Hello Young Adventurers!

Locations Visted: Geneva, Switzerland.  Milan, Italy
Languages Spoken: French and Italian
Words learned: Grazie- thank you, Ciao-Hello/goodbye

Were you able to figure out where I was going next?  These past few days have been pretty quiet compared to my last few weeks in terms of sights and experiences, but y’all… they have been an adventure nonetheless, and I have learned quite a bit through it.  I’m thankful to have learned so much.

When I got to Geneva, I was feeling a little frustrated.  The hostel I picked was actually in a small town outside Geneva called Nyon, and so I had to take another 20 minute train, plus a 15 minute walk to get to where I was staying.  I should have done better research before I left, but you can’t do anything about it in the moment.  I decided to be thankful to be seeing another small town I wasn’t originally going to see, and for the roof over my head that evening.

To top that off, my left eye was feeling weird all day, and when I woke up the next morning to go and explore Geneva, I was greeted by my eye being swollen completely shut!  So far I had been able to fight off sickness the entire trip because I am really nervous about trying to get medical help in a foreign country when I can’t communicate what is going on very well.  Fortunately, people in Geneva speak French, so I was able to communicate better than I could anywhere else.  I decided to go to the Pharmacy (the pharmacies here have doctors who can see you on the spot if it’s minor without having to go to an actual doctor’s office, and they can write some prescriptions if needed!), and was helped by a kind doctor who gave me some medicine to help my eye get better.  She told me how to use it, and sent me on my way.  I was thankful for medicine and to be hopefully recovering soon.

So… every two hours I used the cream, determined to make the most of the day, and I kept exploring.  I climbed the Cathedral in Geneva to get a rooftop view of the city, got some Swiss chocolate, and saw this insane fountain that was on the lake.  Speaking of the lake- I had never seen clearer water in my life.  There were countless swans swimming along the surface, and you could see every fish swimming by underneath!  Since I wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to over do it, I sat down by the shore and just relaxed, enjoying what I could see of the view from my one good eye.  I was thankful to be able to still explore with what I had.

I didn’t want to overdo it- even though my body felt well, I knew I needed to let it rest if I wanted it to have the energy needed to help my eye heal, so I headed back to Nyon to explore a bit before heading back to the hostel.  This was when I realized how thankful I was to be staying in this city, because I stumbled upon this old castle that had an overlook of Lake Geneva and the city of Nyon behind it, and I never would have seen that otherwise!  After relaxing there a bit, I finally decided to head back to the hostel for an early night because I was getting up bright and early to head to Milan the next day anyways.  I’ll also include a picture of the local currency in Switzerland- Francs! I was thankful for unplanned surprises.

I woke up hoping my eye would be better, but it was only worse.  I decided to research the medicine online, just in case I missed something important… and guess what?  I did.  Turns out, you have to put the cream in your eye… not just on the eyelid!  It was something I missed in the translation between me and the doctor.  So, optimistic, I used it the correct way, and got on the train to Milan.  I was so excited about getting to Italy, that I forgot about my eye for a while!  I was thankful for the stunning train ride (picture below!)

Getting into Milan, I was immediately lost and confused.  So far, I had mainly been in French and Spanish speaking countries, both are languages I know well enough to get by.  Even in the Netherlands and Belgium (both of which speak Dutch), most people were speaking English, and signs were usually in English as well.  That was not the case here.  My Italian is nonexistent, so I stumbled my way to my hostel across town, put down my stuff, and headed out to explore.  I was thankful to have made it safely.

At this point, I was honestly feeling kinda defeated.  My eye was still basically shut, I was self-conscious of how it looked, I was worn out from not feeling well, and I was frustrated because I could not communicate with people.  This was the first time this trip so far where I really just wanted to take a break from it all, and longed to be back at Chipotle with my friends back in the States.  I decided that my attitude needed to change, though.  Regardless if the situation wasn’t perfect, I was walking in the streets of Italy- a place I’ve wanted to travel to since I was a kid!   I was thankful for the land of pizza, pasta, gelato, and history.

I knew I had to stay optimistic, and find things to be thankful for.  I was thankful to be here.  I was thankful to have another great place to rest my head.  I was thankful for a delicious meal that I found for lunch shortly after leaving my hostel to explore.  I was thankful to be traveling and living my dream.  I was thankful to have been able to get medicine from a doctor.  I was thankful to be able to do laundry while in this new hostel.  I was thankful for WiFi to help me translate when possible.  I was thankful that my glasses had been shipped to me from home (I had forgotten them!) just 2 days prior to my eye swelling.

My attitude immediately began to shift, and I headed out to climb to the top of the huge cathedral here in Milan, The Duomo, because I wasn’t going to sit around and mope or feel sorry for myself any longer.  I got to the entrance, got to take an elevator to the top (no steps! Another thing I was thankful for!), and was greeted by some of the most stunning views I had seen all trip!  It was amazing to get to walk on the roof of such a beautiful building and see the architecture up close and personal.  While on the roof, I met a girl from Knoxville, Tennessee named Alicia, and she and I made plans to meet later that evening for dinner since we were both traveling on our own.  I was now thankful to have some company later in the day.

I went down, explored the inside of the Cathedral, and then wandered around town for a bit.  Milan is known as the fashion capitol of the world, so I spent some time looking through all the clothing shops that I in no way could afford.   I was thankful to be able to see such beautiful things up close.  

Following that, I walked down the street, and found something that cracked me up a bit.  So, Starbucks just opened their first store in Italy this past week, and it was here in Milan!  It was without a doubt the most incredible Starbucks I had ever seen from the outside, but what cracked me up was how large the line was since it was so new to Italy.  Now y’all… here’s the deal.  Starbucks has good coffee, yes.  But Italy is known for their amazing coffee that you can get for practically nothing at any cafe on the street.  The fact that everyone was lining up for Starbucks when there were probably 15 other cafes within sight just made me laugh.  I was thankful to have gotten to see it for myself, though!

I made my way down the street, saw a Palace that I made a mental note to go explore another day, and headed back to meet Alicia for dinner.  We got spaghetti and talked about our journeys- she was traveling to learn more about hairdressing and to learn as much as she could from different salons so that she could be better when she returned home.  We all travel for different reasons, and I love it.  We talked for hours, before I headed back to my hostel to get some sleep.  I was thankful to have made a new friend.

The next morning my eye was at it’s worst.  I knew I needed to go see another doctor just to make sure, so I headed to the pharmacy and was greeted by a very kind doctor who sent me in the direction of an actual eye doctor.  Well… I got completely lost navigating my way there, but somehow eventually made it only to be met with a doctor who spoke ZERO english.  So, he brought out his computer and we had a conversation via GoogleTranslate.  He told me the cream I was given by the previous doctor was what I needed, and that I just have to be patient, and use a cold compress on it if possible. I was thankful the medicine I was given earlier was exactly what I needed.

I headed out, feeling a little more hopeful, and walked around town the rest of the day.  I even found a really amazing small museum that had some of Leonardo da Vinci’s original design drawings for various musical instruments!  I was thankful to get to see the work of someone so incredible firsthand and that it happened to be all about musical instruments!

I went back to my hostel early just to allow my body to rest, watched some Netflix, planned my next few trains and hostels, Facetimed with one of my friends from home, Megan, and turned in early.  I was thankful to see the face of a dear friend and to catch up.

Today, I woke up and guess what?  MY EYE WAS GETTING BETTER.  It’s still not perfect, but it no longer hurts, and it’s not completely shut anymore.  PROGRESS!  My goal today is to just explore and wander.  I’m giving myself a money budget, and I’m not allowing myself to go over it today, so that I can save some money.  Today is my last day here in Milan before I leave for my next city- also in Italy, and famous for it’s many canals and gondolas!  Do you know where I’m going next?  I’m thankful to be heading to a place that has been high on my list of travel for years.

One last thing before I leave you- I could have been miserable while here in Milan and Geneva.  My eye hurt, I could only see out of one of them, and I was frustrated with not being able to communicate with anyone for help easily.  But I loved my time here.  And the reason simply is this: I chose to be thankful.  Every time I got bothered by something- getting on the wrong train, my eye, getting lost trying to get home, feeling lonely- I decided to find something to be thankful for instead.  I actively sought reasons to be happy.  And it wasn’t long until I actually was.  Many weren’t big things either.  I was thankful for a delicious coffee.  I was thankful to have at least one good, working eye that I could still enjoy the sights with.  I was thankful for my feet which got me from point A to point B.  Friends, days aren’t always going to be good.  In fact, many are going to be hard and frustrating.  But you can always find something to be thankful for.  Positivity spreads like wildfire within you, and once you start accepting the good around you, you find so much more.  I challenge you to go through a list of everything you’re thankful for from the day each night as you go to bed.  Even if it was the worst day ever and the only good thing was that you made it back to your bed that night to sleep- be thankful.  Have an Attitude of Gratitude.  I’m thankful for you guys following and joining me on this journey, and I hope I can teach you so much more over the next 10 months.  For now, remember:

Have Courage, & Be Kind (and thankful!)

Mr. Weavil