Adaptation & Recap

If it is one thing I have learned since I have been in Italy, is learning to just go with things and acceptance and adapting. Things in life suck and come at you without warning, but I mean in all reality even if there is warning there are just those things that suck no matter what. As most of you know my name is Elizabeth, and I am 17. I graduated High School at 16, and decided to come to Italy for a year to study abroad and learn Italian. I actually decided that back in January 2011, so about a year ago. At the time it is seemed like it was the greatest idea I had ever had in my life, yeah lets be different Liz, lets take the less worn path and just go with it! Being who I am of course I was down. In a sense this is who I am, taking these wild chances just to push myself to the limit and push myself more towards my goal in life even more. Now it's December 24th, 2011 and I actually live in Italy. I arrived I think September 7th, and if you really read my blog then you would have heard about how I hated myself for doing what I had chose to do the first few days. It was horrible. It was like homesickness had attacked me while I was on the plane and stuck with me for a few days. It felt like I was actually was holding my breath more than anything. Like I had taken this HUGE breath of air before I left DFW airport and held it in for 5 days. It wasn't until I started realizing how this is all really effecting. I mean yeah I am going to be learning a new language and meeting new people but thats not the only reason I am here. I was walking outside and just looked up. I looked and saw passed the "old" buildings and saw master pieces. I saw art work. I look around and started to see passed just people that were walking amongst everyone else that lived here and started to see the way people interacted with each other and how much more appreciative everyone was. It was then I had finally taken a breath of Italian air and just finally saw that this wasn't just what I thought it was at the beginning but it was so much more and meant some much more to me than I had realized. It was like opening my eyes for the first time to see passed imperfections and to see passed things that didn't matter such as the materialistic things in life or things like that. I was always content with whatever in the states but I never really realized how much I love to just walk around a city and look around, or interact and talk with fellow students and random people on the street. Even if its a very small conversation taking into consideration the only Italian I knew when I first arrived was CIAO(hello/goodbye). One thing I enjoy the most is just being able to sit and have conversations with anyone, not about stupid things such as who's dating who, or gossip in general. Nothing like that. But like life, especially talking with my host mom. There comes a point in your young life where it's time to grow, not grow up in a sense take responsibility for whatever, because thats a given, but more like grow in life. Grow and expand the way you see things and let your prospective on things. I know it seems like I am such a care free person and seem so happy all the time and that I am very optimistic about a lot of things but in life, why would you want to be any less than happy? Seeing as people spend there time dreading on things that shouldn't even be thought about, or people expecting the worst constantly, is really just stupid. My goal and as everyone else's goal should just strive to be happy. If your happy where you are right now in your life, then strive to be happier. The saying, "Life's a bitch, and then you die." is true, but why not push towards a less "bitch" of a life and just go with the happy road. In a sense, it is easier said than done, but what is it going to hurt to try? In the end your going to die anyways but what would you rather say, "My life was filled with lots of disappointments, failed expectations from people and turmoil all through out because of this this this....ect" or would you rather tell people in the end, "I lived a great life, I laughed, I smiled, I loved, I was happy, and I found what it meant to be happy even if it was with the simple things in life." If I didn't want change or if I didn't want different then I would have never left the states to begin with. The people who are in my life to stay, will stay, and those who can't handle it, will go. It's life and sometimes you have to just appreciate the fact your alive and well. Never have expectations in people and in life, just live and let go. Not because it leaves room for heartache or disappointments but because we shouldn't go through the rest of our lives having a mental picture of how we think things should be when in reality there is no way to know how things are supposed to be or how things will go. Just live and look passed what doesn't matter. Appreciate what does matter, and have a good life. Everything happens for a reason, one way or another, there is a reason something bad/good happens to you.

Merry Christmas everyone.
forever yours,
Elizabeth.