Hi guys. As this is my first blog post I thought I would give you a little insight into why I am moving to Italy and the whole thought process behind it.
So why?
Well basically… I met a guy. He is Italian. And it goes on from there.
So me and Alberto have been in a long-distance relationship for nearly three years. Crazy huh? This involves a lot of creativity in keeping our relationship intimate. And no, I don’t just mean in ‘that way’. Dirty buggers! I mean… finding ways to do things that all couples do, like watching a TV show together. We do this on Netflix usually by the way. At the moment we’re watching a great show called Shtisel, which we are both loving. And it’s in Hebrew, or Yiddish. I don’t recall which one, or even if there is a difference? One thing I do know though is that it is a language neither of us speak! We like to synch this up together during a voice call on discord, which usually involves Alberto counting down from 3, in an array of languages. Ok ok, just two languages. English or Italian. Luckily my Italian is now good enough to be able to count down from three.
Anyway, I am not going to bore you with details of our long-distance relationship. It has been tough at times, but we survived it. And I got to visit a beautiful country a whole heap load of times. Bonus.
“Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.”
Anna Akhmatova
I don’t even remember when we had decided we were going to live together. Him moving to the UK though was not really an option. So Alberto graduated Med School in February 2019 (I hope that is right? I am pretty sure he would kill me if it wasn’t). Since graduating med school, he had to do some crazy exam along with all of the other recent med graduates in Italy. This huge exam was to gain a place in a residency. Basically, whoever scores the highest gets to pick their residency first. Alberto of course is super intelligent, and did fairly well in this. So he managed to get the residency in his hometown. He is now doing this for the next 5 years. So therefore, the only option was for me to move to Italy.
Who wouldn’t want to move to Italy though? Great food, fantastic weather, beautiful architecture… its a dream right?
So we set a date. This date has changed several times in the process. First we had decided when I graduated from my Msc, then we changed it til later. And then even later. It currently stands at the beginning of July. On a Monday, as it is my father’s day off work and he can drive me to the airport. I think the provisional date I set was July 6th.
days
hours minutes seconds
until
Moving to Italy!
Aaaaaaaah. At the time of writing this, there is 61 days until that date! Crazy. There is so much to do in the mean time.
Unfortunately, due to this global epidemic that is going on at the moment, that provisional date is highly likely to change. We are just waiting at the moment for any news of the lock-down in both Italy and the UK ending. So fingers crossed. I will keep you guys updated.
By the way. If you want some insight into the place I am going to be living. It is a city called Bari, which is the capital city of Puglia, a region in the South of Italy, right on the heel of the country pretty much. You can see it where the red balloon is on the map below.
Bari is a beautiful city on the coast. There are loads of beaches around, and a big port in Bari. And the old town is absolutely stunning. It is also one of the largest cities in the area, so has plenty to do. A lot of shops, bars and restaurants. Hopefully it will also be convenient for me to find a job there as well.
I have inserted a random picture I found online of Bari just for reference. In no way is this my own photograph, frankly I am definitely not that talented. So thanks google image search and lonelyplanet.com for the snap. Very grateful!
My Italian Life 