IPNOTIZZANTE - Damiano David

Rotterdam

May 2021, Rotterdam NL

It was like a dream come true, when she had realized that she was finally there, surrounded by all of the amazing, talented people who were ready to fulfill their dreams and share their experiences and music with the world.

Entering the Ahoy arena, she was immediately greeted with warm smiles and greetings from her new colleagues and all of the teams who had been working hard on making everything seem perfect on TV in front of millions of people. Although she had been on a lot of events, she was finally able to see how things worked from a different perspective. She used to watch the Eurovision with her family when she was young, and all of it seemed magical to her, and now she could see how and where the magic had been created.

"Amelia", she was approached by a middle-aged woman with blonde hair tied in a neat bun. "My name is Alessandra, we had spoken on the phone earlier."

"Nice to meet you, Alessandra.", they shook hands. "Yes, I do recall".

The woman was wearing a white shirt  tucked inside of a black pencil skirt and heels that really enhanced the whole look. "I am the main organizer of the event. I am here to explain how things work and what exactly you would be doing here."

"That's great, I am ready to learn and assist!", excitement was evident on Amelia's face, although she knew she had sounded like a student who just got into High school and wanted to be the teacher's pet.

After losing her job at the café in Amsterdam due to being late again (old habits never die), her mom had arranged for her to work as assistance for the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. She was staying in a hotel for those few days and promised to call Lena every day and give the details.

Alessandra had shown her the arena and the rooms that were the most important for the contestants and crew, and explained her part of the job. "Basically, you're here as a form of a receptionist. You guide the contestants to their rooms, follow for interviews and assist in any way possible. If they have any advanced requests, you can call me or Emil, he is also in charge of a lot of things here."

"Understood", the girl responded with a smile. "So, as much as I have understood, I am supposed to work with only one country."

"Correct.", the woman had a serious face and a very short temper when it came to the organization. The main events were in two days and Amelia arrived in the last moment as a fill-in for a girl who was working instead but got the flu and couldn't attend. Amelia's mom had arranged the whole thing through her old friend. "You were supposed to work with Azerbaijan, but it looks like there has been a last minute change."

The woman had taken her cellphone and quickly dialled a number. After a few moments, the person had answered. "Emil, can you please explain the changed with the country support teams? Azerbaijan had been switched." The person on the other line had explained and they had quickly finished the conversation. "Okay, Amelia...", the woman had looked at the list in her hand once again. "Instead of Azerbaijan, since I can see that you are fluent in a few languages..."

"Yes. I am bilingual.", Amelia's hands had become sweaty and voice weaker since she had felt nervous. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine. Instead of the initially selected country, you will be working with the Italians."

Amelia sighed of relief, not knowing what was happening. She had been invited so urgently that she didn't even have time to check any of the contestants." Okay, sure. I hope they're nice and that we'll get along."

"They're rockers, darling.", the woman replied with a small dose of irony in her voice, but just enough for Amelia to understand that things are going to be harder than expected. "Rockers are never nice."

"They? It's more people?", she raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"It's a band. But don't worry, we're here for you in case they become unbearable. Any questions?"

"I don't think so for now.", Amelia thanked her and went to find the Italian's part of the arena.

This is a new opportunity for me.

Regardless, she couldn't help herself but think how amazing it would be if she could see the Italian she had been thinking about for months and how lovely it would be to hear his voice.

She had missed Italy then more than ever.