Up in the Air in northern Italy | Piedmont foot of the mountains

The lake was is what drew me to Avigliana through scoping out on google earth a town near a lake, that has a train station. And it has continued to pull me; to swim, to look upon the surrounding hills and lower extension of higher peaks further north. I find myself delighted to have had the experiences of swimming among ducks, watching them and other water birds dive to feed on algae and experiencing water birds and crows. I am saddened at the idea of departing from here. 

So, this is what’s going on, in my head. Having encountered all the obstacles I could find regarding locals renting to a foreigner; for less than a 2 year contract, who’s not a student…and remaining hinged here because of my love of swimming in the lake. I’ve suddenly done a complete dive into changing my direction. Speaking of diving, I am determined in 70º weather to once again swim in the lake today. Last evening was mesmerized watching these sea-like birds and then huge group of crows.

In the meantime I suddenly have been looking towards Berlin, Germany again, for housing. I found the music studio I remembered ‘Noisy Room’ and alternative (invite only) underground Berlin site and posted ads on each, as a bassist and backup vocalist looking for a band, who also needs a room. Then re-commenced the process of using a local Berlin housing site, combing through the room rental ads for their descriptions of the shared living situation.

Then via conversation was reminded of the route of going for a student VISA and found myself looking into Humboldt University matriculation and courses offered. And another conversation later talking about the homeless problem in the United States and my own, I found myself attracted to this interdisciplinary Anthropology lab at Humboldt with contributors of all academic degrees in the physical and social sciences, and suddenly was writing a proposal for an interdisciplinary launch into creating tiny-house communities with an emphasis on symbiotically incorporating the natural world towards clean sustainable housing, with a central focus on all resources – air, water, soil, ecological healthy – controlled by the people themselves in a commons.

And I’m hovering about whether to rip myself out of wonderland – or find a boyfriend or housemate fast (where I’ve found no housing) – I just met a guy last evening who had the chivalry to offer walking me up the midieval stone walkway to the hostel, and I’m going to tell him (google translate) ‘Non ho avuto successo qui ad Avigliana nel trovare una stanza, una camera, appartamento, un monolocale arredato. ‘

I started searching on a local Berlin housing website and already had several responses, more than I’ve had in all of Italy, a response from a person in a full on urban 11th floor room. Yet Berlin is a very green city, not only with the enormous amounts of trees and parks, but also has a great bicycle infrastructure, attention to their carbon footprint and also a lot of lakes. So I’m torn between staying here (if I can find a place to stay) or suddenly plunging myself into becoming a student with all of the bureaucracy it would entail, and making this 180º turnabout. Continuously in this half state of shock state of mind.

Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook and music composition. The PayPal donation button functions in Safari and Firefox, however is broken in Chrome.