YOU are a tourist

I have lived here, in Switzerland for 12 weeks now. That's 3 months. And it had definitely become my new home. We have a full kitchen, a sofa, a living room. We even have a bathtub (that is big and deep and has nearly replaced all my showers). We have plants. We have maps on our walls. We even have a swiffer (thanks Mom!). We don't have a TV but we have online movies/Tv (shh). We don't have a mail box but we have a door bell. We don't have a house, but we have a home. 

But when I got here, it was like vacation. I made a list- Things to do here before I go home for Christmas. 

But 3 months have passed, and a lot of the list is not checked off. A new list, actually, has been created. Things to do when I am home at Christmas. It's as if I will be a tourist in my own home. Or my old home. 

I understand that things won't be the same when I return. I always knew that. And that was one of my biggest fears when leaving- that I'd never be able to really return. I'd never be able to come home, to truly come home. 

But now that I straddle two homes, two lives, like a child of lovingly divorced parents with two sets of everything, I hold two identities. I am Bruce Wayne and Batman-- except my Bat cave is only a secret to half of my life. It's okay that I won't be totally home back in the states. It's okay because I am established here. I am no longer some sort of searching, wandering, gypsied soul. I have a home base for in between weekend excursions, week long adventures and studying. When I visit home, I don't want to step on my families toes. They two have moved on. I have to be aware, that like I have, they have moved on. Though neither of us has forgotten the old, we just have created new. I feel I can be aware and respect this because I can visit them. It isn't my home that they have replaced. But really, I can't wait to be a tourist in my old home-- I have a list as if it were some strange new place. I have food I want to eat, things I want to see, people I want to visit, restaurants to eat at... Things to bring home, things to collect. 

I am really luck. I have two homes. 

It's strange, we have clutter in our living room.

That's when you know you're really home. 

<3

European Hot Chocolate is my life.

(heiße) Schokolade, chocolat chaud, cioccolata (CON PANNA per favore!)

American hot chocolate is all that I've known my whole entire life. This consists usually out of a packet of dried, milk chocolate colored packet and then one adds hot milk or hot water. American hot chocolate is usually chocolate flavored water/water or milk with a little bit of chocolate.

European hot chocolate, on the other hand, is a cup of chocolate with a little bit of milk.

 FOR ABOVE: visit Tonolo's in Venice Italy (one of the more locals spots in Venice... sure there are a few tourists but most are locals. They also have delicious in house made pastries... Go for their Berliner, it has an apple butter filling!) for a delicious cup of cioccolata, order it con panna, it is a glorified version of whipped cream!

 Seen above and below is a place in Padova, Italy, with mahogany counter tops and a feeling that your back in time. This is a real local's spot!

Enjoy!
<3