Dear Padua #5

Friends and the city (Moldova, 2012)

Wow, that whole Severance metaphor was a lot. I’m not taking it further.

Some of you found this newsletter through The Sample and chose to subscribe. Thank you! A lot of this won’t make sense to you. In summary, I’m an ex Tumblr girl who also takes photos. Born in Moldova, moved to Italy when I was 14. That fucked me up. Now I’m 29 and in the UK. I started therapy last year, which is why I’m a running faucet. But I feel that maybe that (the saying too much) is about to end.

My youngest cousin is getting married this summer in Chișinău, and I’m not going. Scared that war is about to start. It probably won’t, but I’m not taking chances. How selfish and privileged of me. I hope Moldova stays a forgotten country that you never see on the news.

In 2012, I was looking forward to seeing my friends, some of whom I had recently met online on a Moldovan social network. My social life and confidence were crumbling in Padua, but in Chișinău, it was the opposite. I had many friends. They loved me, they missed me and they wanted to hear my stories.

Skipping rocks at the Valea Morilor lake. I had never visited it prior to leaving Moldova. It’s a gorgeous place.

Me playing with a friend’s DSLR. I still had my point and shoot.

The last best friend I had at the Botanical Garden.

Sitting in front of this view.

I guess a funny downside to being in Moldova is that I smoked socially.

To this day, in my dreams, I’m often walking down the streets in Chișinău. I can’t understand why. I wish I could visit, stay there for about a month or two and take photos of every single place I remember. Perhaps my unconscious will be satisfied then.

A Soviet amusement park and high poplar trees. Chișinău is typically called “the green capital”.

Statue of Stephen the Great.

Some assembly in The Great National Assembly Square (Piața Marii Adunări Naționale).

Sofia Street. My best friend and I used to walk up and down this street almost every day.

View of the Alley of Classics inside Stephen the Great Central Park. The alley is decorated on both sides with busts of classic literary figures and political leaders from Moldova (alongside the Russian poet Pushkin).

Chișinău City Hall.

The central post office.

After 2012, I didn’t visit Moldova for another four years. A long time for my alter ego. The city looks better now, less cluttered. At least that’s what I can gather from Google Maps. Maybe I can go next year.

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