Google translate became my best friend in Italy. For many reasons that I cannot speak Italian and I needed to figure my way around town. Connection is a normal thing for humans. I am a personal believer that you need human connection. Connecting with others on a daily basis is proven to boost life expectancy and it can outweigh many difficult trials in your life.
I know for me personally, I need connection. If I don’t have at least one-three good conversations a day, I will probably crash and burn the rest of the day. I crave human connection. It is just in my nature. During covid, I struggled. I didn’t see my friends and I honestly couldn’t do the phone connection any longer. It just didn’t for for ME and that is OK.
Now in Italy, I struggled at first. I got in my head pronouncing words and sometimes I would even say the words quiet so no one could hear me in case I mispronounced it. It was an insecurity of mine that I was able to work through. Thankfully. if I didn’t TRY to get through it, I would have been miserable the whole trip. There were people on the trip definitely more skilled than me and were able to communicate in better ways. SO, I observed and learned. For example, ordering food was a struggle for me. If I said it wrong, I was embarrassed but luckily, the Italians had grace with me and others. They knew I was trying.
At the restaurant we ate for lunch, one of the workers names was Sophia. Sophia didn’t speak much English where as we didn’t speak much Italian. We were learning together. I think it is so cool that she was helping us learn and we were helping her. It was so fun and we loved Sophia. One day at lunch, Ashton and I asked what the food was. it was like a shrimp dish with something called spelt. Sophia asked for Ashtons phone, and looked up what it was to show us. It was a way for her to explain and therefore there was a connection between us because she was helping us.
She gave us so much grace and we gave her grace. It taught me a lot. In times I would get frustrated, I remembered the grace given to me in these moments. It was formed through human connection. That is just one of the connections I was able to really make in my two weeks. Sophia taught me to remember even with different languages, patience is the best. It is just a slower life there and I appreciate it. She doesn’t know all she taught me, but maybe one day we will reconnect.
Connecting with people could even be through movement. The night worker at our hotel could speak minimal English but he used his hands or movement to show what he was trying to say so then we all started doing it. We could have so many conversations and it would be minimal words but just movement. I thought it was so neat. There was even one day I was sitting downstairs and this sweet old Italian lady said “Señorita” and she was waving the remote at me to turn on the TV. She was a sassy thing but she was great.
When you are in the same place, you don’t realize how easy it is to speak to people and then you go somewhere else and it is so different. Barely anyone was on their phones and everyone was just drinking wine, laughing and connected. I thought it was amazing. Connection is a cool thing. you can connect in so many different ways. In times where I felt frustrated, learning different ways to communicate even without google translate saved me. I miss my Italy friends and I hope to reconnect with them one day.
