Open letter to 2016 – 5 things to wish for

Hello…
It’s me. I was wondering if after all those years you’d like to meet..?

It’s been a long time since I last posted, and meanwhile 2015 has almost ended. What can I say? personally, I can’t be but grateful for being at the end of such a great year, full of goals reached and love, loads of love.

New friends, new places seen. Three new countries marked “done” on my map. Ten exams taken of which nine passed. One new tattoo. Two new jobs, a new self consciousness, a new haircut. 

Dear 2016,
I don’t ask for much. 

1. The first thing I want to ask you is love.
   People need more love in their lives. When you are in love, everything is more beautiful and you have more energy. When you have a significant other in your heart, everyday has a different meaning.
   
2. I want to visit Russia. And Brazil, and the rest of Europe I haven’t seen before. I want to keep traveling, see new faces, make new friends. I want to go on that road trip on the West Coast of the US that I have been planning for years.
   
3. Move to that city I dream of. We all have a dream, mine is moving to New York. I experienced living there on a short term, but what if I could live there for one, five or ten years?
   
4. I want to get my Master Degree. It could be anything, your high school diploma, a Bachelor, a promotion at work or a new job. we need to have a goal of that kind to remind ourselves to do all we can to carry on what we started.
   
5. I want to be smiling, always.
   And that is not too hard, depends only on how we approach life. Let’s be positive, everyone!
   

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

XoXo

EJL.

Some of the Lessons Learned in NYC

Times Square. Broadway.

What you see glowing in the sky are not stars.
They are planes, going to and coming from exotic places. 

The lights of the City are blinking and moving, blinding you more than those of a thousand stars.

You will never see on a subway train people all from the same ethnicity. They come from opposite worlds and lands, and carry millions of different stories behind.

Whatever is your culture, here in the City you are more than welcome. You’re home, because this is home to nobody, yet to everybody. 

People don’t judge you. They don’t care about how you look, and what you are thinking.

You are alone. Yet it is a pleasant feeling. You learn that you don’t really need to be always surrounded by people. You learn that it is ok to walk alone and to eat alone and go home alone. And you learn to love it.

You’re independent.

YOU’RE FREE.

Times Square at night. Lights and life boosted at their maximum.

EJL.

First Many Shades of NYC

Back and alive, the City, my friends, is AWESOME.

First impressions begin in multi faceted Brooklyn, to busy Lexington & UWS, through stinky yet familiar Chinatown, fashionable 5th Ave, TriBeCa, Broadway and Times Square, and life pulsing East and West Village.
Whole Foods was a discovery and the New Yorker a great magazine. The Phantom of the Opera musical was indeed stunning, it lived up to my highest expectations.

I’ve been running after sunset: sunset on the top of the One World Trade center, sunset at Battery Park in Manhattan, sunset from New Jersey, sunset on the road to Upstate NY.

I’ve been running under the rain, I’ve been running after parties, and friends, and passions, and love.

I’ve been talking to strangers, trying to over go my prejudice and see them with different eyes.

I’ve been seeing cultures: korean, japanese, thai, and more.

I’ve been alone, and loved it.

I’ve not been alone, and loved it, too.

I’ve been walking the street with cupcakes in my hands. I’ve been driven on the streets on a fierce black ‘Stang.

I’ve been seeing Philadelphia and Delaware, and learnt how surroundings which are adjacent hide a chasm of social differences.

I’ve been and still am in New York City, the center of the world, writing this post from the window of my flat in Brooklyn.

It’s been three weeks, but it seems like it has been three years.

One of my Canadian friends once told me, if you go to NYC, you’d never wanna leave it. Man, that’s so damn true. I would stay here forever in this magic.

[TBC]

Sunset from top of WTC

In Philadelphia with Mustang

Reflections from WTC

Every Journey Is A New Beginning

I must confess that I feel somehow afraid. Every time, the night before a journey, I can sense excitement running through my veins.

A new adventure is waiting for me. I’m leaving tomorrow morning, heading towards New York City, the Big Apple. And I’m afraid.

It is the very first time that I’m going all by myself in a country that is completely unknown, staying for so long (3 months). I don’t know what to expect. How are the people there? What’s the culture? I’ve heard others talk about it, but to me it’s all new.
I can never get enough of meeting people, experiencing the world, learning from my mistakes. 

Every journey brings a new load of experiences.

Every journey brings a new chance to improve yourself and be a better human being.

And life is a journey.

Follow me in NYC.

EJL.

Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde (keep your best memories alive)

Hello friends, it’s been a long time since I last posted an entry.

Life’s flowing so fast these days, anything you do need to be captured in some way and you don’t have time to sit back and enjoy what you are doing. Each single fucking day you have your duties to carry out, and not a single minute just to stop and say “ok, man, enough, now I’m just taking some moments for me“.

Ok, you got me. I hate those people who say that you should take things slowly, because, what the hell, from your forties on you can – you MUST – take things slowly, not in you twenties, right? If you don’t live at a steady pace now you won’t have any chance in the future to run and embrace life.

But.

Sometimes, when you least expect it, memories punches you hard and almost painfully in the back of your mind. And you start to ask yourself what if you did it in another way.

Sometimes, you feel melancholic for when you think back at my teenage days, when you used to think of your twenties as the dream age, the perfect years.

Sometimes, you want to go back and relive those past experiences, so magical, so beautiful.

Now turn on your laptop and put on a song you used to listen too when you were 17. Close your eyes and let the music take you on an incredible journey. A journey through your past, your best memories.

Then open your eyes again. And live your present.

[Alcest – Souvenirs D’Un Autre Monde]

EJL.

CLARISONIC: the ultimate cleaning brush

I’ve always wondered how those brushes work. I found out that CLARISONIC is not the only one on the market but there are a variety of brushes, like, the Imetec, Braun, Philips, Clinique, etc.

What are those brushes for? Do people really need them? that’s the object of my study, reported in the following link.

EJL.

How to make your day from the morning

Sometimes, small gestures can make your day, from the very moment you wake up. And it’s just so simple!

• Wake up early. It’s easy to say, and I’m the first person to sleep til late in the morning, but the best way to begin your day is to have it all in front of you, so you have time to do what you have planned. If you have to go to work or school, wake a tiny bit earlier so you can do thing more calmly
• Open the windows. Even if it’s winter and cold outside, some fresh air is absolutely necessary to start your day in the best way!
• Look out of the window. Your life is wonderful! The world is alive and beautiful!
• Repeat to yourself “today is a great day“. It’s in your mind! If you believe that today’s gonna be a wonderful day, it will be.
• Drink a glass or warm water, with honey and lemon. It’s really good for vitamin C and for your skin.
• Have breakfast. Is seems obvious, but many people forget to take it or think it’s not important. Wrong! breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so take your time and enjoy it! I usually have a banana, yogurt, caffelatte and a couple of cereal biscuits. And then here you go, you have enough energy to face the day ahead!
• Wear what makes you comfortable. Prepare your outfit the previous evening so you don’t waste time deciding what to put on.
• Say hello and be thankful. The greatest way to start your day is to be kind to the people surrounding you. Say hello to you parents, partner, colleagues, neighbours, the cashier at the supermarket. And wish them a nice day.
• Smile. A smile is never wasted. And if you make a smile, you’ll receive it in return. Be optimist, Karma is something powerful.

I can make something today to make tomorrow a better day.

EJL.

Keep Dreaming On (what you could do in your 20s that you’ll regret not doing)

In my life, I must admit I have lots of regrets, although I keep saying that one should go on chasing his/her own dreams, I usually end up doing what belongs in my confort zone. When I was 5, I wanted to grow up to be a flight attendant, because I believed it would be incredibly fascinating to spend your life flying, each day in a different part of the world. How innocent was I.

Time passed, and I dreamt to be a ballerina, and started to push my mom to let me go to ballet class. It never happened. At the age of 9, instead, I started taking piano lessons. After a year I was made to give up since I had to focus on my study.

“In real life, you can’t be a singer, or a ballerina, or a piano player, or an actress, because in real life people study and go to university and get a good job and set up a family“, I was told all the time.

With that pressure I started Bocconi University, the best Business School in Italy, probably to become a manager and work in a big company. Don’t get me wrong, it wouldn’t be that bad, I’d get the quiet real life I was used to imagining for the adult me.

But.

There’s always a “but” somewhere, although it is said that history is not made of but and ifs.

In a very hidden corner of my mind, I’ve always sheltered a dream, evolved from my childish visions. I’ll see what’s going to happen now in a couple of years, but once, for one time only, I don’t want to have regrets in chasing it. 

When you’re 20-something, it is the best time of your life to go and do foolish things, make mistakes and learn from life. I’m working hard to save money – yeah, you’re also supposed to rely on yourself, to work part-time alongside your studies to have some savings to be used when you decide to follow your heart. Going this way doesn’t mean you don’t need to do sacrifices. 

But still, your 20s are the best age to exit your confort zone, as you have time to confront yourself and decide what you want it to be your place in life. You’ll have time to recover and learn from the big mistakes you’ll be making. You’ll have time to fully cheer for your success, coming from your hard work.

So, yeah, I just wanted to share this with you, to never stop fighting even when the people around you thing you’re silly, childish and selfish.

I may be silly to have childish dreams at my age, but I am blessed to be able to do so, since dreams fuel your life.

EJL

Il complesso di Didone. Ma perché le donne toste perdono la testa per gli Enea?

Un’antica leggenda, un’eterna verità

Il nuovo mondo di Galatea

Questo post, con altri dedicati alle biografie di personaggi antichi, fa oggi parte del libro Didone, per esempio, Edizioni Ultra, che trovate in libreria e nei principali store on line. Anche in ebook: qui il link per amazon

Didone, per esempio, bravo chi la capisce. Io non ci sono mai riuscita. Ogni volta che prendo in mano l’Eneide mi piglia uno di quegli intorcoli di stomaco che solo la rabbia genera, quando non la puoi sfogare.

Ma come, dico io, benedetta figliola! Hai tutto. Ma tutto tutto, proprio tutto quello che una donna, se ha un briciolo di sale in zucca, può desiderare.

Sei bella. Non come una velinetta da strapazzo, di quelle che sono pezzi di carne buttati lì, con le poppe al vento ed una espressione stolida sulla faccia che nessun chirurgo estetico può cancellare. No, bella bella, perché hai una certa età, ma sei…

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Chagall: a retrospective. Chronicles of an epic adventure in Milan

Hello my dear friends,

All started as a casual question: my friend Irene asked me if I wanted to go and see the Chagall Exhibition in the heart of Milan, before its end. Of course I wanted, remembering old good times during high school when I used almost to live in museums and art. So we had lunch, and decided to go.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Piazza Duomo was the seemingly endless queue in front of the entrance. We asked a guy working there how much time we had to wait, and the answer was: at least 2 h 30. WHAAAAAT? ok, we decided to give it a try, we really wanted to get in. So the first half an hour passed without any remarkable event. Second half. Third half. My friend Irene started to sing an old italian song. The girl behind us started offering chocolate around. I started ho have soaring feet.

Fourth half. After 2 hours of queueing, we started to sing all together, Mamma Mia!. That wars the turning point, we all became friends, and the rest of the waiting was made less terrible. New York by Sinatra, the Italian national anthem followed, old wartime songs, it was almost surreal.

The queue behind us

When we finally got it, I was almost sad to leave the choir I met!

The exhibition was totally worth the wait. The 15 or some rooms were organised following a chronological order – you could see how Chagall changed over time. You could see his love for the first wife Bella, recurring in most of the paintings before his exile to New York in 1942. Then Bella died and he still depicted her, as his angel and guardian, but he lost his lightness to be somber and tormented.

The house with the eye. it really impressed me for all the symbols in it

It was a long day but what Chagall taught me is to never give up and always see the colours in life.

“In the arts, as in life, everything is possible provided it is based on love” [Marc Chagall]