When I was little I wanted to be Diana Ross. More specifically I wanted to be Diana Ross in Berry Gordy's Mahogany. It's the story of a inner city black girl played by Diana Ross who becomes a top fashion model in Italy. I wanted to be discovered, and be paid copious amounts of money to frolic in Roman fountains while Anthony Perkins took hundreds of pictures of me.
As fate would have it I grew four inches shy of a leggy super model and had to find other ways to get to Italy and frolic. When I turned 20 I got my chance. My semester abroad was my first experience on Italian soil. I don't recall frolicking in fountains, but I certainly had the time of my life. The reality of Rome lived up to to the Italian fantasy. The place has a heartbeat, a vibration that you feel even after you walk away from the subway. Average everyday things are spectacularly beautiful: women, ice cream, architecture, shop windows, everything. All of them treated to Roman touch of glamour and the unexpected. All of my subsequent visits left me with that effervescent feeling you have when you realize the love of your life loves you back.
I expected Rome to change my life, and it did. It was the first time I felt exotic. It was the first time people asked about where came from because of the way I looked. Where I come from there are lots of girls who look like me. Those heady days prepared me well for Vicenza. Although the people here are not as warm and welcoming as they were in 1990s Rome, they are genuine, curious and eager to engage in American customs such toga parties, drinking games, Thanksgiving, Halloween and the Fourth of July.
The funny thing about living abroad is that you learn more about yourself as result of your hosts curiosity about who you are and why you came.
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