Bouquet #6 - Estate
Hello my friends. Can you believe it’s been 5 months since I started this newsletter? It still feels very new to me. How do you feel?
Last time I ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, which means I should now tell you the reason why I’m in Italy. It was supposed to be this big reveal, but the thing I’m here for hasn’t happened yet, because, you know, slooow living.
I’m here to get my Italian citizenship. Woohoo! Let’s count together: so I arrived here on 27th August 2007, which makes it exactly… 13 years, 9 months, 5 days ago. I have to wait 15 more days.
Enough with the numbers.
Except not. I’m sorry! It’s 1st June.
When I was little, this used to be such a special day. Not only was it international children’s day, but also the first day of summer vacation. Nothing can compare to that feeling I had in the morning, knowing I would be eating cotton candy and then go to the circus. The circus in Chisinau looks like this. It is now abandoned. Remember that Numa Numa Iei song? The band often included images of the building in their videos. I, too, am a broken record and always talk about it.
It’s 1st June.
I’ve already done a few summery things worth remembering.
This breakfast is one example. You can buy me more coffee.
During the last 13 years in Padua we moved houses three times, but we were never too far from this place near the river. I enjoy walking here and taking lots of photos.
It even ended up on Die Zeit.
I realised Italy is too hot of a country for me to live in. Ironic, huh? I burned my scalp and my feet at the beach, after not having followed my own advice.
Anyway, I went to the Porto Caleri beach with a few friends, an uncared & wild one, but we like her like that.
Watch
Great Art Explained is a Youtube channel that presents art “in a jargon free, entertaining, clear and concise way with no gimmicks”. The next video is going to be about - wait for it - Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
Read
I’ve almost finished reading the Marie Kondo book I got for my mum. I can’t wait to go back home and organize stuff. In the meantime, I have deleted plenty of apps from my phone. On that note, it’s time to rethink phones.
What I realize is that I’ve put a lot of effort into creating my own solutions for how to interact with my phone to create less friction in the last few years, but it was exactly that: effort. This is not how this was supposed to work.
Listen
I’ve written this newsletter while listening to Lofi.cafe the whole time. It’s a radio station with the perfect music to relax/study/work to.
Have you heard that Italy won Eurovision? Pause Lofi.cafe and listen to Måneskin - Zitti e Buoni. Black kohl eyeliners should go up in sales this summer.
Buy
Speaking of makeup, Lisa Eldridge’s new summer collection is out. Her lipsticks will make all your other lipsticks obsolete. They will bring you joy.
Thank you for being here. Tell a friend. It makes me smile.
Follow me along on @_alinatrifan or see my portfolio. As a heads up, I will be closing the print shop soon, so catch one while you can.
Signing off, your soon-to-be Moldovan-Italian,
Alina
💐