For all of you learning Italian, I’ve put together 5 ways to improve your Italian using online resources. I use these all the time as I’m always trying to improve my Italian. Even though I grew up with the Neapolitan dialect spoken at home, I didn’t start studying Italian until I was in my 20s. Up until then, whatever I spoke was a mottled broken dialect, learned all by ear and mixed with English and…
All summer I’ve had this number looming over my head as if being in the last few months of my 30s meant something, as if it were my last days being young and now I can’t say that I’m young anymore. Today I’m turning 40. I’ve always been the baby in my family, by a very large margin, and while I still am, turning 40 feels like a big deal, like I can’t say that…
For most of my life, I’ve lived in places where August 15th wasn’t a big deal at all and I was always kind of sad about that because in Italy, especially in my dad’s home town of Monte di Procida, where my family still lives, Ferragosto is one of the finest days of the year. Here in Ischia, Ferragosto marks the peak of the tourist season and the island is packed! The ferries this weekend…
It is hot out! To me, when I think about heat waves, I think about mosquitoes in Italy and how I’m supposed to sleep comfortable at night. There’s a heat wave going on right now in Italy and Central Europe that the Italian newspaper call Lucifero. It’s a front of hot air coming in from the Sahara that is sitting on its haunches across Europe that Italian newspapers are calling Cities in some parts of…
So you’ve gotten your Italian visa and you’re all set to move to Italy. Congratulations! I know that wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but now you need to think about the next steps. What do you need to do once you get here? I’ve put together a little guide to tell you the steps you need to take in order to get settled in Italy as a new resident.
Last week I wrote about 10 ways to combat expat fatigue and get through the expat plateau. The expat plateau is that point you reach after the newness and scramble of getting settled that first year wears off and you’re left facing the reality of everyday life. This can lead to expat depression or feelings of regret, but it doesn’t have to. I wrote to my favourite podcast The Bittersweet Life, a podcast that discusses…
