The first time my heart broke...

*For MyF

...I was 14. I had been totally, madly, unequivocally in love with him for about 5 months and we had been dating for 1. The bell had just rung and I was on my way out, when he caught me on the stairs and told me to break up. I answered "sure, no prob", returned home, went straight to my room and cried my eyes out.

The first days after the break-up, the scenes of our relationship played and replayed in my mind, like a movie I was obliged to watch again and again, unable to find the stop button. Every day, I prayed that everything would change, that he would understand he made a mistake and come back.

He never did. On the contrary, he seemed perfectly happy, joking around with his friends. Not a single sign of missing me, though he kept on talking to me. I was mad at him for his kind behavior, for not hurting me in some way - then, it would have been easy, I would just say "what a bastard" and end of story. I was also mad at my parents, who did not let me go out as often as he did - if they did, maybe we would still be together. I was even mad at my friends, who didn't seem to realize my grief and kept on talking about the same insipid things we used to talk about every day before the catastrophe.

The days were passing and my feelings for him remained as intense as always. I was in love and I could do nothing about it. Sure, I was in love and alone also before our relationship, but at least I hoped that we would be together. And we did, and he left me and now I had lost all hope of finding comfort. Never again would we be together; I was obliged to keep on living with my heart full of emotions that were addressed to him and could no way be expressed and shared. I felt like a balloon in the verge of popping, unable to get rid of what inflated me and oh god, I was so full it hurt.

Nobody knew it, though. To the rest of the world, I kept on pretending that I am fine, no big deal. I was too proud to let anyone know that I was devastated. "Devastated" is not even close to describing what I felt: the world had turned dark and upside down, without the singlest sign it would go right again.

Then one day, I got out of my bubble of grief just for few moments, which were nevertheless enough to hear my best friends complaining about their love problems: the first one was in love with someone who was totally unaware of her existence, the second one had been rudely rejected. And, suddenly, it hit me: at least, I had got him! How many girls out there could say the same? How many girls were suffering, silently or loudly, for someone who was more than obviously not returning or ever going to return the same feelings?

After the months I had spent mourning, this sudden positive thought was a true revelation. And, combined with the fact that I was not crying at his thought any more, made me realize that everything is gonna be ok and that "time heals everything" is true, not some crap people say when they run out of advice.

Of course, that wasn't the only time my heart broke, neither the only one it healed. In the course of years, it happened again and again, in the vicious circle of love. So, little sis, take my story and welcome on the ride! Fasten your belt: it is fast, it is dizzy, it is scary and risky but trust me: you won't want to get off of it!

Vienna Calling

My personal Vienna Un-Guide, based on my two-legged (one in October, one in December) visit of the city. By the end of it, you will have seen almost all the main attractions (but you will have difficulties on remembering the names), you will have visited no museums, you will have taken no photos, probably you will have taken some kilos and you will have found a total of 5 euros in the streets.

DAY 1: Arrive late. Have your friend drive you around the main sights and up the hill to admire Vienna by night. Then, straight to the bars at Museum District, drink all the gin tonics you can handle and dance the night away. Finally, go to a chalet-looking tiny bar, full of drunk Austrians singing loudly austrian songs. Learn some lyrics and impress them.

DAY 2: Get a problem with your lenses, throw them away and eat pumpkin soup for lunch. Go to St Stephen's Cathedral. Get lost in the crowd at the Military Fair in front of the Hofburg Palace (organized due to the National Day). Pretend that you do not want to go to Prater and get on the Wheel (but do it anyway) and eat fried garlic bread. Later, follow your friend's flatmate to a club and spend the night drinking cocktails and gossiping.

DAY 3: Have brunch. Go to the Christmas Market at the Town Hall, eat half a candy apple and let the other half fall on a man in the tram. Then, go to the Christmas Market at Schonbrunn Palace, drink berry punch, listen to a gospel choir and freeze to the point of feeling your toes in pain. Back home, share a Chinese duck dish and watch the last James Bond movie dubbed in austrian.

DAY 4: Go for breakfast in a typical austrian student cafe and take a stroll at the Danube channel. Spend some time reading the mirrors of Carlsplatz metro station. Laugh with the Golden Cabbage and then, cross the street to the open market and buy some yummy turkish finger food. Watch Avatar on 3D munching surimi and for desert, after the cinema, eat strawberries dipped in chocolate (not as good as it sounds, better try the banana).

5 Months in Bratislava

I arrived in Bratislava mid-October, at night, and waited in the empty bus station my brother to pick me up. He led me straight to an underground bar in Hviezdoslavovo Square, where I was warmly welcomed by his friends over dark Saris beers.

The first days, taking advantage of the distance which allowed me to see some things more clearly, I tried to put my thoughts in order, especially when it came to what I want to do with my life in general. Then, I started meeting people, I visited Vienna and Prague and read some books I wanted to read for a long time.

After Christmas, I returned to Bratislava ready for some action. The weather did not help a lot, though. It was snowing every two days, until I got sick of it and then I re-appreciated it when I realized that it was actually less cold if it was snowing. The lake in the park next to my house froze, it was the first time I saw something like that, let alone walk on it!

Maybe the consumption of Slovak drinks would have helped to live more succesfully through the Slovak winter, but I didn't dare approach them, after my first experience which included all of them and I hardly remember how it ended...

My brother had adapted as well and, after his exams were successfully over, we started spending time together. Before, I had been afraid that if we continued living together without actually communicating, we would lose any kind of contact, so I was more than relieved when I saw the situation improving.

Mid-February, I got the opportunity to move to Italy and I decided to grab it. Then, it happened exactly the same that had happened in August, when I decided to leave Athens: I started having an amazing time! It seemed that my everyday life in Bratislava was becoming exactly as I wanted it to be: friendship, romance, drama, all was included and in the most balanced way.

The last day, I sent half my stuff back to Greece, went for dinner in my favorite restaurant, drank a bottle of wine, packed whatever had remained unpacked, gave someone to keep a few things for me -as a guarantee that we would meet again in order to take them back- and off I was, excited and sad at the same moment: excited for the new beginning, sad for leaving at its best moment, when everything had started working out. Even the sun had reappeared and the snow had started melting!

My first days here, I searched flights for a weekend visit - with no result, as all Ryanair weekend flights till April are booked. I see my friends' photos on Facebook and get jealous for not being there to share those moments with them. One of them is visiting me in some days and, hopefully, the others will follow, sooner or later.

I do not regret leaving though. I like it in Bologna: I love the city, I feel at home and, the people I know, I feel as if I know them for years. Most important, I am doing exactly what I wished when I left home: I live my adventure. Yes, I miss Bratislava but I do not complain and, to be honest, in a way I am happy it turned out like this: Bratislava's goodbye was the sweetest it could ever be.

Jobs, applications, CVs etc

When I decided to leave Greece, I arranged to keep my job and do it through internet, but I planned on finding a second work too. With the security of earning more or less enough money for living, I decided to look only for positions relevant to my studies.

So, after arriving in Bratislava, I applied for a job at a school. No surprise they didn't reply back: though my CV was ok, cover letter and the rest were awful. Obviously, I had no idea back then, I realized it two months later, while preparing my second application.

This time it was for a language school in Prague that needed a teacher of Greek. I desperately wanted that job (teacher of Greek and Prague, sounded perfect!), so I made a thorough research on CVs and cover letters, improved mine and off they were.

I was praying day and night to receive a positive answer and, 3 days later, I received an e-mail informing me that they are interested in an interview. I jumped up and down, shouting from joy, and, trembling from excitement, sat down to immediately respond. It was then that I realized that the e-mail was actually from the first school. Ironic, eh?

Anyway, I did respond, stating my interest and asking some additional info on the position. They didn't reply back.

I sent the last CV a few weeks ago, to a language school in Italy. Two days later, I was accepted for a 4-month internship.

That's it, people - I'm moving to Bologna!