La Ragazza Con La Valigia

Here I am again, trying to write another first post on another blog! I think I'm going to stick to this one this time. I figure it will be a different way to write a diary and keep in touch with friends and family. They say third time is a charm, for me it is probably the fifth or sixth.

So here I am again on the verge of starting a new adventure, moving to another city, another country. This time I'm going to Brussels for six months. I will be working for a big human rights organisation. 

It is probably the fourth or fifth that I have to move and so for my first post I will just share some pre-departure thoughts with you.

I am going to get my suitcase down from the attic in a minute. This is raising the typical little panic attack I have every time I have to pack:WHAT DO I REALLY NEED?
By the time I give myself an answer I have already packed all the superfluous stuff and already reached my final destination. So far I have probably written down 1300 lists; all included the essential (or what I think the essential is) plus a 'small' table easel with all my colours, pencils and brushes to paint wonderful watercolours of the lovely Belgian countryside! I'm sorry I don't know how to renounce to my hobbies.

An empty suitcase not only makes me think of all the stuff I have to bring with me but also of everything I am going to leave behind...Sometimes is friends, love or family or a bit of everything. So because I can't pack people I will just pack photographs. To be completely honest with you this time is a bit different because as university ended most of my friends left and if I don't leave as well I will be the one left behind this time. Also I will still have a link with Bath as my family lives here allowing me to call this Somerset gem my home. 

I decided to call this blog 'on the run' because often I feel 'on the run', moving from place to place and not yet have found a place to settle down and begin my life for real. I know this is the life I have chosen for myself so I can't complain as it is exciting and stimulating (otherwise I would have already stopped!). Today I was at the hairdresser's having my hair cut one last time (I tend not to trust foreign hairdressers sorry!) and I was thinking how everyone has his/her local hairdresser, pub, shop or restaurant they always go to.  It is the same for me here in Bath but now I have to rebuild all this in a new environment and that gave me a sense of nostalgia but also a thrill that makes me want to leave immediately and explore Brussels in every little corner.  For example I always go to the same park for a jog, it is five minutes from home and  I learnt to love it and now I have to find another park in Brussels or more likely another sport as there will be no park five minutes from where I will be living in Brussels. Tomorrow I will go for one last run as my personal way to say goodbye to Bath. 

On friday I will get into my 'la ragazza con la valigia' mode.I love the phrase, it is very catchy despite the fact that the character played by Claudia Cardinale in Zurlini's film 'Girl with a Suitcase' doesn't really reflect me!

This is probably it for now! I will soon let you know how my arrival in the capital of the European Union was so I can seriously start my blogging activity!!