You know all those overly used phrases? "Home is where
your heart is", "home is not a place, but people", etc.?
Well, of course those words are used way too much, but only
because they are true. What no one usually tells you is that your heart has an
ability to be at two, three, twenty places at once.
It doesn't mean less love for your first home though.
It just means that when you are happy, your heart grows. Infinitely.
When I started this blog, I was living in Kyiv, Ukraine -
the beautiful and charming city, where I was born and raised. I was working
from home, so really needed a sort of a creative outlet – something that will
motivate me to write, to take photos, to dress up once in a while and tell
someone about my life.
For example, about going to Pyrohiv (in Kyiv)…
For example, about going to Pyrohiv (in Kyiv)…
… or to Lithuania – I loved it so much that for the first
time in my life I wanted to leave Kyiv and move.
Than after many different, good and bad, experiences, my life
took a really unexpected turn and I moved to Thailand. By this day it’s the craziest
adventure in my life, for which I’m so grateful to 2013 version of me. I still
have dreams about Thailand, Laos and Cambodia – cities, temples, flowers, people, islands… FOOD!
Bangkok, Vertigo bar
After shooting with an Indian actor Ankit Raaj
Chiang Mai - Bangkok
Angkor Wat
Those crazy times changed me so much that after two month in
Kyiv I started looking for an opportunity to go and see other places. I was
searching for international programs, projects, volunteering opportunities anywhere
(focusing, for some reason, mostly on Lithuania, Morocco and Mexico).
But as someone wise said – if you want to make God laugh,
tell him about your life plans. Because even though I didn’t really want to go
to Italy (weird, right?), and dreamed about other places instead, 9 months after returning home
from Southeast Asia I landed on Sicily (with one pair of Thai sandals, big hopes and a new camera).
La Cala - Villa Giulia
Porta Felica - Foro Italico
Here I spent a wonderful year, doing my EVS, traveling a bit,
gaining experience in humanitarian field and studying Italian… Actually for about
6 months I thought I will never start speaking and end up wasting a great opportunity.
But in November 2014 my mom came to visit me, we took a one-hour train to Cefalù,
where one Sicilian gentleman got very curious about where we are from. The
whole way I served as a translator and, to my surprise, a quiet descent one.
After that everything became easier.
Leaving Sicily in May honestly broke my heart. But the sad
reality is that if you are from Eastern Europe, you are really dependent on
your visa, and it was expiring.
I came back in July – to be a trainer in a training course
and too see everyone I loved and missed. During this time I already knew what I
wanted to do, so I applied for two PhD positions in University of Palermo. To
my surprise, I actually got both scholarships, so one month and a half ago I
landed on Sicily again – with a huge suitcase, backpack, baby-blue blanket I
got for my birthday this year, woolen coat and a huge plaid scarf. My friend’s
husband, who took me from the bus station by car, looked at me very attentively
and asked only one question: “Oh, so it’s cold in Ukraine?” I said yes (the embarrassing
reality was that it simply didn’t fit into my suitcase)
So now I’m back here, in one of my homes. I have many:
-
Ukraine, my beautiful country,
-
a small city in Czech Republic, where I lived
with my parents when I was little,
-
Vilnius, where I felt so at peace
-
Chiang Mai and Bangkok, even though at those
times I never felt at home there,
-
and, finally, Palermo and Sicily in general.
I know that eventually I will have more homes. But I also
know they will always have a place in my heart.
Because you never know where
life will take. So better do your best and open your hear wide.
Disclamer: all the photos belong to me and my friends. Any reposting without proper credits is forbidden.
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