My Italy Journey

During the summer of my sophomore year in college, I decided to study abroad in Florence, Italy for two months. Being that I had a struggled with an eating disorder for eight years, I hoped that, being around a culture that embraces spontaneity, creativity, flexibility, art, freedom, and food would change me.
I remember Italy clearly, there were many ups and downs; it was a journey to say the least, one that I needed to take, and I do not regret it. For a few days, I was living the dream as I climbed the Duomo, visited the Baptistery, went to authentic restaurants with incredible food, went to famous museums where I saw breathtaking works of art, and just explored this fantastic city of Florence while taking college courses at The University of Florence and learning about this incredible place.
I had some incredible and enlightening moments in Italy that I will never forget, and these moments were the ones that truly motivated me to change. Turns out that I met another young woman in my study abroad group who had also suffered from an eating disorder; what are the odds, right? She confided in me one day, and this time, instead of running away and shutting her out, I listened, hoping to gain some insight into how to beat this disorder by listening to someone who was fully recovered. She told me about intuitive eating, a new concept that I had never heard of before, but something that I always dreamed of, being able to listen to your body and know what it needs in terms of nourishment, whether it be through food, spirituality, movement, etc. It is that crucial mind and body connection that the eating disorder severs, and therefore, in order to break free from my disordered mindset, I had to start listening to my body again, which is what this beautiful culture emphasized.
Overall, what I had learned from my journey to Italy was that life is a journey, and therefore, we must choose to make the most of it by living in the moment. I truly believe that Italy was a step in my recovery that I needed to take in order to get to the place that I am at now, and that is, living a balanced life.