Crossing borders:
we FOUND EACH OTHER in the city by the sea

Throughout the years I have experienced and witnessed all kinds of love – the variety of genders, ages, relationship types, cultural backgrounds - with a common connection of meeting in The Hague. This phenomenon of the youth of the world coming to this city and unintentionally finding a lover so culturally different is merely fascinating. Why? Why fall for somebody who is so far from what we have known, so far from what we were thought, so far from where we come from?

 

The challenges and joys of such love inspired me to search for the small events that compiled – paint a bigger picture of being in an international relationship.

The way she writes her little songs in Italian, the way he cooks the dinner and says good night. The painful moments of misunderstandings. The joy of blending traditions. The fact that he came from Canada and she grew up in Rome. The stories they tell, the stories that connect them, and the stories they will never understand.

 

We fell in love in the city by the sea is a quest to explore otherness and difference. It’s overwhelming, frightening, and scary, but above all it’s magical.

 

These connections, which nations form via their individuals offer a brief ray of hope, a source of peace which the nations haven’t found for years. And as the countries face pressure living under the weight of pandemic, hatred, and fear We fell in love in the city by the sea is a journey that calls out, once more, for unity.