Josh and I have lived overseas twice before (Prague, 1 year, Cambridge, England, 1 year) as well as a 3 month stint in Bologna, Italy. It’s amazing and fun but harder than you’d think. You get really lonely for friends and family and you can’t believe how convenient everything is in the States compared to where you are currently living (like getting cash, buying gum, paying your electric bill, finding socks, getting across town, etc.). But, that said, I’m ready to do it again. Why? I want my daughters to live in a foreign culture and learn that language when they are young. It’s incredibly life enriching, if hard. It provides you a unique perspective on your own country and culture and makes you appreciate many aspects of life we take for granted. You also become a citizen of the world and don’t see yourself as so different from people living in other countries. I would do a few things differently than what we did before. 1. I’d lease a car. You end up travelling with it on the weekends anyway and it’s great to drive to the suburbs to find a supermercato. Also, travelling by train with very young children is hard. They want to run around and won’t nap on the train. 2. I’d live in a smaller town but one that is within an hour drive to a large city like Florence or Rome. Bigger cities are great for culture and shopping but also polluted, with bad traffic, and harder to get to where you need to go. 3. I’d rent a place big enough to have people come and visit. You are generally dieing to see friends, speak your native language, and have a friend experience your foreign experience.