Live in Italy for a year.

I’ve been to Italy twice so far in my lifetime, and when I left the last time, I just prayed that one day I would be able to go back. I wouldn’t want to live there for a lifetime, I’d miss my family too much, but getting to be in Italy for a year of my life would be euphoric. The landscape is just breath taking, and I could just stand gazing at the artwork for hours

I stumbled around for awhile, trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. At 50 plus, this becomes a more serious quest. Totally growing up is out of the question. And in a flash it hit me…live in Italy for a year. Rent an apartment, travel around, write, learn italian.

so 2 years from now, that is where i’ll be.

Italy is not as easy as it seems and it might be more interesting if you experience it outside of the simple “bella vita” stereotype. Try it.

I recently came back from Italy (Rome, Naples, Amalfi Coast) and Greece (Mykonos, Rhodes, Athens)...I cried. Though I have been to Rome before – there is just something about the beauty and the history. It just feels “rico”...and Greece - OMG!!! I must go to Santorini next. Great info for jobs. Love that!

Well, I watched a movie last night with scenes from Santorini, and before I even knew exactly where in Greece it was, I started crying. I know. I’m a freak. I just think it looks so beautiful. Greece and Italy look like slices of heaven on Earth. I’ve known I have to go there for a very long time, probably started when I was six or seven or eight or so.

Anyway. I realized that I really don’t want to just visit on a vacation (though that would be nice and if that’s all I ever get I’ll consider myself blessed). But I wonder, is it possible, without doing some kind of serious damage to my career and savings and everything else adult-and-necessary that I’m building in my life to drop everything in the U.S. for a year and just move to Italy? Could I really do that? Could it work?

I wonder if I could get a professional job there. A job in IT, doing business analysis or technical writing. Maybe I could. So I did a little research and found these sites:

http://www.bancaprofessioni.it/default_fr.asp
http://www.lavoro.cc/index-goo.html
http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/

I then realized that it’s probably possible to find a job there of some form … now if only I could speak Italian! LOL! So then I looked up this: http://www3.uwm.edu/sce/course.cfm?id=5320.

For a $175 I can begin learning Italian in two weeks. Huh!

Percolation. Marination. Thoughts thoughts thoughts …

ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS TO DO THIS IS THROUGH A STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM AT A COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY. ASIDE FROM THAT, I DON’T HAVE PARTICULARS ON HOW TO GO ABOUT IT, BUT I KNOW TONS OF GREAT LACES TO GO!

I love the Italian lifestyle. Even though I’m not Italian heritage, it is me. What’s not to like about sleeping in, knocking back the best espresso in the world, run around like crazy doing the day’s business, eat a huge lunch of the best food and wine in the world, take a nice long nap(rapozzo?), then a little more relaxed business in the early evening, a wonderful long long dinner with family and friends….. ahhh,
la dulce vita.