italy

one of my favourite souvenirs is to collect the local currency, most friends even bring me bills from their travels.

in europe since most countries use the euro – i don't think much about it. but i stumbled upon someone selling these old bills and im so glad i got my hands on one for my collection

while in palermo, i went out with a few friends to a place i really wanted to visit. and across us sat an old german lady. i chatted with her, got along and whatnot. then she was buying these prints, and asked me what my favourite one was. and bought it for me unprompted.

i know i didnt i have to write all this detail, it's little, countless moments like this that really shape me and help me not doubt myself.

the plan was to stay in sorrento for just one night, but i’m so glad i kept extended it. ended up staying for three, with just one night in rome.

everything turned out just right (as it always does)

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i didn’t get to contribute to this journal as much as i would have liked. i’m realizing i opened my laptop nearly everyday while in argentina to upload videos + notes, def tougher this time around. have a lot of reflections + photos i’ll update here through the next few weeks :)

this trip was different, i don’t think there was any big monumental takeaway from it but honestly that’s okay. i feel a bit weird having it end, but it felt like i went through a couple lifetimes.

home

in sorrento, i’m so glad i came because i got to get the beach experience. also, it’s the amalfi coast - i would have been a fool to not visit. lots & lots of tourists

intended to do one night but made it two, then two nights in rome, then home

been hanging with a friend from naples for past four days which has been nice

walked into a random persons house(?) because they had film drying and a dark room set up. super welcoming, experiences i appreciate

turns out they visited toronto once, markham specifically :) small world

back in naples, spent two nights. joined the parade to celebrate the napoli football team win. reminded me lots of when toronto won, or when i did something similar in colombia.

surreal experience

i have an extra day, the plan was to find a small town but it’s been a bit tough - can’t just pick a random place on a map, like i’ve done in portugal & spain. so i’m making my way towards sorrento.

(sidenote - not having support to upload photos here via phone sucks!)

palermo is interesting, reminds me of morocco. not much of my assumption of italy is

a judgement of what kind of neighbourhood i am in is the cost of a water bottle. if it’s 1+ euro, touristic.

if it’s less, then either sketch or local

was on an overnight ferry that was experience in itself

just got to palermo

will be missing the napoli finals game because it got moved to friday

but excited to be back in napoli later

still not a fan of neapolitan pizza

i had a great day. can’t help but feel a bit sad - i’m not sure what it is about travel, but sometimes u just meet the right person.

visited procida today and walked around with no direction in mind. there was no stress, there was no discomfort. we enjoyed each others company in ways we were both happy. just taking photos with film and on my fuji.

i struggle to find this at home a lot and have never cracked the code.

there was a boat crashed close to shore and we watched them attempt to rescue it. though we made fun of it, we soon realized the owner (a wealthy clothing store founder) was right next to us. we chatted for a bit, and he mentioned it was 40K euros for the rescue. mad

had an aperol and gelato and margerita pizza today as well :)

happy. i think i’m going to head to palermo tmr

also! ive said this before but its funny how the things youre most insecure about is what you get complimented most on.

in my case it’s my hair, i was trying so hard today to make it look not messy and felt frustrated. but randomly had multiple ppl tell me how much they loved it

weird how the world works eh

Okay, lots on my mind after first few hours here in Napoli. Fascinating city, in a way. I had zero expectations or honesty, even basic knowledge about Italy and I still don’t. Most of it was just show up and see what happens.

If any expectations, it was that will be gritty - which by no doubt is, but I expected worse(? though I’d consider that the wrong word).

• I didn’t expect a large Sri Lankan population, that took me by huge surprise

• The metro is impressive! It also goes so deep as the city is built on a hill, a bit scary

• English has been hard here so far, usually young people speak it but doesn’t feel like it

• On that note, the hardest thing about not knowing a language is not being able to be yourself? I was in an elevator and wanted to crack a joke (something I do often), but I simply can’t since I don’t know the words

• The football team is in the finals and today was a game, I thought it would be silly to miss it so went out for a walk and ended up sitting on the floor with italians cheering on the game. Next sunday is the actual finals I believe

• I’m trying to see how long I can do this trip without buying internet, if I need it, I can activate roaming

Many other things on my mind but, I enjoyed pizza for 10 euros from a Michelin place today. I walked around a bunch as always.

First thing I do when I get to a new city is walk in a random direction until I get lost. It’s always nice as locals are confused why you’re there but yet more happy to chat, but also gives you a more realistic experience. I didn’t have internet and knew I needed to get home, so walked the general direction of the “centre” and found the subway… but also the tourist ares and wow, I was shocked by the amount of people. (acknowledging I am a tourist too).

Lastly, I was being extremely reckless while in London - i dont know why but i knew it wasnt me and i didnt like it. So i cleaned up my act, bought my flight home and slowly planning out my days in advance.

Tomorrow, I think I’m going to simply walk everywhere and everywhere to take photos and videos

I’ve avoided visiting Italy for a long time, for various, slightly irrational reasons but I’m here in Naples now.

The response from people has been “this is your first time and you picked Naples?”

Well ya, I can’t tell you a precise reason why but it felt more suited to things I enjoy in comparison to the major tourist hubs in Italy.

I walked a bit around town, haven’t showered or even slept much since I took a 6am flight and can’t check in yet but, it’s been nice.

I know zero italian words so a bit nervous about navigating that, but as always, will figure it out.