Just Do You

Remember that time you cancelled plans and rushed to the nearest movie theatre because your mates told you Brad Pitt's new film would blow your brains out (in a good way of course), but you left the show defeated because he never even took his shirt off? Or maybe you saved a month's wages at your burger flipping job just to buy a new game for your Xbox that later turned out to be three times more pathetic than the similar PS3 version for half the price? I, too, found myself in one of these brow-drooping scenarios not too long ago when I stepped off the plane in Rome and took my first glimpse at the crumbling, graffitied city that many people refer to as the most inspiring landscape in Italy. Let's just say that I beg to differ, but that I also beg to tell you why experiencing cultures so entirely distant from my own is one of the best things I will ever do.
Rome is garbage bins lining the streets (with men emptying their bladders on them), exotic smells (not in the pretty way), cigarettes EVERYWHERE, homeless people sprawled on every sidewalk, and young men chasing you with flyers looking to make an extra buck any way they can. This was not my romantic vision of cobblestone streets and endless pizza with men so charming you can't help but instantaneously fall in love. No, Rome is messy. But Rome is also the place where I learned to appreciate that people are all innately the same no matter where they come from.
Let's just state the obvious here by saying that I'm not your average 'Chatty Cathy' or 'Social Butterfly'. Heck, I have trouble attempting to act normal on a day-to-day basis. I'm shy. But when you're halfway across the world talking to a fellow traveller who just got back from their impromptu skydiving trip, you're definitely not going to be thinking about that one time you accidentally told your boss' ex-boyfriend he was kinda cute in front if her. No! Let it go.
If there's one thing I learned in Rome, it's that traveling is not for the faint of heart. Nothing works out right, especially the first time. The Colosseum is going to be half under construction, but that's okay. You're going to get lost. But you're also going to meet amazing people who want to help you on your journey. You're going to starve in search of that affordable restaurant that doesn't exist. Life goes on. And if you've ever been to Italy, you know that the best part about life is the sheer pleasure of doing nothing. Except maybe grabbing a pastry or two, that is.