Much Needed Time Off

Ciao people! I know, first of all I want to start by apologizing for disappearing for such a long time. It was never my intention to be so not consistent into updating the blog page that I started ages ago with such a passion for it.
I won't lie, I did go through a very hard time once I started university some year ago and that had repercussions on the rest of my life till last year, when I finally reach out for help. 

If you are new to my page I would like to introduce myself once again. Hi! My name is Melani and I was born and raised in Italy even though both of my parents are from the beautiful Sri Lanka, ranked top county for travel in 2019 by Lonely Planet magazine!! 😁

Since I was a kid I always had this sense of wanting to get to know things. To explore and get to know everything that was around me, never just to ignore and go on. I've always been a curious girl with the passion of books and the outside world, curious of technology that during my childhood was having an actual boom; what was new one day, right the next one was old news. 
Some times even too mature for her age. 
A determined girl willing to show how powerful and capable she was, maybe because being born in a country where everyone is visibly different from you, we were often not very looked upon. For that reason I was never able to stepped on someone. My nature is more of a listener and a silent fighter for what I want to achieve and show! 
I always believed into having a good education, on studying and working hard in school thanks especially to my Mom. I always did great and the hard work always payed off. But on my last year of high school I was so tired that I though of having a gap year before starting university. Unfortunately, for many reasons that I don't want to explain now, I didn't get the chance and went straight into university after passing the exam for Biomedical Engineering. I always wanted to be a doctor (ahah very asian of me 😂) but after not passing the exam, I tried for my other big passion, engineering and as I said before I passed into a course that I thought was the perfect balance between my two big loves: medicine and computer science engineering. At the same time during that year I discovered how I loved photography and writing. That's the time I started this blog probably pushed by the need of freeing my mind on such a stressful time of my life...and that was is!  I was actually very happy at the time but life hits you and it hit me quite hard.

My first year of uni went by so quickly. Officially adulting far from home and far from my parent for the first time, I was not happy with my choices.
 But I didn't know how to tell someone. I was disappointed of myself for thinking such things and almost ashamed for wanting to change uni course after working so hard to get into it and always being such a clever kid. 

That's the biggest mistake that us humans do! We are too hard on us and that's not good at all. We are not perfect machines, so we are allowed to make mistakes! It's totally normal. At 18/19 years all we might have is an idea of what we want to be growing up or what we want to do in life. But it doesn't mean that if that target doesn't go as planed then you are done forever. You MUST keep calm and reach out for help if you feel like you lost yourself, because you are just 18/19 and till that age you were always helped somehow from your parents. So put aside your ego and get help because our parents will do anything, they always did till at that age. If you can't reach out for your parents then ask help from a friend, a counselor, a teacher...a adult!! 

It took me quite a while before I understood that. So last year I was helped from my parents once I put aside my fear of telling them on how I was feeling and what was going on with me. I left Biomedical Engineering and tried another test for Computer Science Engineering and I did pass for it!! So now I'm on my second year ☺️

It's not easy at all to start all over again. Trust me, it's not at all so if you are in a same situation as mine don't give up but keep pushing it, because hard work is always paid off at the end!
 Just remember to be sincere to yourself. If you feel something, listen to it and don't be scared to talk with anyone. We didn't come on this world alone, so we are not alone once we are here 💐

Let's look after each other. Mental health is important. I am important, you are important, we all are important!  If I did it, you all can do it too.

Much love from a very happy Melani. Thank you to all of those who have helped me to get back on track and work on being always the better version of myself! 
LOVE YOU MAMMA AND PAPA' and thank you all for sticking around even when I was absent. Stay tune for my journey...the journey of life!

Cheers for this blog and the future blog post I'm already working on! 
CIAOOO! 

♥

Happy 80TH ♥

Hello Hello everyone! Even though half of January is already passed...Happy New Year! How has been 2017 so far for you guys? 

Mine so far has been good and bad at the same time. 
Good because finally this past Friday 20th January, for the first time ever one of my dearest cousins came to visit us here in Italy. She is here in Europe for a volunteering work in Hungary and because tickets to travel to Italy are much cheaper here than in Sri Lanka, she finally saw where we live after hearing us talking about it for 21 years (that's our age and yes she is my same age, just a month older than me!).
Second good thing is that today I bought my first ticket for this year and I'm officially visiting this cousin in Budapest!! WOW I can't wait because it will be my first time ever in Hungryyyyy!!! Kyaaaaaaa!!

And now sad because [haaaa] I won't go to Sri Lanka this year. We can't have everything from life, I know that, but it's heartbreaking for me because today, Monday 23rd of January is my BEAUTIFUL GRANDMA'S 80TH BIRTHDAY!! 

We celebrate 80 years only once in our lives so I really wanted to see her this time! Maybe you'll be tired of me for repeating this but I love both my grandparents a lot. They are the main reason why I love Sri Lanka and the girl I'm today! I can't believe how lucky I am to call them my grandpa and grandma and I will never stop telling it! 

So today this blog post is dedicated to them both, Paul Wickraamarachchi (83) and especially the birthday girl Vivian Hathurusinghe (80 today) my sweet Grandparents.

My baby Mother and my beautiful Grandma

83 years old vs. 20 years old

80 years old vs. 20 years old

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY ACHCHI! ♥

Here for you guys the video I created in their honor with the clips I filmed when I went to Sri Lanka last year. Hope you all will enjoy it us much as I had filming them like a stalker,

If you didn't know yes! I've got a youtube channel where I uploaded the video at the beginning of this blog post. I hope you check it out and let me know what you think of it I would love to read it! :D So I'll leave the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoHdNPBX6vQ and the video itself above! 

ENJOYYY and BYE BYE!

♥

Venice by Pics

Ciao Guys! How are you all doing? I'm pretty exhausted these days because it's finals week :(
I had to take a break from all the studying so without going out for some fresh air because here in Italy right now is BURNING HOT like I'm not joking I've never suffered the hot summer weather before like this year! It's seriously insane >.< anyways I'm in my room right now trying to update this blog :)
So maybe how you might already know if you read my preview blog post I went to Venice and created a little video and of course with a video there comes along a looooot of pics!! So here for you guys Venice through my lens :) ENJOY!

♥

Venice 2015

Hello you guys! How have you been? I'm quite busy with university studies these day for the fact that in a couple of week I've got my final term exams [HELP] but today I wanted to have a break from the hectic work so here I am writing about my last one-day trip to Venice.

Venice is quite close to the city where I live. It takes more or less 2 hours with a normal train from the nearest rail station to my hometown so it's really not that far away! 

It's not my first time going there - because it's really close to where I live - every time somebody like a family friend or a relative from anywhere come to visit us (we are the only one in our family living in Italy so...yeah) one of the places we take them to is Venice because . . . COME OOON who have never heard about the famous and iconic Venice?? 
This time was no exception too one of my mom's long time friend come to visit us for the first time ever with her big twin daughters [ that by the way I've never met before but only heard for my entire life and GOSH! Those two girl were the sweetest and the coolest girls in the world AAAND I was given my name because my mom was inspired by one of the twins that has my same name! BAAAAM ]

Anyway it came to my mind that I never filmed Venice or done anything so you already know the game ... I had to bring my Nikon D5300 and film this crazy city and so here down below the little video I uploaded on my YouTube channel

♥

VLOG: My Home Town

Ciao you guys! How are you all doing? 

I'm back in my dorm room  after a few days spent at home for a national holiday and because some good family friends of mum came all the way from Australia to visit Italy and of course my us for the first time here...so we had to take them to visit some places that you have to visit when you come to Italy and of course I took a lot of photos of those places and that I have to upload! WAIT FOR THEM :)

Till then you'll have to wait a bit because next month I've got my final term exams so sadly I won't be able to update this blog because I'll be out of my mind studying like crazy [HELP ME PLEAZZZ] :(

Let's not think about that now and let's enjoy a little video I posted on my YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

If you read my last blog post you'll understand everything about this video [the amazing little and magical village right next to Lake Garda...LAZISE] So without further interruptions watch this video :) Hope you'll like it as much as I do

♥

Cherry Blossom Beauty

Spring has finally arrived here in Italy even if...EVEN IF right now as I'm writing, outside my university dorm I can clearly hear the sound of the rain that's falling down :( 

Too bad but anyways a few days ago I got the chance while I was coming back from classes to take some pics of the street where my dorm is located. I had to because it was all pink! No, I'm not crazy :) It was really all pink and the reason is because there are a lot of trees that are flowering! 
SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!

I really love this season with all the cherry blossom and the long sunny days. All these flowers drive me crazy because I keep on thinking of Japan and how awesome it must be to visit that amazing country during this period...oh well one day (I hope as soon as possible) I'll really visit YOU JAPAN! . . . singh

Here in Italy spring even means blueberries seasooooon!! 

♥

Amazing Experience 😅

It's timee for you guys to know what I did last month! Are you readyyy? Exactly 1 month and 4 days ago I came back frooom...TANZANIA!! Yes, I WENT TO TANZANIA FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! Yaaaay!  \(^_^)/

I mean who has the opportunity to see a country in Africa, not for a normal holiday vacation maybe in those 5 stars hotel near the ocean...NO! But for an amazing VOLUNTEER SERVICE experience in a remote village in the middle of the nature!? I DID! And it was the most meaningful, special and...and speechless journey that I've ever done! 

I have always travelled since I was 14 months old but I have always done: Italy-->Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka-->Italy, that's all! Yes...I've always transited in different cities (Vienna, Paris, Dubai, Qatar, Amman, Kuwait, Male) but I've never gone out from the airport for a vitis around...not even once! What a shaaame (T_T)

Aaaanywaays ◕ ¸ ◕ it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! For real, I think I won't ever stop telling this! I'm like crazy of Africa...you can't really understand when people talk about "Africa sickness" until you try it yourself! 

My school organize every year, for the students of the 4th year of high school, this trip for volunteer service in Tanzania...and every year 10/11 students spend three weeks of July in this Stimatine missionary situated in a village called Msolwa! 

We were a group of 7 girls and 4 boys (17-18 years old). We knew each other but not that well because 5 were from "classical high school", 3 from "compute science high school" (I'm in that group) and 2 from "science high school" and a boyfriend of one of the girls...but after this journey, living together for 3 weeks and 24h/24h, we got to knew so well that I think thanks for this experience, now we are a family that shared everything in a unknown country and doing this thing for the first time ever! And...I LOVED IT! Maybe 'cause I'm an only child and even if my family is huge...I got to know how was having 6 big sisters and 4 big brothers! 

The 11 of us before the adventure began! (This was taken at our school the day of departure)

Us with our "BATMOBILE" ;D

One of the places where we worked! (Sunflower farm/field)

Us in the LAST week in Tanzania! We are all changed inside...FOREVER! (one of the boys was taking the pic)

  

We arrived there on the 11th of July to Dar Salaam (capital of Tanzania) and then we started our journey for Msolwa (the village where was our missionary) stopping by a small city called Morogoro. Our missionary was really nice and there was a Secondary School too runned always by the missionary! We were surrounded by so much nature that it reminded me of Sri Lanka and maybe this is one of the reasons why I loved Tanzania: because there were small little things that reminds me of Sri Lanka so bad!

We stayed there until the 1st of August and then we moved again to the capital because we had our flight on the 2nd. It was soo sad leaving the village where we stayed for almost 3 weeks because we (at least the most of us) felt like we were living there since forever. 

Every morning we woke up at 7 o'clock and then had breakfast at 7.30 am all together and then at 8 am we were leaving with our awesome white jeep for work.                              We were working most of the time in the fields; we planted, watered and covered small coffee plants and plants that in the future will give to the local people good quality wood or some times we were in the farm nearby and removing the seeds from the sunflowers! When we were doing the last thing (sunflower work), the other girls were going always crazy because we would find any type of bug or caterpillar! It was soo funny because when they were screaming the local women working with us were laughing too! XD ahaah! 

Working in the fields

Working at the farm!

Then at 12.30 am we used to go back at home and have always a great lunch, cooked by a woman called Stella.

 

Our smiling Stella and chef!

She was helped by 3 other women...this 4 women were all Tanzanian but they could cook like real Italian chefs! All what they cooked was amazing! But how you should already know I LOVE FOOD! 

Around 1 pm we always finished eating and until 2.30 o 3 pm we were free. In that gap of time we were always inside the missionary but all of us were doing different things: there was always a group of girls sunbathing in front of our house, 2 o 3 people washing the cloths, some were sleeping in the room or reading a book and then there was me and another girl o sometimes even another of the boys always...ALWAYS walking around the missionary. So we were inside the school or in the school playground, near the female dorms, behind the missionary or near the house of the sisters or even near the male dorm or even near the missionary's workshop and we were always talking...talking and talking or laughing and taking pics (that was me most of the time)! 

Then when it was 2.30 or 3 pm we always went around to explore! And our father (Don Zanon) the one who always organizes this volunteer trip in Tanzania (for 21 years now!!) brought us everywhere and showed us every single thing of the Yovi Valley (the valley where is located the missionary)! And he showed us:

• the monkey village
• the banana village
• the water falls
• the baobab village
• a lot of schools and churches that the missionary built true the past years
• a lot of villages
• a safari in Mikumi National Park
• an african wedding (and we were dressed like the Tanzanian woman!!)
• and a lot of other things!   

 Around 6 or 6.30 pm we were always back at the missionary because around 7 pm we always had dinner (tasty as always (⌒-⌒) )! But before dinner we were always down in the village...at the bar, sitting in front of our (mine and a couple of other friends' one) favourite drink: the STONEY TANGAWIZI!!!! ≧✯◡✯≦

 

MISSING YOUUU!

After dinner, most of the time, we usually were in the only wifi spot in the mission, uploading some pics that we took with the cell phone or chatting on facebook or facetiming with the family or friends until 10pm when the generator of the mission was switched off!

Yes! We had electricity but only at a certain time like in the morning from 6.30 am till 1.30 pm when the school needed. Then at 4 pm we had light for only 30 or 60 minutes and then again we had to wait till 6.30 pm and last we had light till 10 pm.

After 10 pm we were always together talking and laughing for stories around a fire that we built in the afternoon usually after our walks. It was amazing and fun because we were surrounded by the nature...far away from this technological world that sometimes let you forget of the simple things that are as great as internet, cellphones and video games! 

Have you ever heard about the night sky in Africa? Never?? Well...IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN THE WORLD!!!!! 

I'll show you why with a photo taken from one the boys called Enrico Marcantoni (he has a Canon D650)

AMAZING! This was taken form one of the guys that come with me

On saturday and sunday we didn't work and we went always out on adventures! On sunday morning we always went to see the mass and the african mass it's awEsome! Full of dance moves, music, ladies screaming in the typical african way and it was just a beautiful moment to be at (AND I'M A BUDDHIST)!

I really really enjoyed staying there! Every single thing that we did it was amazing and there are so many other things to talk about...REALLY! MANY OTHER THINGS!! I know that all the things that I said about Africa are things that many other people have said but you really can't understand the feelings that every single of us felt staying there! You must try it yourself to understand it!

I think I've got AFRICA SICKNESS!! (Ç_Ç)

I want to thanks my parent for sending me there...especially my MOM! THANK YOU MOM!!