A Traveler's Guide to Finding Yourself

Venice: the sinking city, the decaying artifact portraying a worlds past, a haven to the struggling artist, intellectual, and occasional coffee drinker.
The day begins on a winter's day in my small, cramped, pumpkin orange walled apartment,. I am awoken by sound of running water, "The water can't be coming from here,"I think to myself, given my apartment is on the second floor. I couldn't have been more wrong. It seems that the heater had been leaking overnight and was filling my apartment, so I splash onto the floor and head for the kitchen. Being a good sport, I start playing a "Flooded Apartment playlist" on Spotify (they have a playlist for everything), and my mop and I give the performance of a lifetime. Once the floor is clean, I get dressed and make a cup of coffee from my apartment's complimentary Bialetti (the Italians take their coffee very seriously). I make my milky froth-filled caffè latte and start preparing for the day's adventure. I head to the giant green moss colored doors, and pull the Venetian lion crested doorknob, not seeing the three foot puddle my feet so generously step into. Acqua Alta! For those of you who are unaware of Venice's current situation, it's sinking! Actually sinking! Every year during the months of October through early February, the tide rises onto the stone walkways and creep into unsuspecting tourist's shoes! Slightly irritated, I run back into the apartment and change into my rain boots and grab my umbrella (just in case). "I knew Venice was the city on water, but I didn't expect this!" I say, trying to make sense of everything that's going on, motivated to make this day a good one, I trudge through the grimy canal water and head towards St. Mark's Square! It's snowing now and the winds are rising rapidly, sooner than not, I find myself in the midst of a blizzard! The burgundy and red bricked walls are now covered with icicles and snow! I was overwhelmed and on the verge of collapsing on the sleet covered ground. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, I listen to the awesome silence that took place in the center of this giant square, the usually crowded palatial city was nothing but a ghost town, the only things accompanying me were the lampposts aligned in perfect symmetry. In that moment I remembered the words of Anthony Hecht, "I have chosen Venice for its light. It's lightness, buoyancy and calm suspension, in time and water, it's strange quietness". Then and there, I knew it was where I needed to be.