“Of Any Land”, Elisa Furlani

Summary

A little story about migration by three different generations. Feelings, hopes for the future, looking for a better tomorrow. The story is told from a personal, very intimate point of view, and takes place during a traineeship abroad, which is a critical moment of choice.

Biography

Elisa Furlani has always loved comics. She is currently in her final year at the Fine Arts Bologna Academy. She has won various comic strip awards and is currently working as an intern at a comic-book publishing house in France.

Page 1

1. 2013 – Grenoble. An evening like any other at Mistral Park./ A half-pint of beer  for 3,50€: we will get a euro back when we give the glass back.

2. Tonight there are 4 of us. Sam is a Latvian guy. He has been a globetrotter for the last 18 months, hitchhiking and sleeping wherever he can. / Beware, Nicola, or you’ll get hurt! / Nicola speaks English perfectly, loves music and has hosted more than 40 people who have visited Grenoble, through the Couchsurfing website (where people offer a free bed to travelers for a short period)

3. Elisa, an Italian girl who loves France and comics by famous authors: she speaks English and French very well and has been livig in France for the last few months.

4. And then there is me. / I don’t speak English and French very well. I am in Grenoble for a three-month apprenticeship. For the guys who are here this is very normal. My friends in Italy thought it was something heroic.

Page 2

1. Not for her… / 1957 Melbourne, Australia / Here’s your coffee. / You have a very strange accent. You are neither Italian nor Australian, are you?

2. I am Croatian, Sir. I’ve been here for just three weeks.

3. Is it your first time in a refugee camp? / No, Sir. I left Croatia for Bari, and stayed in a camp there for a few months

4. I was born in a small countryside village, where people knew everything about everybody and lived with the fear of impending war. / There was nothing for me, there.

Page 3

1. There is nothing for me here in Modena / We’ve been friends for 12 years. Tomorrow she leaves for Berlin on a one-way ticket. / The coffee there isn’t as good as this, you know?

2. Next year I would like to take the specialist graduation in London or the Netherlands. / I would like to work, too, so I can pay for my trip back to Tokyo

3. 1998 / Ronchi dei Legionari Airport, Trieste

4. My uncles and  cousins left for Australia / I don’t think there is any opportunity for a future for young people here

5. I’ve grown up thinking that the place where you’re born is never the place where you find what you are looking for / Can you think about that? We should have been on that plane, 5 years ago

Page 4

1. Mum, have you ever regretted not coming back to Australia? / No, this is almost my home / When your grandma was young, people left home to see the world and see what it had to offer

2. We’ll be at Christmas Island soon! They say Christmas is celebrated on the beach here!

3. But now people move hoping to find a job and to have a family one day…/ Travelling, knowing and choosing where you stay is wonderful. My cousins are studying at school with people from all over the world! The youngest is engaged to a Filipino girl, and Alex has a classmate from Thailand

4. But not knowing your roots because there is no opportunity for a future in the place you were born…/ I find this very sad