Chicago is one of the few large American cities where the concept of the 'neighborhood' still matters more than the city centre. Each district has its own cultural identity, built by the successive waves of immigrants who arrived over the past 150 years: Italians, Poles, Irish, Greeks, Mexicans, Ukrainians and many other communities left behind traditions, restaurants, churches and festivals that still exist today. In some parts of the city you feel as though you are crossing different countries within just a few blocks.
There are experiences that last a few weeks and others that, for better or worse, change the way you see things. My four years in the United States were like that. I don't remember them as a film or as an 'American dream', but as an intensely demanding period of adaptation, responsibility, new habits and personal growth.
I left Italy very young, with the idea of combining study and football in a university system completely different from the European one. At first my expectations were fairly simple: play at a high level, graduate and build an important experience abroad. Then, by actually living the United States, I realised that the most interesting part was not the final result, but everything that happened along the way.
My American experience did not begin in Chicago. I spent the first years between Texas and Kansas, attending two community colleges.
Texas was my first real encounter with the United States. Even the simplest things took time to understand: how people relate to each other, the way college is organised, life on campus, university sport.
Kansas, on the other hand, was a quieter environment where I managed study, training and work with much greater independence.
Chicago came only after all that. And there, gradually, I started to feel I was in the right place.
At first it wasn't easy. I arrived in the middle of winter and the city hit me hard: the cold, the fast pace and the feeling of having to start over again from scratch. But with time everything began to take shape.
After two community colleges, being able to study at Roosevelt University and live in a city like Chicago felt like an important milestone. I finally had the chance to test myself not only in sport, but also academically and personally.
Being a student-athlete in the United States means more than just playing football and attending university. It is a very demanding way of life where time has to be organised down to the minute.
Days started early with training, continued with lectures and often ended late in the evening with studying, assignments and work. During the sporting season the pace became even more intense: long bus trips, midweek matches, hotels, late-night returns and the constant need to keep up with exams.
One of the things that struck me most was the number of international students on university teams. I shared changing rooms and apartments with players from completely different countries, all united by the same choice: leaving home to build an opportunity.
That environment taught me a great deal — not only from a sporting point of view, but also as a human being. Living every day with people raised in different cultures forces you to open your mind and reassess many assumptions you take for granted when you always live in the same place.
Chicago was probably the most important part of my American experience.
It is a large city, very much alive, yet at the same time more accessible than other American metropolises. It has neighbourhoods that are very different from one another, a strong international influence and a particular energy that you perceive above all by living daily life there, not just visiting as a tourist.
The city gave me a great deal outside the university as well. I met people who helped me through the most difficult moments, supportive professors, work colleagues, friends and flatmates who over time became important reference points.
Obviously not everything was positive. There were very good periods and heavier ones. Moments when I felt everything was going in the right direction and others when living so far from home became hard to manage.
The hardest part sometimes was not even the physical effort or the studying, but the sense of distance. Missing important events, seeing family, my girlfriend and friends only through a screen and knowing you have to face everything on your own makes you grow up much faster.
When people ask me what the United States gave me, I find it hard to give a simple answer.
It certainly gave me a degree, work experience, important friendships and the chance to live through very different realities. But above all it taught me to adapt.
I understood that living abroad does not mean feeling enthusiastic or 'fulfilled' all the time. There are good moments and frustrating ones, days when you feel completely integrated and others when you feel out of place. And that is perfectly normal.
Looking back, I think the greatest value of those four years was not reaching a specific goal, but everything I learned along the way.
The degree arrived, football gave me opportunities I would not have had elsewhere, but the most important thing was learning to truly live every phase of the experience, including the most difficult ones.
Because in the end, more than finding something, I think I learned to give value to the journey while I was living it.