The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 4

I saw two police officers at the hotels reception. My heart was beating very fast, I was shaking from top to bottom, I was sweating like never before. Just the thought of that moment brings back the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever felt. I walked quickly to the elevator, ran to my room and hid all the money that I had in the bathroom's sink, I lied in my bed and hoped to fall asleep. I heard someone knocking on my door, I pretended to be asleep. It was the police, they kept knocking. I decided to open up and I acted as if I just woke up, I was scare shitless. They had found my social security card and they had been looking for me this whole time. It felt like a big stone was just remove from my back. Those were the most scary moments of my life. I hardly fell asleep that night, I kept struggling with the sense of guilt and fear that kept harassing me for the last couple of days. The next morning I woke up later in the afternoon and I decided to go look for a job. I didn't find a job but what I found was a croupier school. Considered my love for casino games and gambling I decided to enroll. On my way back to the hotel I noticed that a bar near the Colosseum was hiring a waiter so I went for that too. See, in Italy you don't have to apply for the job first and then wait for the response, if you ask for the job and the owner of the bar decides that you are able to do the job, you get the job at the moment. I was finally starting to feel like my life was becoming balanced. The owner of the bar offered me a bed at his place in return for some English lessons. His name was Marco and that man is as dear to me as my father is. To be continued

The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 3

After waking up I felt better, my knees weren't shaking anymore, my mind was more relaxed, and I was slowly coming back to normality. I hit the hotel's gym for a half hour and had a good shower: I was ready to begin my "new life" if so we can call it. I had about € 450 in my pocket and I headed out searching for something to do, I wasn't sure as to what I was searching for but I knew that staying closed in my hotel room wouldn't do me any good. My Italian was poor but I managed to order a coffee and a croissant in this very crowded bar. I had never seen one like it before, people coming in and out like ants and the barman shouting across the bar to his assistant. I starting to feel strange since I wasn't use to having my personal space invaded so many times in such a short period of time, but I had to adapt, after all this is what I wanted right? I finished my breakfast quickly I headed out where a couple of old men where playing cards. They were playing 5 card draw poker. That's it I sat down and started playing, hand, after hand, after hand, I was on a winning streak. The luck must have been on my side that day since every time I play poker I seem to not get a hand right. Anyway, being around € 200 up I decided to say goodbye to my friends. I had managed to earn some money that day but obviously this couldn't go on much longer. From there I decided to get back to my hotel room and order some food in my room, when the inevitable happened. To be continued...

The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 2

All right! So, I'm back and I'll just keep writing about my journey. Once arrived at the airport of Fiumicino in Rome I was tired, hungry and broke. All I had was a couple of dollars and with those money I decided to buy a sandwich at the airport. I was happy though, I thought "did it, I am in Rome, the city I have been wondering about for the last couple of months" but I didn't have any money to enjoy all this beauty. I needed money, and I needed them fast, when a glimpse of my childhood memory came back to me. I remembered how fun it was to pickpocket my grandfather and to watch his surprised face when I returned his wallet back. Yeah, you guessed it, I started pick-pocketing people. I would only target man since they were the easiest marks. I remember how easy it was stealing wallets from young guys who wore baggy jeans, my whole hand could slip in that back pocket and he would even notice a thing. I spent my first hour in Rome hustling people, not a good start, huh? Finally I had enough money to get a Taxi to "Piazza di Spagna" which is one of the  most crowded places in Rome. Then I hustled some more. When suddenly my guilty conscience took over. I probably spent 3 hours in this park nearby just thinking of how many days I ruined. I decided to live with that. I found a cheap hotel and I spent the night there. To be continued....

The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 1

 I have to say that the best thing that ever happened to me was moving to Europe, Italy precisely. I love this country and I love the whole European "air" that I breath. While I was living in Washington my life was so boring, I'd spend my free time in front of my computer screen just browsing for absolutely nothing. My job was so boring that it got to the point where I fired myself and lived off of the money I spared. Long story short, I was unsatisfied with my life. I had only 1200 bucks left and I decided to buy my ticket to Italy with those money. Yeah you probably guessed it, I spent all my money on the plane ticket. When I came here I had nothing. But I planned out everything, my new life was going to begin now, and I was not going to screw up again. I mean, I had a lot of time to think and plan everything in minor details. But now it's 2am here and I'm felling kind of sleepy. I will continue in the next blog post. Ciao!