After my travel diary from last night, I never thought a day like this one could even be possible. I am still in shock from the memories I’ve made today because they are going to be the ones that last a lifetime. I met people my age. And not only did I meet people my age, but I also went on a true adventure and faced a huge fear of mine: cliff diving.

Yes. I cliff dived off a mountain in Italy with a bunch of teenagers that I just met today.

It truly just blows my mind that something that upset me so much and made me feel so broken got completely turned around in less than 24 hours. And I never saw it coming. Life really works funnily and moments like these just make me believe more and more that everything happens for a reason.

Now, let me get to my story:

Today started normally. I woke up early for choir rehearsal and then church started right after. I sang a song with the choir for the first time today and I think people enjoyed it. By the time the church ended, it was time for lunch. My original plan for today was to head into town with my grandparents, do some laundry, and get some gelato. But as you read, it all took a funny turn.

Before lunch, I grabbed a cappuccino and I got a chance to talk to a group of people I rode on the bus with during the time I toured. We had a good talk and they all seemed like really fun people.

At lunch, I sat down at the table with my grandparents like I normally did but this time it was different. The girl I had just talked to invited me over to their table to eat lunch with them! I couldn’t stop smiling. It truly meant so much to me. And I still can’t believe that everything happened so easily.

I sat down at their table and I got to know a lot of people my age or around my age and they were so nice to me. They wanted my snapchat and they were just such a delight to be around. As we continued talking and eating, another girl our age came over to me and invited me to take a walk down the beach to go to the big mountain and cliff dive. She told me the walk was about two hours there and two hours back and that if we left at 2:30 we could make it back before dinner. Wow. How is this even happening to me? Just last night I was crying because I felt so alone here and by lunch, the next day someone already invited me to their table and another person invited me to go cliff diving?!?! I couldn’t even process everything. It all happened so fast.

I said I would have to ask but as soon as I saw the number of teenagers who were going I just knew I HAD to go. This was my chance to meet people. To branch out. I mean you can’t just not talk to the people around you for a period of four hours.

So after lunch, I went to my room and got ready for the journey. Now, I did make a HUGE mistake. Since I was originally told that we were going to be walking on the beach, I brought my sandals. Oh, brother. I will go into more detail about that painful experience later.

We all met at 2:30 and set out, on foot, on our two-hour walk to the mountain. I talked to everyone on the walk and there were so many people from different countries! We had the United States, obviously, Germany, and the U.K. There were so many accents I couldn’t even explain and it was so fun to talk about the differences and stereotypes of the countries. Like apparently tennis shoes are called trainers in the U.K. and they don’t call their friends “friends” they are called their mates. I never even knew! Also, their schooling system is a lot different than ours but I didn’t understand it much so I can’t share it accurately.

The journey was so long and since my sandals are not good walking shoes, I took them off and walked barefoot on the road for the whole. two. hours. My feet had such bad blisters and hurt so bad just from the walk there.

When we finally arrived, we started climbing the mountain. The climb was actually not hard at all. It was a lot easier than the walk actually. But the rocks were hard on my feet. And then we begun!

I was so so scared at first. I absolutely HATE heights and I’m not the best swimmer either. But luckily, one of the guys there is a lifeguard and so that was good to know. I watched a couple of people do it first but I knew that this was an opportunity that I would never see again. I mean cliff diving in Italy…how many people from the United States can say they’ve done that? So it was my turn. They counted down so many times before I actually decided to jump. But then…

I DID IT!!!

I was shaking so much before I did it and I was shaking afterward, too. When I got out of the water my knees were a little bloody from scraping them on a rock but I honestly didn’t feel it and it looked worse than it felt. I can’t even recall at what point I scraped them. But I can’t believe I did something like that.

The way back was even more fun than the trip there. I felt a lot more open to everyone there since they all cheered me on and I got to know them. The whole way back we listened to music on a speaker and the songs were so good! We were jamming to oldies and new songs and I was dancing like crazy and it was a blast.

We finally arrived and I could barely walk. The blisters on my feet are so big and I’m really concerned for the touring that is coming up and the high heels I have to wear for church…

The rest of my night was pretty simple. We went to dinner and I sat with the boy from the bus and his siblings and it was a lot of fun since I knew them now. Afterward, I helped sing in a group preparing for the Talent Show tomorrow night. I originally wasn’t going to perform just because I was so busy that I didn’t get to prepare but somehow I got worked into it anyway.

As far as my “social experiment,” I want to scrap it and just share what I’ve learned. We have worries, fears, and doubts all of the time about talking to new people. But I think that if we let life flow the way it will, we can catch its wave at the perfect time. I anticipated being the first to talk to these people so that I could blog about my experience but when I just let it happen naturally, it came to me. I truly can’t believe that yesterday I felt so alone and that no one liked me. I felt so stuck and I felt that this hardship wouldn’t end. But it did. So, I now believe that even in your hardest times, if you just hold on and stick with it, life will guide you to where you need to be. If you are meant to meet someone, you will. You aren’t living if you are dwelling in fear but you are living when you decide to break away from its chains. I learned that I need to not worry so much about the little things. I need to live. And today, I think I did just that.

Best wishes to all,

Laurel ❤

 

Uncategorized Europe travel