8th May, 2026

by Jasmin Acikgöz

<aside> 🔖 on chasing a dream that once felt distant, only to realize it had been quietly shaping your heart all along.

</aside>

I had a dream. 5 letters, one word. One country. Italy. My whole life, since I was a child. I have been dreaming of this place. Dreaming of Italy. One day, I will visit Italy I said it myself And nobody understands. “Why Italy?”, “Why Italy?” Everybody asks me. “I don't know” I always reply. “There is something, it feels like Italy is calling my name” “Have you ever had this feeling too?” They always had the same reply too “no”.

The truth is I really don't know it could have been when I was watching the movie eat, pray, love. Julia Roberts, the main character, gets stuck in a mid-life crisis and decides to move to Italy for a restart. The way she talked about Italy and described it… it made me fall in love…

Now at 20, I have been there, just like I promised to myself when I was a kid.

First stop In Bologna. Everything is more beautiful than I would have thought it would be. The language is greeting me and welcoming me.

Before my travels to Italy, which then I wasn’t sure of being able to go. I experienced a sign from the universe because guess what my driving instructor was Italian! She and I talked about Italy and she taught me some Italian as well.

That was my sign that Italy was the right decision at this moment I knew.

To have been there lit up my heart. The city is like a big labyrinth, full of history. You take one step and it feels like you know how the Romans felt while walking in this big city. Ridiculous I know.

I got lost so many times seriously this city IS a labyrinth but always found something new. Something beautiful, something tasty.

The Italians were kind and none of them could speak English. More to my surprise they were able to speak my native language German. Yeah no kidding I’ve learned that they are being taught German in school, which is crazy because in Germany Italian is not being taught, French, Spanish and Latin are more likely to be taught. Since there was no Italian, I chose the languages close to Italian Spanish and Latin.

Which is why it was easy for me to understand them while not being able to speak it. I really tried my best though but speaking to an Italian felt like being in a competition of who-canspeak-faster, which is why I made more mistakes while talking since I wanted to win.

instead of “cappuccini”, my favourite drink, I said “cappuccinos”, while ordering them. But they didn't care, I think they were happy that people, tourists, tried to at least speak to them in their native language. Then sometimes I got really just lucky that they were able to speak German with me, their accents were really sexy as well.

I was surprised; They were open-minded and really heartwarming. It felt like being in Turkey, the country where my parents are from. Especially the way it looked like. when I face-timed with my dad, he was the one to point it out.

So even though being far away from home, I still felt like being home. I hope to experience Italy again, this time longer and with no problems. P.S I did not get scammed which is a victory while being in Italy.