During your Erasmus, there’s one thing you learn quite quickly: happiness is not always something big.
It’s not the perfect trip, the crazy party, or the Instagram picture.
Most of the time, it’s smaller. Quieter. More everyday.
On March 20, we celebrate the International Day of Happiness, established by the United Nations to remind us that feeling well is not a luxury, but a fundamental part of life. And during Erasmus, you feel this even more.
Because even if it’s an amazing experience, it also comes with strange moments: homesickness, tiredness, random bad days.
And that’s where small rituals come in.
The ones that don’t make noise, but keep you balanced.
A slow morning coffee. Not the one you grab on the way out, but the one where you sit, look outside, and for a few minutes you don’t have to be anywhere. Slowing down brings you back to yourself.
Getting lost on purpose. Walking around Perugia with no destination. At first it feels like wasted time. Then you realize it’s exactly the point. You start noticing things. You start breathing again.
Calling home. You don’t always feel like it, but when you do, something settles. Not everything, but enough. You remember where you come from, and that someone is still there for you.
A shared dinner. Small kitchens, random recipes, different languages. No one really knows what they’re doing, but somehow it always works. Because in the end, it’s not about the food, it’s about the moment.
Your comfort song. The one you listen to while walking back home at night. The one that, for a few minutes, brings you exactly where you need to be.
During Erasmus, you realize something simple: happiness doesn’t come all at once.
You build it. Step by step.
It lives in tiny habits, almost invisible ones.
The ones you might never talk about… but will always remember.
And maybe that’s what March 20 is really about:
not chasing perfect happiness, but recognizing the one that’s already there.
by Alessio Alunni