There are days when I just want to remain in bed and cherish that sweet moment between sleep and awake. But the alarm goes off – yet again – and I have to get up and get on with my daily duties.
It shouldn’t sound like a chore, after all I’m in the city of fashion and design. In the city where it seems like every week holds a new event that you have to rush to keep up. Maybe this is why I feel so tired. So, I press the snooze button one more time and take in those extra five minutes, before I have to dash off.
My time here in Milan is coming to an end. It is a bittersweet feeling to realize that I will soon have to depart and say goodbye to all the people that I have met in the last four months or so. But I have made some fond memories along the way, and those are the things that stay with you for times to come.
I have always thought of myself as an independent person. As someone who could get by on their own out of sheer will. My time abroad has taught me that yes, I am independent, but that does not mean that I have to alienate myself. Independence is wonderful, but so is the company of others.
It is through this realization that I have been able to partake in great opportunities. Not only have I been able to travel to cities in Italy that I would have never thought of going to (Parma and Genova), but I have also developed myself professionally.
It is through these connections that I have been able to gain work experience. Never in a million years would I have thought that in a month and a half of being in Milan that I would get the opportunity to work here. Much less to work at an agency as an English content writer and Spanish translator or even to be writing about cryptocurrency, ICO’s, and bicycles.
It’s amusing to think that I would have never been able to partake in this opportunity if I hadn’t answered to a Facebook post that was looking for various language writers. It’s an experience that has made me grow professionally and personally from the get go. As a Communications student majoring in Advertising and Public Relations, I am proud to say that this experience has expanded my view of what it means to be in a real work environment. 77 Agency has become a home away from home, where I have been able to interact with people from various places around the world – Chile, China, Japan, Korea, Italy, and many more. Here I have polished my social media writing skills while also appreciating my former education.
What I can say about this month is that, while I may still not understand Celsius fully and freak my European friends out when I say “Oh it’s going to be in the seventies today!”. At least I can talk about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. But all the joking aside, you never know how much an experience like being abroad can change you, until you begin to focus on it and recognize how little you have left of it.
Every day in Milan is filled with something exciting and new – I guess you could say that about any place, but it feels more real when you are living somewhere on borrowed time. After all, study abroad can’t last forever. But that’s the beauty of it, because it makes you appreciate every moment so much more.
