"Home is not where you live,
it is where they understand you"

One of those soundbites you take away from the Guinness Storehouse but this weekend I had the chance to experience it in practice.

For a couple of hours during that time rapidly approaching dawn when all the best conversations are had, La Scala de Ragione became home to me as I sat sharing a beer and the world as we saw it with Luca. We talked about all the things that have the potential to make life truly great; love, friendship, family...

Even though I was hardly in Italy for 48 hours, it was all I needed to be reminded that remarkable footprints have been left across my life. Once again I was left questioning what I had done to deserve the love and friendship of so many incredible people that I find myself blessed to call friends.

I could not have asked for a more enthusiastic host! Eager that I see all that Verona has to offer but presenting it with the same self deprecating tone that he offers himself to the world. What would a visit to Verona be without a trip to Casa di Giuglietta, but at the same time we must remember the difference between historical and fictional ;)

The last couple of weeks have been hard for me; the two month wall I guess. All the initial glitz is gone replaced by the realisation that life everywhere has routine. Don't get me wrong I am very far from unhappy here but at the same time I am not quite ecstatic either.

In some ways I guess it was quite natural for this period of doubt to arrive; news from IC made me realise that I had left that world behind. It also reminded me of how long it has been since I recharged my batteries in the all too familiar environment of an AIESEC conference and how long it would be before I would spend time with the people that belong to that part of my life...August made me miss people, some more than others of course!

More than just MCPitis though I have been thinking a lot about friendship; considering whether or not it is something that I need to factor into decisions for the future.

Luca was the perfect antidote to my melancholic musings! Our friendship has a quality that is absent from any of my friendships in Zürich; that is not to say better or worse just different. It is however something that I realised I've been missing. I recognise so much of myself in him and that makes it so easy to be myself in his company, to say things to him in the course of normal conversation that would take an extraordinary moment to share, or rather admit to others.

An uncomplicated weekend full of surprises (Hearing an Italian singer/songwriter perform "She moves through the fair" at a random private club near Verona), good conversation, those funny moments that become anecdotes (the (hot) waiter that insisted on addressing me despite the fact that everything ended up going through the translator! or the kid that tried to convince us that he had spent a year in Chicago before being unable to quite explain why he wanted to go there), the surprisingly familiar (shopping with Irene, lunch with Ernesto or walking the dog), guiltless pleasures (conversations in three languages - four if you count my demonstrations that Irish is an actual language), amazing weather and memorable quotes ("Irlandes? pero donde te sirve a fuera de Irlanda?", "dime..a fuera de Italia, donde te sirve el italiano??")

Best of all this weekend was the time spent with one of those people that life gifts you complete with the capacity to make you rediscover just how comfortable you are in your own skin. The kind you wish were permanent fixtures in your life but at the same time you know that no matter how much time elapses until the next rendezvous it will seem as though you only parted ways yesterday.

Mile grazie Luca; Ti voglio bene <3

EDIT: Priyanka would like me to mention the fact that Luca is also very pretty...I can only assume she feels this information will add depth to my post :)