1. What seems to be the cause of Liz s depression?

2. Where does she get the idea of travelling for therapeutic purposes and how is this idea received by
her friends in the US and by the people she befriends in Italy?

3. Why does Liz choose Italy as her first destination?

4. How does Italy fit in Liz s identity crisis?

5. Which are the cliches Liz rehearses about Italy?

1. The reason of her depression seems her divorce and the fact that she doesn’t know who she is
anymore. She says that the only thing that’s harder than staying is leaving.No matter what she chooses,
she has a hard decision to take. You are depressed if you stay with someone that you don’t love
anymore because you just feel that there is not where you belong. You feel like you’re stuck. And you
got used to it. Maybe it’s hard to leave because even if you don’t love that person anymore, there is
respect. You don’t want to hurt them, but while that person is happy, for their happiness, you hurt
yourself. You sacrifice yourself and give everything that you have until there’s nothing left from your
soul. You lose yourself on the way, through the process of trying to keep everyone happy. So, maybe it’s
better to leave. Just once, you’re doing something for yourself. At the same time, if you leave, you
create pain. Leaving seems a better option sometimes, but when you actually do it, when you find
yourself alone, it hurts. You feel lost and you don’t know what to do and where to go in order to heal.

2. The medicine man from Bali tells her that she is a traveler. She wakes up one morning and she realizes
that she doesn’t want this life anymore. It may sound weird, but she feels that she doesn’t feel anything.
She is scared. She wants a change, a new beginning. She wants to go somewhere where she can be
happy and enjoy life. She decides to go to Italy. She always did things for other people and now she
wants a little time for herself, to rediscover her true self. She feels like the prophecy fulfills. Her friends
from the US are surprised by her decision and they are concerned about the fact that her plan will fail
and they are against it. The friends from Italy believe different things. Some of them think that she is
courageous for doing this but others believe that going away just like this will not help. She won’t find a
husband and she won’t have a family. They believe it’s simply stupid.

3. She chooses Italy as her first destination because she is telling a friend that before she had appetite
for food and for life. Now, she lost that appetite. She is talking about gelato and spaghetti. She sees a
dictionary, buys it and tries to learn words in Italian. So, another reason is the fact that she wants to
learn Italian.

4. Italy fits her identity crisis because she can do what she wants, she is happy, she is free. She was used
to do a lot of things everyday and now she is not forced to do anything. An old Italian saying says that
you have to enjoy the pleasure of doing nothing. She went to Augusteum. It’s a place built by Octavian
Augustus. The place resisted in time despite the fact that it was destroyed, burnt and pillaged. This
thing encouraged her. She thinks that even if you are a ruin, one day, you will rise. It’s a quiet place and
it fits with her need to change something and to be alone.
5. The clichés of the Italian culture that she noticed, touched her. She felt happy that the Italian people
are so united and they really take care of each other. She tastes the food that they are well-known for,
spaghetti. Their popular soccer games also give her a good mood.