Why I Left Italy, "I'm still healing."

I didn't plan to leave Italy. Okay, I sorta did, but not entirely. Let me explain: the ultimate plan was to leave Rome (read about how I ended up in Rome) and study Jewelry Design at Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Milan. I applied for a scholarship and earned myself a 50% discount off the first year of school. Now, isn’t that something?! Check out my scholarship video entry below.

Anyhow, all I had to worry about was the other half of tuition and the cost of housing. You’re probably thinking, “uhh, what about food, and transportation?” In my mind, I would find a part time job and use my earnings to pay rent, eat, and get around the city. As for paying off the other half of tuition, and putting a down payment on an apartment, I knew I’d have to get a summer job, or 3, to save money.

So, I packed up my Roman room with its beautiful balcony and all, and I sailed back to Boston. Even though I started working within just a couple weeks of my return, I fell short because I didn’t have enough time to gather the amount of money that I needed in order to surpass the “Means of Support” section of the student visa application. Did I mention I needed a student visa to officially start classes? Anyhow, the Means of Support was technically the biggest step in the journey, and no proof of support for the academic year meant no student visa, which meant no jewelry design school for me.

And so, I was sorta stuck.

Sure, I could’ve moved back to Rome and continued with what I was doing when I was living in Italy, and then find a different way to get to IED, go later, or just not go at all. It wasn’t as simple as that, remember: I had packed up my apartment, quit my jobs, and said my farewells. Who’s to say how long it would’ve taken me to find a job after returning to Rome, and where would I have stayed while apartment and job hunting? Not that simple, right? So, I had to start making lemonade, and so I figured I’d move to New York if I were to be stuck in The States. I like to think, “everything happens for a reason”, but it’s hard—no, painful sometimes-- when I think about what got left behind.

I’m still healing.

Let me put it out there that I did do a ton of research for scholarships, and was even on my way to taking up Forex Trading, but the biggest factor was not having enough time to gather the amount of money I needed. I should've thought it through, I shouldn't have rushed it all, going to school IED Milan didn't need to be an ultimatum. Then again, who's to say for sure that I'd be in a better situation than I'm in now, and who's to say that forced "ultimatum" wasn't God's plan for me?