Personality Test

Welcome to the Spot Writers. This month’s prompt is to write a story where a trip is mentioned or featured.

This week’s contribution comes from Chiara De Giorgi. Chiara is currently in Berlin, Germany, doing her best to catch up with semi-abandoned writing projects. Her YA novel “Mi chiamo Elisa” was published in Italy by “Le Mezzelane Casa Editrice” in September 2020. Coming soon, a children’s book about Quantum Theory: “Chiara e il gatto di Schrödinger”.

 

Photo by Geralt @ https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/

Personality Test

by Chiara De Giorgi

 

It all started with a test Alisa found in a magazine: “Pick a place to go on holiday and reveal your personality”.

There were four photos to choose from: one showed a peaceful lake landscape, another a country path, the third a group of mountains, and the last was a photo of a sunny Caribbean beach. Alisa’s first reaction was one of disappointment: why wasn’t there a picture of the polar ice pack – or a city of skyscrapers, or the ruins of a Roman temple, for that matter. She became increasingly frustrated, thinking of all the places she would like to go on holiday, that weren’t included in the test questions. She would go to Japan for the cherry blossom festival, to Iceland to watch the northern lights, to India to visit the Jain temple in Ranakpur, to Lapland to attend Christmas celebrations at Santa’s village, to Kenya to trek up Mount Kilimanjaro... There were so many places she would love to go on holiday! That test was dramatically incomplete. How could it determine her personality with such limited choices?

Alisa sighed. She couldn’t take the test, but she could still check the solution.

According to the test’s creators, a person who chooses the lake shows that he or she is very outgoing, likes to be out in the crowd, surrounded by lots of people. On the contrary, one who chooses the countryside loves tranquillity and solitude. The mountains are for independent and adventurous people, and the sea is for those who want to relax and make new friends at the same time.

“Bah”, she said, throwing the magazine in the waste basket. “It’s all just nonsense anyway.”

The notion that her personality could be determined by her preferences in terms of holidays, however, kept nagging at her, so she discussed it with her best friend Tina. Tina was rather sceptical.

“Why are you so fascinated by the idea anyway?” she asked.

“Because I don’t really know who I am, and I wish there were a way to find out.”

Tina laughed softly. “It won’t be a test inside a magazine that tells you”, she said.

After a moment’s silence, Alisa cried:

“You’re absolutely right! So silly of me, how come I didn’t figure that out myself?”

“Alisa? What do you mean?”

Tina’s voice cracked. She wasn’t sure what her words had prompted in her friend, but Alisa was renowned for her rush decisions.

“No time now to explain, I have to go!” Alisa replied excitedly. “I need to pack my suitcase!”

“Wait! Where are you going?”

But Alisa wasn’t on the phone anymore.

She packed bathing suits and wool hats, sunscreen and ski boots, a cocktail dress and frayed denim shorts, sunglasses and a windproof jacket. She would go anywhere, to any place she wanted to visit. She would travel as long as it took to find out who she was.

Halfway through her trip she realised that she knew, she had always known, in fact: she was a traveller! So she continued to travel forever.

 

******

The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/