Airports are soooo much faster here than in Canada/United States.

I learned this on my first out of country trip to Vienna – I had to take a bus to the airport in Bergamo (outside of Milano) and my bus was delayed a half an hour and I was so worried that I was going to miss my flight, but I actually had so much time to spare once I arrived. Although this was partially due to the fact that I wasn’t checking any luggage and just had to go through security and go to my gate. In Canada, I am used to getting to the airport super early and usually having to wait a while at security. It took me literally 5 mins to get through security in both Bergamo and Vienna airports.

Also, this whole EU thing is pretty cool, because you don’t even have to go through customs when coming from an EU country to another EU country (I feel dumb for not knowing this before coming here, oops).

I could definitely get used to the convenience of living within Europe… who knows, maybe one day I will end up here permanently.

You will never regret booking that flight or train. Just go for it!

I told myself that I would not say no to any opportunity/chance to travel somewhere new (there are some limits budget wise however) and it has been amazing.

Italians really do love bread.

Legit, with every meal, there will be bread. I am shook now if there is not bread with dinner/lunch.

The bread is usually used to dip in whatever is left on the plate (such as pasta sauce) and it is usually quite hard bread.. that took some getting used to😂

Sometimes getting lost is better than having a well thought out plan!

This took a while for me to accept because I am a super organized person and I typically like to have a plan when travelling and sight seeing. However, what I have realized over the past month of many adventures is that the unplanned ones tend to be the best. Without a strict plan, you just stumble upon things that you never would have if you just went to the typical touristy places.

Small towns > big cities/touristy cities.

Living in Italy for such a long period of time, I have the luxury of not just going to all of the typical touristy cities (although I still probably will just because I have the time), however, they aren’t going to be my main focus to get to anymore.

So far I’ve been to Milan & Venice as far as it goes for big touristy cities and I can honestly say that I have preferred exploring my area and the smaller towns more so than the big touristy ones! I want to live like a local as cheesy as that sounds and that involves not going to all of the regular touristy cities. I will save the more touristy cities for the fall, when all the summer time tourists are gone😂

Travelling with people is great but solo travel also is!

I’ve been lucky enough to have found some fellow au pairs to travel with and have become quite close with a couple, so it has been great to have some girls to travel with! However, travelling on my own has also been fun and I’m coming to enjoy pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

As cliché as it sounds, I get now why people say that:

You find yourself through solo traveling. 

The FOMO never really leaves.

I knew I was going to have major FOMO (fear of missing out) when going abroad for so long but I thought that maybe I would get over it after a little while, nope I have not and I don’t think I ever will. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that while I am missing some events, birthdays, parties, etc. (whatever it may be), I am making so many memories right now that I will cherish forever.

They really are not joking when people tell you to be careful of pickpockets. They are REAL.

I have always been constantly warned about pickpocketing in Europe and while I did take it seriously and heard of people getting things stolen, I never thought that it would happen to myself/people that I was around. My friends got their purses stolen in Milan (I did not thankfully) and it made me realize how serious it is to take pickpocketing, if you don’t want to end up without a phone/money!

Traveling is exhausting and draining (emotionally and physically).

I’ve always kind of known this, because I obviously have been on trips before, however, actually living abroad and constantly traveling has been a whole new ball game. However, being an au pair has allowed me to relax during the weeks after a long and tiring weekend of traveling so that has been nice.

I find myself constantly looking forward to the weekends when I can travel to somewhere new and then find myself absolutely drained the following Monday. It’s probably going to be that cycle for a while because I am enjoying going places on the weekends!

“Home” is a strange concept.

Being abroad has made me realize that “home” is so much more than an actual physical place, but a place in which I FEEL at home and over the past month, I have come to feel at home in Italy (despite knowing barely any Italian, I am trying I swear😞).

This is just a short and sweet list of things that I have learned over the past month, and I’m sure it will continue to grow over the months to come. I have already grown so much, pushed myself out of my comfort zone & I can’t wait to continue to do so throughout my time abroad!

Ciao for now,

Wanderlust morg xx