last week has been kind of difficult for me.

we're still in the process of wrapping up ethrome: making payments to providers, distributing prizes, working on post-production for photos and videos, and gathering feedback from hackers and sponsors. it's a lot more than expected 🙂

in the meantime, it was impossible for us not to talk about the future of urbe.eth.

ethrome has certainly been our greatest effort as a community so far, and we are all proud of it.

we are not sure about the exact direction we are going to take as a community in the next months, but one thing we know for sure is that we have a chance and an opportunity to create something big in italy: a web3 international hub in rome.

coming to this conclusion might seem easy (probably it is), but at least for me, it wasn't.

this year has been really intense for me, and i never really disconnected my brain from web3, probably.

after ethrome, i was feeling great about the result but also stressed about the effort that it required.

we didn't take a break after the event and started thinking about the future right after.

i had some tough days of overthinking.

the main thing here is that, other than urbe's future, what is pressing me is understanding my own future.

going back in time a little bit, since july '23, i've been on my own (i stopped working with backdrop around the end of that month) and i went fully focused on my own projects, of which urbe is the main one.

i spent the last three months developing some side projects, going to hackathons, and, most importantly, organizing the first hackathon in my hometown.

i had a couple of job opportunities coming my way, but i decided not to follow them, as i felt like that would be oppressing my identity, which is now really tied to urbe.

another big thing that happened was a 1-week trip to san francisco for the buildspace irl event, and that was so mind-blowing that it almost convinced me to move to sf for a couple of months.

after ethrome, i changed my opinion; i want to stay here and build here, making this bet, because if it's not us, it's nobody else.

urbe.eth, in the end, is the project with which i identify the most in terms of vibes, mission, and values.

it escalated very quickly, and now i can't simply ignore it; it deserves more and more of my attention.

it's at the top of my list in terms of the effort that i will be dedicating in the next months, but it's not yet a job that can pay me a salary.

right now, urbe is a non-profit association that has served its purpose well in creating and growing the strongest italian community for web3 builders.

after ethrome, we know that we can level this up, and indeed, we're all thinking about how to make it happen and how much time and effort it will require.

so yeah, overall, i can't complain much.

i'm in a good position, being able to choose what's best for my future, but i also feel the pressure of making the right choice.

at the beginning of last week, i wasn't sure about it, and i was feeling really stressed, while now i have a much clearer picture.

i feel like this week will be important to better understand the direction that we can and want to take with urbe.

wherever the future will take us, i'm sure we've all given our best effort to have an impact, make a difference, and try to shape our own reality.