My passion for traveling dates back to that day in which I attended my first English lesson when I was six years old. Yes, because it was probably the love for this language that triggered a series of events, which led me to move without stopping.
It certainly didn’t help being born under the sign of Sagittarius: dreamers, travelers, with two legs on the ground, but the gaze turned upward, an arrow always pointing to the goal that the farther and more mysterious is the better.
I hit my first mark when I was 16 years old during my first trip abroad: three weeks of study abroad trip between Manchester and London. There I reinforced my unconditional love for English. But it was just the beginning.
The next goal was big. I worked so hard on it, each step brought me closer and closer until on that far-off March day, 2004, I moved to England. With a degree in Foreign Languages and Literature, 24 years old, I moved out when in Italy only few people made this choice, above all when all the people I knew had not yet finished their studies and still lived with their families.
My desire for independence and freedom was too compelling to put it in question because of the safety and comfort of the family nest.
The first two year I lived in a hostel (as a vagabond, said my parents). Actually, more than a hostel it was a little multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-linguistic community, just like a family. I came into contact with many nationalities and for the first time I was faced with diversity, in order to appreciate the world and begin to understand more about myself. It was just opening myself to others that I began to explore myself to understand the uniqueness of my being, to comprehend the strengths and work with weaknesses.
I lived in England for nine years and during that journey of self-discovery, which continues today, I experienced two cathartic moments: when I obtained the CELTA certificate (to teach English to foreign students) and when I took my first solo trip to Cambodia in 2014.
Through the first one, I understood, after so much effort, what my real path was: to become a teacher. Therefore, after the last four years of teaching in the English schools and university, I decided to come back to Italy in order to go on with this profession.
Through the second one, I understood that this choice, which seemed fool even to me (and then to the other people who knew me), was actually a wise and fulfilling decision. Above all, during this month-long solo trip, I finally stopped blaming and criticizing me for being who I am.
Viaggio da sola perché il viaggio in solitaria apre spazi di introspezione necessari per comprendersi ed accettarsi.
Because in these scraps of quiet the mind can make up with the soul that expresses our very being. Because our hearth beats in unison with the entire humanity and the primordial pulse of our origins vitally sounds.
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This story was written Federica Puccioni
