Buongiorno! We moved to Italy…. let me say that again with a little bit more enthusiasm, we MOVED to ITALIA!
That still doesn’t feel real to say out loud, as it hasn’t quite set in for me. As most of you already know, we are no strangers to moving. Across the nation, heck across the world– it has been our life for the last 6+ years, its pretty much the only life our children know at this point, some moves being easier than others, as you can guess.
For some reason, this one feels different. Australia was a bigger move in the sense of hemispheres, time zones and distance. It was an Island as far away from everyone as we could possibly get (in the middle of a pandemic with closed borders through the entirety.) But it was still familiar(ish), we had previously visited the town we moved to, we knew the people we were moving with, they spoke English(ish)– it felt a little less intimidating. This move is BIG, the language being one of the biggest obstacles, (i’m learning, slowly) the driving (still haven’t even gotten behind the wheel, thank God for my chauffeur, Colin) the road signs, we already racked up hundreds and hundreds of dollars in fines for driving in restricted areas {pretty much all of the city… arghhhh} and navigating how to use the mass transit systems. Needless to say, it’s very foreign, obviously.
We’re managing pretty well nonetheless, (minus the cussing in the car portion) even my non pasta eating husband is getting along quite well. We have manage to find decent shopping centers, we got our green passes {Italian cdc card} which is needed to get into most places, we’ve taken the city bus, drove to the wine country, toured all over Venice, Colin finished his first week of work and apartment scouting has begun– Id say week one was a success, for the most part, yay us ✔️
Australia did prepare us somewhat for Euro living thankfully; the narrow roads, the crazy parking, roundabouts, the shopping, the coffee culture, the food (although both WAY better here in Italy) It was a helpful stepping-stone for this Euro move. However it still feels like a strange reality we are living in, a completely amazing reality, like pinch me amazing– but it just hasn’t fully set in that this is our life right now.
During the move I kept thinking it will hit me once the movers come and all of our belongings are packed neatly in those brown boxes we know so well. But no. Okay, it will sink in once we arrive, and check in to our hotel or perhaps when we tour around Mestre, Venice and surrounding areas. Yet again, no, it still a feels like a fuzzy dream of reality. I know one day, it will hit and I can fully comprehend this crazy life we are living currently. Some days can feel overwhelming even lonely at times when you move so radically, but I also have remember time is fleeting, so soak it all in, even the hard parts. For now i’m gonna fake it till i make it, and keep eating all the pizza, sipping the most delicious (and affordable) Prosecco and coffees and hopefully one day I can actually speak the language.
Here are some take-aways from one week in Italy: (mostly about food, drinks and fashion, of course)
- Drinks are socially acceptable at any time of the day (morning, noon or nite)
- Coffee, wine and pizza are to be found around every corner
- Food portions are enormous (how do they stay so lean?)
- Pricing is really fair
- Most Italian food and coffee is unmatched, imo
- Italian women are very naturally beautiful (no surprise)
- Athleisure style does not exist here, real pants are always worn 😊
- Mens style is on point (no Costco dads around here)
- Shoes are always an important part of the ensemble
- Aperol spritzers are the drink of Italia (not mad about it)
- Yes everyone is still smoking
- Pay attention to ALL road signs
- Learn to read said road signs, they love to take all of tourists monies
- Parking is never free
- Italians have been very kind and welcoming to us as foreigners and most even try to speak English, I think we will stay
Stay tuned for all the adventures ahead as we embark on part two of expat living in Venice, Italy! As always, thank you for reading along.
sunshine state of mine
Anything in particular you want me to touch on?? Leave a comment below 👇🏻
sunshinestateofmine 