who are you?
phew. i am a guy from rome… that comes here because he loves this place and this atmosphere and these vibes.
i was thinking more your name…
alessandro. haha. i am from rome, of course.
what do you do?
in general?
sure.
usually. let’s say, i work.
okay.
during my life, in my week, and my routine, i work. same routine every winter.
and what’s that?
you know, work 6 and 7 [hours], hang out, same people, same place, same city, same time. at some point, it turned out to be stressing.
why?
i don’t know, sometimes i feel the need to go somewhere else and see some different stuff, like i cannot be okay doing same stuff every day. i don’t study anymore, so it’s like my routine is not being somewhere else in the world or..
what exactly is your routine?
my routine is wake up very late in the morning, like lunch time. smoking a joint, eat lunch and do bullshits until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. then i have to, let’s say, wash myself and go to work. and in my job, as you can understand, it’s very hard not to drink at all every day, so you come back late in the night, and if you want to, smoke a joint and go to sleep. and this is the routine.
you work at a bar? drinks and office stuff. for 3 or 4 years, something.
do you go to church?
no. i mean, christmas with family or for ceremonies, but usually no, i don’t go at all.
do you travel often?
not really. i’ve never been out of europe. it’s a shame in my opinion, so i come back to rome in a few days—i don’t know when exactly—i will do the passport finally, and i am planning to travel this winter, for sure. i’ve traveled a bit in europe, but every time, the same place. like for music festivals or stuff like this.
where do you want to go?
argentina. because i have an uncle there, and my dad went some years ago, and it’s amazing place. he lives in completely natural place with alligators in the garden. it’s scary but it’s something i need as well.
what’s scary?
it’s scary if you wake up and have an alligator in the garden. it’s not like rome—you have cats and stuff, but yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s an experience that i need, and i really love the nature and usually live in a big town so i really i miss the feeling or having this in front of you every day, or the possibility to swim or whatever.
how old are you?
i’m 25.
how old do you wanna be?
(laughs) i don’t know. maybe 24.
why?
i did many bullshits last year. so i don’t know. but it’s a joke, i’m okay with time passing. it’s going very fast, i have to say. it’s flying, but i have time to realize it and sometimes i stop completely everything, and it’s very nice to see the time pass.
what’s your biggest fear?
whoa.
(laughs)
become a slave. this is my biggest fear for sure.
slave to what?
to the routine, to some rules that i don’t believe in. or like, i always compare the life of my parents with mine, and they’re working since they were young, and they start to work and they didn’t finish. they’re still working every day, it’s very stressing. i really don’t want to do this kind of life, and i want to see the world. i want to travel. they have no time because they’re always working. it’s exactly what i don’t want to do.
how are you going to make sure of that?
no idea.
that’s honest as f-. who knows. you just have to try, try, try, and then maybe at some point, you realize you did it, or you realize you were in the same condition. you have to use your brain sometimes to listen to other people about what you need. it’s very hard, anyway.
do you have any hidden talents?
what? (laughs)
hidden or not hidden talents.
that’s hard to say of myself. i don’t know. i have some talents and they’re very hidden because it takes time to see it. like first time you see me, you can imagine who i am, but i think i have a very nice relationship with people. with everyone actually, almost. and this i like, because it’s natural. i don’t have to train. i feel like this.
if you could do anything, what would you do? job wise.
i don’t know how to say in english this kind of job. you know that guys who, i don’t know, they’re journalists, or you don’t know what they do—they write about animals and this stuff. they commentary tv shows. they go, i don’t know, wherever, Guadalupe, and do these f-in’ nice experiences. i really would like to do this kind of job. it’s for sure my best option and my dreams.
like a travel journalist. yeah, for sure. the important stuff: travel, nature, different people, different cultures. for me, this is the gig. i have to go step by step and be the best at what i want to become. but i don’t know how is it, but it’s better than now, for sure.
how many languages do you speak?
italian and english.
that’s one more than me.
you speak only english?
yes.
it’s very easy to learn languages easily. i understand some french and greek. i can read french easily, i don’t know why. it’s very weird.  i learn english last year randomly because i was working with emma in rome, and she was speaking only english, and i was speaking very bad english. but then we were working 6 months together, so i had to try, and i am very proud of this process.
your english is very good.
sometimes no, particularly late night saturday.
(laughs) no, it is very good. thank you very much. i appreciate.
how do you want to die?
ah… how… i want to die happy. just this. for sure. whatever, but happy.
what would you want written on your tombstone?
what does this mean?
tombstone, when you get buried (does hand motion of a tombstone shape).
oh, okay, okay, okay. (laughs). this is a good one. what i want…i don’t know. maybe… maybe i don’t want to be buried at all. i want to be ate by fish in the middle of the sea. maybe sharks, barracuda, crabs. not dolphins, necessarily.
(laughs) why that?
hmm?
perche?
i don’t know. i don’t like, as an idea, to stay under the ground like this. i need to see oxygen and the horizon in general.
even if you’re dead. ne, ne, ne. (yes, yes, yes.) i don’t know, the feeling when you’re dead actually, maybe i don’t give a f-, and now if i can decide, i would say i prefer to stay outdoor in general.
do you want children?
oh. i would like to. i would love to. but in the perfect condition. if there is the possibility and the perfect condition, i would do it anyway. i will never push for it just because i feel the need or i would like to. if it happens, everything, the right person with me and whatever, i would do it for sure.. i would love to do it.
do you ever think about it? settling down, having kids whatever?
let’s say, i thought many times about it. i’m pretty sure it’s still, for me, very early, too early to do this. i want to be realized in a way of, let’s say.. i want to take care of me before, and then when i’m okay and i’m ready to do it, and i can do it, i can handle it, i will do it now. i’m too young in the mind. i want to do stuff and travel. i don’t want to have roots somewhere, so it’s pointless. i’m pretty sure about it, but in the future, for sure, for sure.
take care of yourself in what way? sometimes when we have to take care of other people, you have less time for you. and i don’t know, sometimes it’s easy, but sometimes it’s very hard, and maybe you are, like, stealing something from you. i don’t know. now i’m very okay, but last year i did it a lot. i was giving time to everyone, and to me, not that much. so now i really concentrate on it, like sometimes i stop everything, wondering am i doing good stuff for me, or just for the others? and i have to do it, because otherwise you will be mad sometimes. too much pressure.
where do you want to end up?
ah… i have no idea. i have no idea, seriously… i have no idea. it’s like, i’m just enjoying the trip literally, but i don’t know where i’m going.
that’s good. right?
yes. sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s hard. because you feel a bit lost. but yeah, usually it’s very good because you’re very free, and you can do whatever you want. it’s crazy just to think about next month: i can do whatever i want, i can go wherever i want. just i need to decide. and it’s very nice as a feeling most of the times. sometimes you’re friends with girlfriends, study, working in the same place for several years, and you feel like, okay, what am i doing? and in some years, i will have a family and maybe a house and normal life, and i will be like this, but i think the price you have to pay to be a bit scared if you want to be free. anyway i’m trying to do it. i’m not doing it. i would like to have this life. i am fighting for it.
well, you’re here.
yeah, yeah, yeah. but after this experience, i have to not to stop this . i have to go rome again. i am very open in my mind, i don’t want to lose this.
i agree with everything you’re saying.
last year, i made this same mistake. i was in a very good mood here, and open to travel, and i get back in rome. slowly, but not really slowly, to be honest, i lost it and was doing same thing and was feeling very badly. before i had this experience that was crazy super intense, and then the flat boring winter again and it’s very bad. i don’t want to do this again.
so you won’t.
no. i hope not. i am pretty sure about it. i feel very strong now, so. i feel very, i don’t know how to say… confident.
what do you need to make it happen? why wouldn’t you, i guess, is what i’m asking?
to do this kind of choice in life—you want to travel 10 months or 12 every year—let’s say, you lose something. because in general, i have weird relation with my family. we are very close, and sometimes a bit far, and i feel responsible of them sometimes. so when i leave, i always have in my mind, ‘am i doing the right thing or not?’ because maybe they need me. my sister is very young, she’s 10 years old, and i love her, so it’s important for me to take care of her. also if i think that sometimes my needs are different, maybe i have to go for a while just because i need it. i wasn’t sure to come back to antiparos, and it still was amazing for me because of this. the choice is not free. you’re not going to vacation for months and you’re losing something. for me its actually very easy, but when you call mom, you feel they need you or they would like to see you, but it’s okay.
do they make you feel that way? or are they like, ‘go have fun’?
sometimes they do, but it’s not that they want to. they just don’t understand what it does mean for me. they don’t understand how important it is for me, because they don’t do it, they don’t travel.
is this bringing you down?
sometimes, yes.
i mean this conversation?
no, no, no, not at all. you cannot push me down. you ask me about the grave. ‘how do you want to die.’ (laughs)
what else… anything else?
… i don’t think so. at one point, i was just replying. and i was lost a bit, like the point let’s say, where the conversation was really spontaneous. so we started in a place and it went in another, and it’s very nice. and now i am confused (laughs).
(laughs) then my work here is done.
it’s true.
last words?
see you next year. maybe. [the ‘maybe’ is] very important.
grazie! grazie a te!