Tieske's Adventures

One month I’ve spent in Rome. One month spent walking in the morning, working in the afternoon and evening and going places in the weekend. What I’ve enjoyed most? Not the Colosseum, not the Forum Romanum and not one of the many other beautiful sights Rome has to offer. Almost every other morning I spent walking around in the gardens of Villa Borghese, Rome’s third largest park.  The scent of pine trees, the chirping crickets, dozens of fountains, hundreds of statues. Trees that provide much needed shade in the Italian summer. The runners, the guys trying to sell flowers with an unmatched determination and the lovers spending time together on benches. I’ve spent countless hours walking around, knowing exactly the location of hidden restrooms and pumps to fill my bottle with fresh cold water.  I sat down on benches, thought, meditated, cried, laughed and was inspired. I figured out what I want to do with my life. Why I am here.  Villa Borghese, my ha...

One of my favourite podcasts is the "Tim Ferriss Show". Tim interviews people who are considered to be world class at what they do. Whether successful in playing chess, investment banking or body building, he attempts to deconstruct his guests to extract their habits, routines, time management tricks and more. During one of his interviews, Debbie Millman mentioned her 10-year-plan-for-a-remarkable-life . The goal is to write down as much detail about your life, ten years from now. Dig deep and write down everything you want it to be. With one simple rule: you cannot fail.  "Dream big, dreams without any fear. Write it all down. Put your whole heart into it. And write like there is no tomorrow; write like your life depends on it.. because it does. " It is July 7th 2027, a beautiful summer day in a little beach town I moved to a few years ago. A gentle song wakes me up at 6am. I’ve always wanted to get up early. Days are so much more productive when you do...

Not a good week this week. A shitty one, to be honest. Earlier this week I felt I had low energy and decided to take an afternoon nap. Just in time for work. I woke up sweating and had a terrible headache and a sour throat. My energy had only decreased.  The work day itself drained the little energy I had left. It was exhausting. Usually I gain energy from my work, but not at the beginning of this week. And to top it off, the feelings of loneliness I had experienced in Napoli last Sunday, came back amplified. Negative thoughts filled my mind. Yes, it is awesome being in Rome. But it’s also very hot and the city hasn’t impressed me yet with things beyond the touristy sights. And for the beautiful things that I do see, I have nobody to share it with. To make it all worse I start to judge my feelings. You spoiled little brat. Look at this wonderful life you choose to live. And you’re complaining that not everything is perfect? Why do you need to be impressed?  And then ...

Ten days I spent in the Netherlands after my stay in Florence. Ten days filled with music, festivals, BBQ’s, a wedding and lots of love from friends and family. Yet, here I am, driving south again.  A two day journey This drive is different than a month ago. I’m driving through Switzerland instead of Austria on my way to Italy. But more importantly, this time I am not struggling with the question of "why I’m doing this". I’ve got my answer. If you know your “why”, your reasons for doing things, it is a lot easier to keep going, when things don’t always seem to go your way. While listening to podcasts, one quote resinates with me during this drive: “Don’t think about all the things you are feeling, just be glad to be here.”  It is about a 15 hour drive to Rome and the landscape is amazing. I don’t mind driving alone. In fact, I’ve learned to appreciate some alone time and found that I need it, to be fully present during social interactions. I guess that makes me...

After a short business trip to NYC last week, I got back to Florence. Ready for some adventures. During one of the Meetups in Florence I’ve met Caroline. She’s from Scotland, lives in Sydney and is visiting Florence for a month. To explore beyond the city of Florence, we decided to take a few morning trips through Tuscany.  Since I start working at 2PM, we've got all morning and a bit of the afternoon to do whatever we like. We jumped in the car to visit the most amazing places.  Most of the times we looked at the map to find a place with a “fun” name, and just go there. Not one of these places turned out to be disappointing. The region of Tuscany is lovely.  We spent some time in San Gimignano to walk around, enjoy wine and have (of course) some gelato. Tavernelle Val di Pesi proved to be a cute little town with gorgeous roads and a castle that cannot be found. The beaches in Rosignano Marrittimo made me think I am in the Caribbean, and the views in Livorno are n...

WED MAY 17 Things are going well. The AirBnB has everything I need and the internet connection is good enough. The Italian network speed is below average, so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to work from here. A bad internet connection would have made my stay in Italy a short one.  I wake up around 7.30AM and it takes a second to realise where I am. “Oh yeah, this is my new home, better get used to it..”  While it’s still early I decide to go for a 6K run. Last week was the first time I ran again after my knee surgery in March, and I want to keep the momentum going!  I notice that Fleurs-de-lis pop up everywhere. My ignorance had me thinking that this symbol was related to New Orleans, but after some research the symbol appears to be prevalent in lots of cities. Anyway, " il giglio"  does help me feel like home rightaway. There is a Meetup this evening that I decide to attend: Speakeasy Multilingual Firenze , a place where Italians come ...