Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened!

This is the first sentence that pops into my head when I think about my exchange. The irrational part of my personality tells me that I should run away and take the first flight back to Sweden. And suddenly, especially when I listen to music, all the memories of my exchange year come back like the flow of a river and they fill my mind for quite some time. However, in the end, the rational part of me takes control of my thoughts and pushes away all my crazy ideas. Then I realize that I shouldn't live holding on to my past memories, but look forward to new adventures instead. Our past made us who we are and it's very important not to forget it and all the beautiful moments that we've passed, but at the same time it's even more important to live the present, think about the future and who we want to be. All the places that we haven't seen or explored yet, all the amazing people that live out there and who we haven't met yet. On the other hand, we should also value the wonderful people and places that we already know and that are a part of our life.

Piazza Navona, Rome

the beauty of swedish summer

the beauty of swedish winter

just trees and trees and trees

Vernazza, cozy village in Liguria, Italy

Since I came back to Italy, at the end of june, I have to admit that my life has had ups and downs, like most of the returnees I suppose. I spent more or less the hole month of july studying at home and doing nothing special. The only "relevant" days have been the ones spent in Amalfi, a cute town near Naples. One of the last weekends of July I took a train to Bordighera, this town in the northern part of Italy, where I spent two weeks with my best friend Chiara and other great friends! :)

In Nice, France

those Sanremo nights out

During these two weeks what we did was mostly sleep, eat, drink, dance, watch Sherlock episodes, see the sunrise, bath, talk, laugh, eat again, and take trips to Nice and other nearby towns. Then, at the beginning of august my family, my cutest friend Maddalena and I spent one week in this tiny village in the mountains. During this vacation I had the opportunity to study bit (unfortunately), walk for hours in the woods, take photos of every stunning view that catched my eye, visit the city of Aosta and...yep, that's more or less it. There wasn't much to do, but it was very relaxing and it helped me to clear my mind.

my dad is soo funny

Madda <3

just admiring the view and clearing my mind

The explorer Giorgio, my bro

mountain selfie

 After leaving the beautiful italian Alpes, we headed towards the south of France, where we visited many cities that left my speachless beacause of their beauty and their historical and artistic value. I once ignorantly said that I didn't like France so much: I now regret it, because France is an amazing country. The food is sooo good! (even if I always prefer italian food) Every street, no matter how small or big, has something special and unique, it may be a cute window, a nice staircase with flowers, a medieval church with coloured windows, or a restaurant with red curtains at the entrance.

Annecy

Arles,Provence

this cat was posing for the pictures ahaha

Arles,Provence

with Agathe, our french exchange student and her family <3

Where the best impressionist painted

Annecy

French sweets are belli and buoni

Now that school is about to start, I feel like everything is going to be stressing and boring, but I hope not. Before and during my exchange I was quite pessimist, but now I've changed a bit and I'm trying not to be. It's a bit difficult not to be stressed and anxious and always running everywhere while living in Rome, but I think I'll make an effort to try and be positive as much as possible.
By the way, last saturday our german exchange student Laetitia arrived in Rome and we picked her up at a hotel outside the city. All the host families were sitting on one side of this room and their respective exchange students on the other side. Then, they started calling one by one the exchange students who met their host families at the middle of the room and hugged and kissed each other! It was such a cute scene, some people were even crying! Any way, I am so happy to have Laetitia at home with us now, she is so nice and sweet!