i’m currently on a plane, on my way to the netherlands. i’ve never been and i’m really excited. i’m visiting a very dear friend who’s in erasmus and who’s having so much fun over there. tomorrow we’re going to amsterdam and i cant even put into words how thrilled i am. i’ve always seen amsterdam in movies, like the one that we were once so obsessed with when we were teenagers, “the fault in our stars”. i’ve also always seen many pictures all over the internet of the city, but again, i had never had the opportunity to visit it. now the time has finally come and i really cannot contain my excitement!

next to me there’s a man, he’s fallen asleep in a very uncomfortable position. i mean, to me it doesn’t really look comfortable, but maybe it is. i wonder why he’s going to eindhoven (which is the city where we’re landing). work? visiting someone like i am? a vacation?

behind me there there’s a very blond girl, whose cheeks are super red. she must be from the netherlands. maybe she’s going back home. that means that she just visited bologna, my city. i wonder if she enjoyed it or if she hated it and will never come back.

on the line to get on the plane there was a group of four italian women who were all wearing a veil on their heads. one was a bride to be and the other ones were her friends. that must mean that they’re going to the netherlands to celebrate her bachelorette party. i wonder how much fun they will have. they will probably drink a lot and go partying. or not.. maybe they have a different way of having fun. they all look in their 40s, so who knows..

i also saw a group of young guys, more or less of my age. one of them was cute! they’re definitely going over there to have some fun. or maybe they’re studying there?

i wonder why all the people on this plane are headed to eindhoven. there could be hundreds of reasons.

sometimes, when i see a stranger, i tend to start wondering about how their day is going, if they’re a having a great day or a very shitty one. i wonder in what mood they are, if it’s just a day like another or if it’s a special one for them. where are they headed? what do they do for a living? do they have a family? are their parents still alive or have they experienced an hard loss? what’s their character like? if i just stop for a second and look at a person, i wonder all these things.

and i always come to the realization of how beautiful it is that we’re all living on the same planet and that we all have our own different lives that in certain occasions get intertwined. sometimes we’re meant to meet someone who is going to be important for us, someone who will be our best friend, our girlfriend, our husband or whatever else. a stranger can become a fundamental part in our lives. and maybe go back to being a stranger. there’s a beautiful song by the singer celeste that says “isn’t it strange, how people can change, from strangers to friends, friends into lovers and strangers again?”. i think that this is a beautiful quote that portrays the process that any type of relationship can go through. because in life everything can change.

strangers are people who can change our lives for the better or for the worse but that, in any case, is always gonna add something in our lives that is gonna help us evolve into who we’re meant to be. we’re all experiencing life at the same time and being able to share it with other people is something beautiful.

i really hope to meet other strangers

Stranger is my sister, stranger is my brother, my friend, sometimes myself.

If we could open our heart and hug for more than 3 seconds we can probably understand that a stranger is our partner in the voyage on this earth.