we made. What I know is that I want to live my life as fully as I can. It's my story, so it's up to me to write it.

The Carpe Diem phrase has always been part of my philosophy, to make the most out of a moment. My grandpa used to tell me that when I was little (together with other hundreds of Latin or dialect phrases or words), but just in the past few year I found myself actually recognizing the true meaning of those two words. It is probably the reason way sometimes I just silently think about the situation I am in in that precise moment. Carpe Diem is like taking a mental self picture and record all what you are feeling and doing in just a few seconds.
Maybe it is different for everyone, or maybe you feel it too.
It's one of my favorite feelings out of all I experienced so far.

Quote of the post: 

 "Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground."

                                                                      - Theodore Roosevelt

   

Housing situation

The best tip I can give to someone coming to study here in Amsterdam: it is never too early to start looking for a house or a room. It takes time, a very long time, but it's not impossible.

My experience? Let's go back to last year.

I properly started looking for a place to stay around March 2018, when I got accepted at the university, which provides you with multiple leaflets full of links and ways to look for accommodation. Wow so nice of them! Well, the problem is that the housing situation in Amsterdam is absolutely crazy, nuts, bananas, insane.
Just to give you an idea, the rent for a room in the city center is around 1000 euros, and most of the times it's not even big enough to fit a double bed. Prices go down a bit in other neighborhoods, but it is still a lot compared to many other big cities in Europe.
In Amsterdam there are so many students, and it is ridiculous that universities are not offering more campuses and dorms to provide some help to the thousands of new young and inexperienced people coming here every year, desperately looking for a shelter that does't cost them to sell their own organs. Actually every months, because there are also all the exchange, master and internship students.
This said, I have to admit that I did receive some help from HvA at the beginning. After having emailed a bunch of staff people of my new uni about housing options and waiting lists and so on, finally in July I got an offer. The Bijlmer Towers, a formal prison never used for lack of prisoners in the country. Honestly I was a bit uncertain, I couldn't find any pictures of the place and even on google maps the location didn't show up. But the school guaranteed for it to be the perfect place for upcoming students who hadn't find a place yet, and it was also very cheap for the standards. Moreover, it was first come first serve policy, so I just applied for it right away, because I knew that I wasn't going to find any other place since I wasn't there yet to go see them.
Who is renting a room or a house wants to meet the new tenant in person before signing everything (obviously), that's why is also more difficult for first year students who are moving in just before school starts at the end of August. It wasn't like I could just take a plane every week to go to viewings in the Netherlands.
It was with enormous excitement that I went with my mum to pick up the keys on the 22nd of August. She helped me moving, and was waaay less shocked than I was when we saw the actual place.
My first thought was: "My gosh Emma breathe it is going to be fine you just have to stay here for 5 months you can do it you are lucky you got this room please keep breathing inhale exhale and repeat". What can I say, the accommodation wasn't really accommodating.
Leaving the fact that the building in general was just so sad and grey and prison-like, my room wasn't any better. A 8 squared meters room with a small bad, a desk,a lamp and a chair, worst of all a window with bars that you couldn't open. I kid you not. The positive thing was that at least I had a small private "en-suite" bathroom (toilet and sink), counterbalanced by the sharing of showers and kitchen with the other 11 floor mates.
What can I say, it was a weird experience, glad it's over. I'm not going to tell about the mold I sometimes found in kitchen pans or the lovely smell coming from the trash that no one ever bothered throwing away.
While I was there I kept searching another place through Facebook groups and websites. The prison contract was going to end in January, but I didn't even want to stay there that long.
During November and the first week of December I went to almost 15 viewings of different places, but there was always something that didn't work out: too young, don't speak any Dutch, too far from uni, too many people interested, too expensive...the list goes on and on.
In the end a friend of mine offered me a room at an affordable price, and even if it was a bit far from the city center I was ready to sign the contract. I didn't want to go back home in Italy at Christmas without having found anything, I knew my parents would pressure and stress me about it all day long, and I also didn't want to come back here in the prison place again in January.
Three days before signing that contract tho, I found an interesting ad on Kamernet, a website I've signed up weeks before but didn't have any luck with it. The post stated a big room was available from mid December in a fully renovated and furnished little house, the price was also in my budget, so I replied immediately!
That same day I went to see it; it wasn't finished yet but the location and project looked very good, the day after I was signing the rent contract and two weeks later I was moving in with all my stuff.
I now live with three other girls, one from Italy, one from Greece and one from Germany; housemates stories in another post.

It took me more than 5 months, but I found a little spot in this big city, my base camp. From here operations are directed, calls are made, meals are prepared, naps are taken. Does it feel like home? Not yet. Will it ever? Who knows.

Wanna know how to pack all of your belongings to move in less than two hours?
Contact me.

Quote of the post:

"One life. Just one. Why aren't we running like we are on fire towards our wildest dreams?"

Christmas wrap up

You know when you are at the supermarket and you just need a couple of things? And you forget to take a basket or a shopping cart? So you end up holding everything in your arms until you can't even walk normally without dropping something.

Fun fact (for you not for me):
Try to finally get to the checkout with all of the stuff you want to buy, the cashier scans everything through, you pay. Until here everything good. Then the dear cashier tells you they're out of bags, and you haven't brought any with you. She still looks at you like "Are you going to move or what?".
I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

That's exactly how I felt the first month I was here in Amsterdam, so many things all together, overwhelming. I needed to think about a hundred things at once, settling in my new room (in the prison, yes  a prison), figuring out courses and university stuff, making new friends, every day was basically a new adventure. 

It hasn't been easy at all, but I do love adventure and every challenge I've overcome so far made me feel so satisfied.
I was also looking for a side job because even if the school tuition is very cheap, life in the Netherlands is expensive compared to Italy. 2/3 € for a bottle of water... and it doesn't even tastes good...UNBELIEVABLE. 2.50€ for an espresso... well I think I'll make my own at home thanks.
Anyway, I sent my CV to every possible Facebook post about part time jobs (yes there's a section on fb where you can actually search for any job position and if the country you're in is social enough, you'll find something for sure). I even got an interview in an Italian restaurant, but then I found out they were looking for a butcher... mmm not really my skills.
It was difficult because I don't have any experience at all, I never worked before because for us in Italy is not a thing for teenagers to get a side job while studying. Most of the places where I tried to apply for a job replied "Sorry but we need someone with experience." And I get it, but I do have to start somewhere to build experience, don't I?
In the end I contacted a small little Café where they where looking for a barista/waitress, I went and met the boss who told me was willing to teach me everything and after a trial week I got the place! I work two or three days a week in the afternoon or evening and what makes it fun are the people you work with :) The place is small and cozy and I managed not to spill anything so far, that's probably why for now they like me too.

It's almost Christmas and I'm finally flying back home. What makes me happy is that even if I'll be gone for 20 days or so I know I'm going to miss Amsterdam and the friends I made there a bit, and I think this is awesome because if I miss it it means that I was able to handle thing great and built something over there. If you miss someone or a place it's because you care. 

Maybe you'll think I'm crazy (all the best ones are by the way), but one of the reasons why I left Italy was that I missed the feeling of being far from home and missing it. I know it's weird but I like the feeling you get when you're traveling or abroad and you know that home is always going to be where you left it, and it's waiting for you to come back, no matter what.

Quote of the post:
"What is meant for you won't pass you by"

Studying in the Netherlands

Please be careful. Keep reading just if you give a sh..something about the Dutch educational system, otherwise it's just going to mess your head up since it's a bit confusing and different from the Italian one or any other I think.

But if you are super curious and interested in what I am doing and can't wait to know a bit more about my study choices you are in the right place.

Here in the Netherlands there are just primary/elementary school and then three main different types of high school as secondary education. Basically they don't have middle school as in Italy. So at 12 yo young Dutch boys and girls have to decide which educational path they are going to follow. A bit early in my opinion, and maybe that is why so many of them drop out of heir studies or change their mind at some point.

There are three main different types of high school based on a student’s academic level and interests:

• VMBO: vocational education until the age of 16, which leads to vocational training (MBO).
• HAVO: general secondary education until the age of 17, prepares students to study at universities of applied sciences (hogescholen), where they can follow a bachelor's degree of applied sciences.
• VWO: university preparatory education until the age of 18, focuses on theoretical knowledge in order to prepare students to follow a bachelor's degree at a research university

Higher education is divided in research-oriented and profession-oriented, so Dutch people can either choose to attend a research university (like the University van Amsterdam) or a university of applied sciences (like the Hogeschol van Amsterdam).

Now that you have a bigger picture of how education works here in the Netherlands, let's talk about my university!

I am studying at the Hogeschol van Amsterdam (HvA, Dutch pronunciation "ha-fe-a"), the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, which means less theory, more group projects and practice. My course is International Business, a four-year full-time bachelor’s program taught entirely in English (bachelor in Business Administration) It combines economics, marketing, math, statistics and management with other subjects such as languages, entrepreneurship, cross-cultural awareness and all other sorts of international stuff. 

The school year is divided in two semesters and each semesters consists into two blocks, each block has four different modules, for a total of 60 ECTS credits per year. 

The first year is focused on the basic modules, during the second year there is the possibility to choose an additional language (and I still don't know what I am going to take, either Spanish or French I think) and other three/four electives. In the third year I'll choose my Specialization Track, probably go on an exchange and choose a minor. The great thing is that you can go on exchange basically wherever you want (as long as you keep your grades up) because the university as partners in so many countries.
Finally the last year is all about Internship and Thesis, which can be completed abroad as well.
I chose this program because I think it has a lot to offer and right now I am quite happy with my choice, I love studying in English and I am also into exploring and getting to know new subjects such as Accounting and Marketing.
So far so good, and then of course there's Amsterdam itself which plays its part well, but that's material for another post!


If you have any questions you know what to do! 💙

Quote of the post: 

"Put your hair up in a bun, drink some coffee and handle it"

-literally me almost every day-

References:

https://www.nuffic.nl/en/subjects/education-in-the-netherlands 

https://www.iamexpat.nl/education/primary-secondary-education/dutch-school-system

http://www.amsterdamuas.com/amsib

Storyofmylife

My dear viewers,get comfy on your couches, because it's with enormous pleasure that I introduce you to the beautiful messy adventure called My Life.
So the question is "What am I doing with my life?", big question, really like a thousand dollars question.
Let's give this blog a proper introduction, shall we?

In the past two months a lot happened. I graduated from High School and then moved to The Netherlands where I started university.
I am studying International Business at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and I am already in my seventh week. It's an English program full of international students and I am liking it a a lot so far.
I don't know where to start with all the stuff I went through already this past months. It's been awesome and overwhelming at the same time.
I came to Amsterdam the 21st of August with my mum, who really helped me out setting up everything with my room and other things. After a couple of days she left and there I was, alone, quite far (but not that far) from home, in a foreign country trying to first of all realize and then figure out everything by myself.


FAST FUN FACTS:
I forgot my phone in a Uber car and then it got stolen by some other clients. NICE.
I was almost late to my first lecture on my fist day of uni, I didn't have my phone so I didn't know the way. NEVER BIKED SO FAST AND PANICKED EVER.
I hit a short pole with my bike's pedal, which twisted on the inside. Had to bring my bike to the shop and get it fixed. THE SHOP WAS NOT CLOSE BY.
I parked my bike on a bridge in downtown Amsterdam. The chain got stuck because of the rain and the rust, I tried to oil it and open it and the key broke inside the lock. NICE. I went to the police and they said they couldn't help me, I asked many bike shops what I was supposed to do (someone even told me to bring the bike to their shop to open the chain...) and eventually I found a guy who cut the chain with like an electric saw. YEY.
I locked myself out of my room for half a day. I know at this point you'll be wondering "Where does she live?". Well I live in an ex-prison. Yup. And we get the full prison life experience, with fire alarms loud likethereisnotomorrow and bars at the windows, apparently the monthly rent is all inclusive you know.

These are the most hilarious (believe me not fun to experience) things that happened to me, for now...


If I looked at the other side of the coin though, I can say I am loving living here and I like my courses at the university a lot.
I decided to study here because of the great program they have and the fact that it's fully in English. I enjoy the international environment so much!
Honestly if you would have asked me two or three years ago where I wanted to study I would not have said The Netherlands at all, I've never even been here before this last winter when I visited the university! And then I bumped into this program on a search engine for students to find your future higher level education "path". The courses they offered intrigued me a lot, since it's not just business, there are languages and other more humanistic subjects too. I took in consideration some other colleges too, in Germany, Scotland and another one in another Dutch city, but in the end I fell in love with Amsterdam. So here I am.
Amsterdam is a great city. And not just because of weed people, there are so many other things to do here and every day I discover something new.

I'll definitely talk more about Amsterdam and more about my uni in other posts!

Quote of the post:

"Create the life you can't wait to wake up to"

Graduation. This time for real.

The first adventure I'm going to talk about is my Esame di Stato, which I don't even know how to translate it in English, actually not even my teacher knew when I asked him. I guess the best definition is High School graduation, it's a big final exam to get your high school diploma at the end of the fifth and (thank heaven) last year. It consists in three written tests (an essay, a math test and a 4 subjects open questions) and an oral examination.

The school was over the 8th, so I had 12 days to study likethereisnotomorrow. The first test was on the 20th of June, no big deal because it was just the essay so you can't really study for it. We had six hours to write our papers, we had the possibility to choose from different drafts to produce either an analysis, an article for a newspaper or a magazine or a proper essay. I chose the text analysis because I think it was really interesting and I knew what to talk about. It was an extract from the book "Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini" by Bassani, all about racism and the beginning of antisemitism in Italy. I honestly liked it so much than the next day I went to the library and bought the book! I was done after four hours and so I left.

The first challenge was over.

Next day there was Math and oh boy this year the School State Department really topped it with the problems. The test consisted in two big problems and 10 quicker and shorter questions, we had to choose one of the two problems and five out of the ten exercises, and do all of this in other six hours.

Ok so after the first hour I was already done with the five exercises and I was struggling trying to figure out which of the two problem was the easiest one. After multiple tries with both of them (another hour passed by) I finally made up my ind and chose the second one, which was about studying a function and integrals. I worked hard for two hours on that, then I put everything in order rewriting it in a good way and I turned in the test five minute before the end.

Math was done too.

After the weekend we did the third and last big written test, one that involves four different subjects (two or three questions each). We had Science, History, English and Computer Science. In this case we had only three hours to get the work done, so it was quicker and less painful than the other tests, but still really challenging.

Results came out on June 30. I got 14/15 in all of them. At that point there was just the oral between me and freedom. I always wished I could pass the first day so I would be done and bye bye. Well my wish came true, I was summoned on July 2, the third of my class, couldn't be happier.

The days before that fateful day were just horrible, anxiety and bipolarity have been my closest friends and I was desperately trying to study EVERYTHING and remember everything. I think I'll always remember that morning so well, the hours I spent waiting outside the hallway for the teachers to call me in, my classmates asking me if I was ready (which honestly, come on, who was and will ever be really ready for that).

Eventually at 1 pm my turn came. I went in the exam room where all the teachers are seated in front of you, and I delivered my fantastic presentation about Anthropocene and Ecology and then I did all the single kinda interviews whit each teacher (everyone asks one or more questions about his/her subject). This whole thing last an hour or so. You can understand how I felt when I was done only if you went through this too, otherwise you just can't. I literally felt relieved of a huge burden that was on my chest and I now know that it's not the exam itself you have to "fear", it's your reaction to it.       I did have some other exams before, but this was the first really kinda big and important of my life (yeah big deal).

And I was free. DONE. Done with high school. I shook hands with the president of the commission while a smile bigger than my face appeared from one of my hear to the other. When I walked out my mum dad and sister were waiting for me outside with a camera and champagne to celebrate. We went to lunch at a nice little restaurant in the city center and then I grabbed my backpack and took the first train to Genoa to go celebrate with one of my friends who passed the same day.

This was it, I'm not going to go into details about Italian high school and its rules because I don't have anything nice to say about it, I personally did't like high school in general (of course with some exceptions) and after spending one year abroad (my fourth year) I had a better and clearer picture of it. I'm glad I'm done and I would never go back and do it again. Not a chance.

A big chapter of my life has just ended, there are things I'll never forget about high school and others I'm glad to let go. It's been a hell of an adventure guys.

Now off to the next one!

Quote of the post:

"It is our choices that show what we truly are far more than our abilities."

 - Albus Dumbledore