Okay, this is the blog post that everyone wants. So grab your prosecco and pull up a chair, let’s discuss the global appeal of Italian men. Let’s start off with the superficial basics. If you have any taste in men at all, it’s almost impossible to deny the classically revered features of the Italians- the strong noses (here there is a fine balance required, let’s be honest), the even stronger jawlines, the thick eyelashes that look better than mine with two layers of falsies…just the eyes in general. Sometimes I think that the Romans invented bedroom eyes. Italians also have gorgeous coloring, that is of course, if that’s the look you’re into. In the north, they are tall, (less) dark, and handsome. Traditionally things get a little shorter and tannier towards the south and the hair increases (everywhere). But that’s still hot because hello, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine folks. And of course, there are blonde Italians, there are redhead Italians, because God is good. Personally, I’m a sucker for your tall, dark, and handsome type, hence my choice of husband although he could work on his tan a bit during the winter months. But despite all those adjectives, I think the Italians have 50% of their sex appeal in their eyes and the other 50% in their swag. Indeed, I have used the word swag in this post. It’s really the best word to describe this because it’s this innate, inner confidence and style that just emanates from every Italian, women included. Some tourists however, see it as arrogance. But I like my men with confidence (as do a lot of women I imagine based on the success of 50 Shades of Grey…!), call it arrogance if you will, it’s attractive paired with green eyes. On that note, you get some superb eye colors in Italy ranging from ice blue to the green that you thought was the stuff of urban legends. If you can’t tell already, I also adore green eyes (again, see husband choice). Moving on, Italian men tend to have style that most other men only dare dream about, or have to follow a step-by-step article in GQ to attain. They are also big on personal grooming, sometimes their eyebrows are more on fleek than mine. This is often associated with being excessively metrosexual but I assure you, no one is kicking an Italian out of bed for having too perfect eyebrows. Unless they are a forma di rondine, then yes, you are being kicked out, actually you are not being invited in at all. Finally, the last factor in all this appeal is passion. Italians, men and women, are so passionate about everything that they do (cough, cough...) and passion is sexy, I assure you there might be no bigger turn on than going to a soccer match with your Italian man and watching him watch his team win. That is passion personified if I ever saw it.  Forget oysters, champagne, and strawberries, let’s go to San Siro!

Leave me your experiences in the comments, do you agree with me or did I miss anything important? 

​This week, two things very different things happened to me on two different nights. These two events show the perfect dichotomy that is life as a visible minority expat (immigrant) in Italy. On Wednesday, walking back through the city center from an aperitivo, I walked past a group of teenage boys. They were probably around fifteen or sixteen. There was no one else around and perhaps that was a factor in what happened next. One of them started saying “cina cina” and the others joined in. When I turned to give them the evil eye (yes, I know many people would be much more bold in this situation but I’ve never been one for confrontation), they told me “torna al tuo paese!”  (go back to your country). If this hurts your heart to hear, you can imagine how much it totally sucks in person and to be the person that it’s directed to. I was offended of course, it’s impossible not to be. I also felt a sense of sadness though, pity, I suppose. It’s so sad to think that there are still young people with such closed-mindedness and such a narrow view of the world. I hope one day these boys get a chance to get out of the small town mentality of Bergamo. The reason I don’t get targeted as much as some other ethnic groups, in my opinion, is people tend to have a harder time placing where I’m from. Perhaps they know it could be an Asian or South Asian country, but the ambiguity has worked in my favor at times. I can only imagine what it must be like if you identify as African or Middle Eastern. A friend of mine , born and raised in California to Nigerian parents, has some stories that will make you cringe. Yet all wrongs are made right as soon as you “show evidence” that you’re from an Anglo-Saxon country. So this happened Wednesday.
 
On Thursday, an Australian friend and I went to our first Zumba exercise class. We had no idea where to find the community gym where it was to be held in so I asked the first family that we came across in the piazza in front of the church. The lady not only gave us directions but insisted on showing us the way herself, convinced we would have gotten lost otherwise (we would have!). This simple, kind gesture was really enough to make me forget about the previous day’s events but it got even better…when the instructor found out that we spoke English, she incorporated English into her instructions during the class, always checking to make sure we had understood  but most importantly, checking in to make sure we felt welcome. This is what the world should be today. Less judgment and more inclusive thinking. Of course let’s not point fingers at just Italy, because this two sides of the coin story applies to almost every country in the world and we are seeing it played on a the world stage in current events. My hope is that at some point in the future, I won’t have any more material with which to write blog posts like this one.  

If You Enjoyed This Post, You'd Probably Like...

...to read ALL my posts about EXPAT LIFE IN ITALY.  There's the good, the bad, and the very ugly. Enjoy! And please write me about your experiences. Have you ever had something similar happen to you? I took alot of comfort in reading Jhumpa Lahiri's "In Altre Parole" where she talks about how she would constantly be overlooked despite her dedication to the Italian language and culture. Read about her book In Other Words (In Altre Parole) in my blog post here: Even Mindy Kaling Reads 'In Other Words'

First off, I have to say that this is not just about Italians, but about people in general.  I hate when people comment on things that they know nothing about it, in my opinion, if you have no knowledge base on a topic, you shouldn’t really be commenting on it. The very least you could do is read a Wikipedia page about Canada before telling me about my country. I have come across absolutely every assumption about Canada during my two years here in Italy. The only thing non-Canadians seems to know about Canada is that it is cold. That’s usually the first comment after I answer the question “di dove sei?” (where are you from?). And yes, it is cold. But it can also be not cold. People think that it is eternal winter in Canada, across the entire country that is the second largest in the world. The knowledge of Canada ends right about here, after the cold and the eternal winter bit. It frustrates me that a country as beautiful as Canada doesn’t get the attention that it deserves, although on the other hand, maybe we should keep Canada a secret. This is due in part to media portrayal as well. Italians love to fantasize about cities like Los Angeles, even though, let’s be honest, the greater part of L.A. is not how it looks on Keeping Up with the Kardashians.  
 
Another thing that people tend not to know about Canada is that it is home to modern, North American cities. With skyscrapers and shit. Shock and awe, yes, exactly like in the United States. In fact, exactly as if Canada were in North America! I don’t blame foreigners for not recognizing the name of my city- Edmonton. However, the immediate assumption is that it is a hamlet, a village of a thousand people dispersed in the Arctic tundra. That’s fine to assume, but this line of thought continues even after I explain that actually, Edmonton is the capital of the province of Alberta that Google tells me has a population of over 932, 546 people as of the 2016 census. Milan’s population is 1.3 million and Turin’s is 870, 702. So yes uninformed people, the population of the hamlet town of Edmonton is a bit under that of Milan’s and more than that of the teeny-tiny village of Turin. Next, I’m usually faced with describing the fact that we have a downtown that doesn’t look like the far west with tumbleweeds blowing around. This normally has to be supplemented by photographs because people continue to imagine something akin to the The Wall in Game of Thrones, with all of us shuffling about in furs like Jon Snow.  Then I talk about how Edmonton also has the longest stretch of connected urban parkland in all of North America: the city’s river valley is 22 times larger than Central Park in New York City. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

It’s consistently said that travel is the cure to ignorance and I understand that travel, especially across the Atlantic, is not economically feasible for everyone. But inform yourselves the old-fashioned way. Ask questions, read books or at least scroll through Google images of different countries. Do all of this before telling me how relieved I must be to be “out of the cold” and living in a “real city”. I live in Bergamo, it’s 115,223 people. Remember Edmonton’s number? 932,546. I think it’s safe to say that I was living in a real city before as well.
 
The final cherry on top is that people have asked me when I am going to “bring over” my family. They don’t intend it in the vacation sense but in the “when are you going to save your family from the hard life they are enduring in the third world country of Canada?” When I tell them that they are not planning on moving here, everyone gets really confused. They don’t want to move here?! No, they don’t want to leave upper middle-class North American suburbia to live in Italy. Shocking, I know.
 
This has been a bit of a rant but it’s only because these are the kinds of comments that I’ve heard consistently having been an expat since 2014. I was actually inspired to write this post after accidently stumbling upon an old video of Jim Carrey doing stand-up comedy and making fun of the same issue.

Check it out here (there’s also Italian subtitles!): https://youtu.be/NFY8bmQLWUc

Oh and visit Canada when you get the chance. We promise it's not always cold and it's kinda pretty. 
​

I first realized that I wanted to be an expat when I grew up on a volunteering trip to Nepal. It was the summer of my first year at university and I was fully intent on spending those three months exploring the world. The first month I wanted to dedicate to volunteering, the only problem was I hadn’t the slightest clue of where I wanted to go. I picked Kathmandu out of a volunteer abroad catalogue, I remember it was a gorgeous matte-print and the pictures of Buddhist temples, Hindu shrines, and Mount Everest called out to me. I booked flights almost immediately, it would be the longest trip I had ever taken with layovers in Frankfurt, Oman, and Bahrain.  

I worked with a non-for-profit women’s health clinic in a rural area for three weeks. Commuting back and forth from the volunteer house in Thamel puts my current commute here in Italy to shame. I used to take two mini-buses, followed by a fifteen minute walk. Catching the buses was the most exciting part- they are literally those white vans for 8 people with sliding doors but minus the doors and with about three times the people inside. You had to catch them like a taxi in Manhattan, you would hail the correct one down and it would slow down slightly and you were meant to hop on. Of course there were no signs or scrolling text telling you the destination, the driver would yell out the final stop as it was passing. It was chaotic and a sensory overload, similar to the feeling of being an India-virgin when you first step off the plane in New Delhi.  There’s no way to understand it unless you’ve been there, the assault to your senses, a thousand smells and sensations and sights coming at you like a freight train. It was nirvana in absolute. I wanted to keep it forever.

In the evenings, the other volunteers and I would drink icy cold beers in the upstairs bar aptly named Tom and Jerry, and stare up at the autographs of those who had been on a successful Everest summit as they usually celebrated at that hole-in-the wall pub. It was a place often frequented by expats, a term I learned while sitting there one night and meeting one in the flesh. I  I had to ask him what the word meant. What's an expat? I asked wide-eyed, like a child. I remember he told me it was short for "expatriate". It had never crossed my mind that people would voluntarily leave their country of birth to reside in a foreign one. I loved the concept immediately. I left the bar that night with one new goal at the top of my bucket list: become an expat.

I decided to write a blog post because my fingers are the only part of my body that I can move without cringing in pain. We've just come back from a ski weekend in Italy's northern region of Trentino Alto-Adige and my poor muscles saw more action over the past two days than they see in a month. My physical exercise regime currently consists of walking from my office to the espresso machine at work. I predict that it will take me the next week to get back to my normal high-heel strutting self, presently, I am wobbling. It's hilarious. We went to the mountains for a birthday celebration and ended up skiing, drinking, eating, sledding, and après-skiing (glorified drinking in snow gear). We stayed at an AirBnB in the town of Gudon, about a half-hour drive from one of the main starting points for the Superski in Ortisei. ​I'm no expert on ski resorts, I can only reference the resorts that I've been to in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and a few other Italian ones, but those with more experience tell me that the Dolomites boast some of the best skiing in the world. The views were absolutely spectacular, that must be said. The mountain range has an extremely unique and recognizable look to them, quite different from the aesthetics of the Rockies. I particularly appreciate the grooming of the runs and the extensive network of gondolas, chairlifts, and other fancy contraptions that take you from one side of the mountain range to the other. There was even a horse lift where you could literally be pulled across a flat area on your skis (T-bar style), by horses! If you're not sure what madness this is, scroll down and look at the last photograph! What I love most about European resorts is that you not only ski well, but you eat and drink well. No hamburgers or hot dogs here. Well actually that's a lie, there was würstel on the menu, but doesn't that count because the name is much fancier than hot dog and for whatever reason, they are much tastier eaten with an authentic German beer and surrounded by a mix of Italian, German, and English. I love to kick back on the mountain at a little wooden baita (cottage) with a glass of prosecco (or two!) and a homemade slice of lasagna!

​Che bella vita! For more detailed information, please write me or check out the Dolomiti Superski official website.  

Here are some photos that captured our days on the slopes:

I'm always on the lookout for the best and brightest new books about Italy and I have a soft spot for memoirs. That's why I am so excited to present Chandi Wyant's first book, Return to Glow, where we will be able to trek alongside her as she journeys the spiritual Via Francigena- a pilgrimage walk most recently talked about in the New York Time's Travel article: On the Via Francigena in Tuscany, Monasteries and Fellowship.  Chandi is a past "colleague" of mine, being that we were both featured as contributing authors in the exapt anthology Once Upon an Expat and are kindred spirits in our love of Italy. The official launch date for Return to Glow will be April 2nd, 2017 so keep an eye out for it on Amazon where it will be available for purchase! I've included the summary below and a bit about the author, for more information, check out the website for Return to Glow. 

Book Summary: 
In her early forties, Chandi Wyant’s world implodes in the wake of a divorce and traumatic illness. Determined to embrace life by following her heart, she sets out on Italy’s historic pilgrimage route, the Via Francigena, to walk for forty days to Rome.

Weakened by her recent illness, she walks over the Apennines, through the valleys of Tuscany, and beside busy highways on her 425-kilometer trek equipped with a nineteen-pound pack, two journals, and three pens.

Return to Glow chronicles this journey that is both profoundly spiritual and ruggedly adventuresome. As Chandi traverses this ancient pilgrim’s route, she rediscovers awe in the splendor of the Italian countryside and finds sustenance and comfort from surprising sources. Drawing on her profession as a college history instructor, she gracefully weaves in relevant anecdotes, melding past and present in this odyssey toward her soul.

This delightful, transporting tale awakens the senses while inviting readers to discover their own inner glow by letting go of fixed expectations, choosing courage over comfort, and following their heart.
​

It rained the entire weekend in Italy and while that's good news for our dry front lawn, it sure dampens any notion I might have to venture outside. If you feel the same way, don't despair, the first Sunday of every month is actually free museum day all over this great country. Here's a picture of me perusing the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan yesterday. While art might not be everyone's cup of tea, I personally think it's a brilliant way to spend a rainy day and one of the perks of living in Europe. Where else in the world can you surround yourself with the paintings that you've seen in the pages of glossy art magazines? The famous pieces are endless, the Pinacoteca di Brera hosts some of the most recognizable paintings (even for non-art history grads) such as The Kiss by Francesco Hayez and Caravaggio's Cena in Emmaus. Below I've listed the participating museums in Milan so now you can mark you calendars for the first Sunday every month! 

• Acquario e Civica Stazione Idrobiologica Milano
  Viale Gadio, 2 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: Da Martedì a Domenica 9.00-17.30 (ultimo ingresso 17.00) Chiusura settimanale: Lunedì ; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Armani / Silos
  Via Bergognone, 40 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: mercoledì/venerdì/domenica dalle 11 alle 19 giovedì e sabato dalle 11 alle 21 Chiusura settimanale: Lunedì e Martedì; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Casa museo Boschi Di Stefano
  Via Giorgio Jan, 15 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: dal martedì alla domenica dalle 10.00 18.00 prenotazione obbligatoria per i gruppi 0288447965 max 18 persone Chiusura settimanale: Lunedì ; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Castello Sforzesco
  Piazzale Castello - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: Orari di apertura dal 1 novembre 2015 9-17.30 martedì-domenica Ultimo ingresso ore 17.00 Chiusura settimanale: lunedì; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Cenacolo Vinciano
  Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie, 2 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: 8,15 - 19,00 ultimo ingresso 18,45 Chiusura settimanale: lunedì; Prenotazione: Obbligatoria (Telefono: 02 92800360; Sito web: http://http://www.vivaticket.it/?op=cenacoloVinciano)
• Galleria d'arte moderna di Milano
  Via Palestro, 16 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: martedì - domenica 9.00 - 17.30 (ultimo accesso 30 minuti prima dell'orario di chiusura) Chiusura settimanale: Lunedì ; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• I Musei del Castello Sforzesco
  Piazza Castello, ? - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: dal martedì alla domenica, 9-17.30 Ultimo ingresso ore 17 Chiusura settimanale: Lunedì ; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Museo Studio Francesco Messina
  Via S. Sisto, 4/a - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: Da martedì a domenica dalle 10.00 alle 18.00 Chiusura settimanale: lunedì; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Museo civico di storia naturale di Milano
  Corso Venezia, 55 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: Dal Martedì alla domenica dalle ore 9,00 alle ore 17,30 (ingresso fino ore alle 17,00) Chiusura settimanale: Lunedì; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Museo del Risorgimento e Laboratorio di storia moderna e contemporanea
  Via Borgonuovo, 23 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: dal martedì alla domenica 9.00 - 13.00 / 14.00 - 17.30 Chiusura settimanale: lunedì; Prenotazione: Nessuna
• Pinacoteca di Brera
  Via Brera, 28 - Milano   ... scopri come arrivare
  Orario: Martedì, Mercoledì, Giovedì, Venerdì, Sabato, Domenica 8.30 – 19.15 (chiusura biglietteria alle 18.40) Chiusura settimanale: tutti i lunedì, 1 gennaio, 1 maggio, 25 dicembre; Prenotazione: Nessuna

I just wanted to take the opportunity for this week's blog post, to make fun of ourselves a little bit. It's always trying times during the language learning process and I've lost count of all the instances that I have made a huge fool of myself in Italian, whether it was a mispronounced word, a fuggly accent, or a misunderstanding of context use. We've all been there. In fact, some of these examples were committed by fellow expats and some by me. 

1. Posso avere una figa? 
English Translation: Can I have a (vulgar word for vagina)?
Intended phrase: Posso avere un fico? 
Intended meaning: Can I have a fig? 

2. Mi piacciono i pisellini.
English Translation: I like little wee-wees (as in cutesy children's word for you know what!)
Intended phrase and meaning: I like naps. Naps = pisolino NOT pisellino. 

3. Buon Ano! 
English Translation: Good ass****! 
Intended phrase: Buon Anno! 
Intending Meaning:  Happy New Year! 

4. Il gatto è sulla tetta. 
English Translation: The cat is on the boob. 
Intended phrase: Il gatto è sul tetto. 
Intended meaning: The cat is on the roof. 

This is a continuation of the original post: The Best Worst Mistakes Made by English-Speakers in Italian, so please read that gem if you haven't yet! 

You might also enjoy the post where I make fun of my Italian friends' slip-ups: 
Sh*t my Italian Friends Say

Also, please feel free to comment and share any laugh-out-loud errors in Italian (or any other language for that matter) that you've committed yourself! I would love to hear about them! 

Spesso, ci sentiamo costretti ad imparare una lingua nuova e vediamo ciò come un’incombenza, un compito. Così l'apprendimento di una nuova lingua diventa un lavoro quando invece dovrebbe essere un piacere e soprattutto, un dono. La bellezza del linguaggio si trova nei piccoli e nei grandi cambiamenti che ci comporta. Pensare, parlare e scrivere usando un altro linguaggio cambia non solo il nostro modo di vedere il mondo, ma anche noi stessi. Ogni parola che impareremo ci porterà sempre più vicino a oltrepassare i nostri limiti.

I originally wrote this in an e-mail as a bit of inspiration for my English students after having seen the film Arrival. I whole-heartedly believe in this, that language is a gift and that it is something that is ever-evolving, ever-changing, and thus, our relationship with it is entirely dynamic. Italian makes me see the world differently, the specificity of each word for one object, yet the absence of certain adjectives that in English are commonplace, the smooth cadence and poetry of Italian that help you visualize the cadence and poetry of the landscape, a glass of wine, the chiming of church bells...For this blog post, I started to translate the text to English but I stopped. It wasn't right in English, the way it is written in Italian. And so I will leave it as is, unscathed by the rules and restrictions of one language on another. The photos that I chose to accompany this post are five years old, taken when I was studying Italian at the University of Alberta. I can actually spot an error now, looking back. Just a testament to the fact that we never stop learning do we?

My journey to living in Italy starts out as all good stories do- with an Italian boy in tight white pants. I was a meagre 19 years old when we met almost 8 years ago in Alberta, Canada- a moment in time that coincidentally coincided with the moment I fell in love with Italy, funny how that happened eh?
 
I always considered myself exponentially more prepared than your average American expat in Italy and I certainly never bought into that “I’ll learn Italian by osmosis when I get there” concept they’ve been trying to sell us via the perfect vessel of Diane Lane in Under The Tuscan Sun. No sir, I applied myself- I took Italian in university alongside a wonderfully light course load called my undergraduate pharmacy degree, I religiously PVR’d every episode of House Hunters International that featured a strong female lead moving to Italy (forcing my parents to watch it as evidentiary proof that I wasn’t crazy and that other young women moved there all the time), and finally, I likely own every travel literature book ever written on the subject. I’m literally on my second copy of Marlena De Blasi’s A Thousand Days in Venice because I wanted that to be my life. I had done the dress rehearsal several times, and when I finally moved to Italy last year, it was not my first rodeo by any means. I was prontissima (the suffix emphasizes the word ‘ready’, equivalent in English would be ‘super, duper ready’). There would be no fooling me, no behind-the-back snickering as I unknowingly ordered a cappuccino after mid-day to accompany my Margherita pizza; I was well-versed in the cultural no-nos. Turns out, the most cringe-worthy expat moments tend to come when you least expect them, no matter how prepared you are. Mine came while I was waiting for the bus.
 
Now I know how to take a bus, in fact, I have stellar bus-taking capabilities and on this particular day just a few after my arrival in Italy, I had already expertly surpassed the initial foreigner mistake of not knowing that you have to buy your ticket before boarding the bus. Ha! So there I am, ticket in hand like a real Italian, waiting at the bus stop and smiling like a fool at my ingenuity. Eccolo (there it is)! My bus is rolling up. Imagine it slow motion like Richard Gere in the limousine, minus the flowers. I started walking towards it and zoom…it whips right past me! 

​Hello dreamer, future or current expat! Today's post is actually a transcript of an interview about moving and living in Italy that I gave to the mother of all expat sites, www.expat.com, answering a variety of FAQs! 

Where are you from, Jasmine, and what are you doing nowadays?

I am a second-generation Canadian from Edmonton, Alberta. Prior to moving to Italy, I studied Pharmacy at the University of Alberta and practiced as a pharmacist for almost two years in the community. Nowadays, I’m in a completely different field, teaching English and doing what I like to call “language consulting”(translations, proofreading, etc.) for different industries in Italy. I’m also an active blogger and I write about all my adventures being an expat here.

Why did you choose to expatriate to Italy?

I chose Italy because my husband is from Bergamo, a city in Northern Italy.

As a Canadian expat, what where the procedures you had to follow to move there?

It is not difficult to move for a year if you are under the age of 35 because Canada is one of the countries that has a Working Holiday option for Italy. This is a visa that is fairly easy to get and lets you live for a year in Italy while giving you the opportunity to work for six months. After this, the options become limited as then I required a work visa to come back. However, if you marry an Italian citizen, you then do not require a visa and are legally allowed to stay and work indefinitely.

How long have you been in the country?

I’ve now been in Italy almost two years.

What has surprised you the most at your arrival?

I have to admit that there were very few surprises left for me as I had been visiting Italy almost every year for the past eight years prior to my official move date.

Was it difficult to find accommodation there? What are the types of accommodation which are available there?

Unfortunately, I can’t speak to this question because we moved right into our own house. I don’t think it would be hard to find accommodation if you were not picky about where, for example, there are lots of apartments and single-family houses available in the “suburbs” or slightly outside of the city-center and the prices are more reasonable.

What are the local labor market's features? Is it easy for an expat to find a job there?

It’s still currently hard even for Italians to find jobs, so it really depends on what you’re bringing to the table as an expat. In smaller cities or towns, teaching English is always going to be an option. It gets more difficult if you’re in a big metropolitan where there are many international students and expats who are also “competing” on the job market. However, I think that if you have a unique skill or education and a good understanding of Italian, you can find a job. It may not be the ideal job, or the field you want, or the pay that you want, but that’s Italy for you!

How do you find the Italian lifestyle?

Fantastic. I mean, there’s a reason people love to come to Italy or dream about living here. The lifestyle emphasizes living and spending time with friends and family. In Northern Italy, work life is still quite demanding and I’d say equivalent if not more so to that of North America despite what people like to speculate. It’s just that once out of work, Italians know how to enjoy their time and the country itself gives you so much to see and do, often for free.

Have you been able to adapt yourself to the country and to its society?

Yes, for the most part, I’ve adapted well to the country and society.

What does your every day life look like in Bergamo?

Every day life in Bergamo looks very similar to every day life in Edmonton with the exception of your surroundings. You are surrounded by history and beautiful, old buildings. For example, I enjoy my commute much more because I go through lovely little towns and pass some very historic churches
.
What is your opinion on the cost of living in Bergamo? Is it easy for an expat to live there?

Northern Italy, in general, is more expensive than Central or South in terms of everything – rent, eating out, even groceries. I think you could probably stretch your money further if you were to be an expat further south. However, as I’ve never lived there, only travelled, I’m just making an educated guess here.

How do you spend your leisure time?

I usually spend my leisure time travelling with my fiancée or taking day trips on his motorcycle. Bergamo is very strategically placed and we have Lake Iseo, Lake Como, and Lake Garda all nearby, so we often like to visit the small, lakefront towns on the weekends.

Your favorite local dishes?

My favorite local dish is casoncelli. They are a “type” of ravioli in the sense that they are a stuffed pasta, but they are very particular to Bergamo. They are served with a butter and sage sauce that is marvelous.

What do you like the most about Italy?

I love the fact that you don’t have to spend money to enjoy yourself. This is something that Europe, in general, I think offers which is just thanks to its history. Since North American cities are newer, you don’t have the option of going to a castle on a Saturday or having a walk in the historical center. I just found that back home, we end up spending money to do things such as go to the movies or out to a restaurant with friends but here, you can just pop out your front door and find things to do that are free.

What do you miss the most about your home country?

I miss the insane friendliness and politeness of Canadians. That is not to say that Italians aren’t, because they absolutely are but where this differs is in the service industry. I just miss going to the grocery store and having a conversation with the cashier. Sometimes here, they barely acknowledge you. This is perhaps an extreme example, also due to the fact that again, we are in Northern Italy and the people are a little more closed than if you go to the South (even Italians themselves will confirm this!).

What has motivated you to write your blog “Questa Dolce Vita”? How does it help?

I was first motivated just to keep friends and family updated with my adventures, but it quickly evolved into a way to connect with other expats as well as help soon-to-be expats! A blog is also very cathartic when you’re trying to get used to a new country and culture.

Would you like to give any advice to soon-to-be expatriates in Italy?

Learn Italian before arriving.

Well that's it for 2016 folks. It has been a hoot and a half, that's for sure. I highly doubt that the next year will be able to live up to the last, so many happy things defined my 2016: getting married, seeing my dearest friends and family altogether in Italy, getting married...! And as you probably know, we closed it off with a bang: the blog won the BEST NEW BLOG award from Italy Magazine! This is truly, madly, deeply, one of the greatest honors that an expat in Italy blogger like myself can be given and I'm really so happy, even more so with the fact that maybe we will have more exposure and I can get to connect with more of you living abroad, living in Italy, or dreaming of doing the former two. In the end, that was my greatest hope for the blog, to put our shared experiences into words and help prepare others for the journey! Speaking of journeys, I just came back from one yesterday. Massi and I spent "capodanno" (which technically is the first day of the year because it comes from "capo d'anno", but is typically used to refer to New Year's Eve celebrations) in Ferrara, Italy, a city in the region of Emilia-Romagna. Ferrara is actually reknowned for its New Year's Eve festivities, mainly for the iconic "incendio del castello" (castle-on-fire) where a wonderful fireworks display is coordinated around the Castello Estense in the center of the city. It involves not only traditional fireworks being shot-off from the four towers, but also a cascade of fireworks that pours over the castle walls- combined with smoke and flashing lights, it really seems like the castle is "on fire". ​

We spent the first part of the afternoon walking aimlessly around the city which usually results in us somehow hitting all the major sights and landmarks anyways, one of which is the building above, Palazzo dei Diamanti (referencing diamonds for obvious reasons). This building is particular stunning to see in person, the play of lights and angles is amazing considering it was conceived in 1493. It started to get rather chilly (for Italy) as the sun set, so we took that as indication to huddle in a streetfood kiosk (called Take Eat Easy) with some ice-cold IPA. We then started the arduous task of trying to find somewhere to eat. For New Year's Eve, Italians typically participate in what is called a "cenone" which is just a way to say "big, important dinner". This usually involves going out or staying in with your friends and eating an excessive amount which is like every other Friday night in Italy anyways, so what's the big deal you ask? Probably that if you go out, restaurants have a set menu and start taking reservations in advance. So armed with this knowledge, of course we waited until hours before to start asking around to make a reservation...with zero luck. Every restaurant in Ferrara was AL COMPLETO, FULLY BOOKED. It got to the point where restaurants were putting up makeshift signs so they wouldn't have to repeat it to the umpteenth clueless tourist. We were completely at a loss and contemplating having a kebab when a miracle happened. We were able to secure a table for two at a Chinese restaurant just steps from the castle. If you asked our fellow Italian diners, they would probably tell you it was a horrendous experience, but I, on the other hand, found it delightful. The restaurant had managed to jam in another forty people in its basement, with no emergency exit and no way of even walking between tables. The food was late and didn't follow a particular order, the waiters had no idea what was happening, and only one employee (the restaurant owner's son) spoke Italian. But, we ended up paying 20 Euros a person and the wine was unlimited. Let me repeat, the wine was UNLIMITED. So Massi and I had a grand ole' time, watched the fireworks happy as two clams, and danced until I couldn't take anymore Euro dance music (circa an hour is about my limit). I apologize, the photos are in reverse (so as you scroll down, you'll see the start of our trip). 

Arguably the best thing I've done so far next to moving to Italy was choosing to get married in Italy! I absolutely wouldn't have done it though, if it weren't for the dedication of my friends and family who all pledged to traverse the Atlantic to celebrate the big day with us. We were so blessed to have almost half the guests attending be Italian and the other half coming from abroad (Canada, USA, and London to name just a few). I've shared four black and white photographs by our official wedding photographers Filblanc (www.filblanc.it) on the blog Facebook page: Questa Dolce Vita. So definitely stop by there and like the page to get all my most recent updates! For all those of you who are loyal to the blog and less apt to follow social media, here are a few photos of the big day that was divided between Bergamo (the church) and a Relais (Relais I Due Roccoli) overlooking Lake Iseo. Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas! 

I never got the chance to officially share how excited I was to take part in this guest post thought up by Melissa of the fabulous blog Studentessa Matta. She has been collecting stories from fellow readers and Italian-learners answering the why behind learning Italian. Some of the past guests' posts have made me laugh, others made me cry. There are a myriad of motives why we learn la bella lingua and finally I found time to write up mine, here is a snippet:

"I can pinpoint the moment when I made a promise to myself to learn and not just learn, but love Italian. It was when I came to Italy the first time after my now-husband had moved back. I stayed with his parents who didn’t speak a word of English (still true to this day). What I felt during this stay was not shame or embarrassment or frustration even…no, it was a sense of wonderment and of curiosity."

To read the entire story I submitted, click here on my Guest Post Series: Jasmine Mah- Reasons Why I Love Italy and Why I Learn Italian.

Finally, a bit of inspiration for a post! This is the first time since I officially inaugurated my permanent move to Italy that Questa Dolce Vita has been nominated and subsequently short-listed in the Best New Blog category in the Italy Magazine Bloggers Awards. It comes at an appropriate time as I just celebrated my second anniversary of living in Italy. Grazie mille to all who took the time to nominate the blog, I so appreciate it. This blog has meant alot to me as a form of catharsis for those difficult moments when la dolce vita seems unattainable, but most importantly, as a form of connecting with all those dreamers and the other expats daring to live the dream. I've met some of my best friends in Italy and afar thanks to the blog and that's all I could have ever asked for! Ok well, I'll ask for one more thing...vote forQuesta Dolce Vita as Best New Blog for the Italy Magazine Bloggers Awards 2016! Click the link or click below!
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In September, I finally married my long-time favorite Italian on a wonderfully sunny day in the church where his parents were also married in. We went to Africa for our honeymoon and this past week has been the first full one back at work. It's all extremely bittersweet, to think that a day that is so revered and so anticipated for years (on my part) goes by in the blink of an eye. We had the perfect day. Almost half of our guests were my beloved friends and family that made the long trip over the Atlantic to be celebrate with us. Our priest was sublimely spontaneous, the gospel choir sang their hearts out, and we were even blessed with a too-good-to-be-true sunset over Lake Iseo. I'll be posting more photos either here or on the Facebook page when possible as we do not yet have the ones taken by our photographers with the exception of this snippet below! Have a great weekend everyone! 

This post has been a long time coming which I apologize for, but in all the havoc the weeks leading up to the wedding, entertaining out-of-town guests, and then jetting off on our African honeymoon, I had absolutely zero free time to write about the latest and greatest food (well, beer) tour that I went on. This is the second of the official Milan Food Tours that I've taken, the first you can read about here: The Absolute Best Tour You Can Take in Milan: MILAN FOOD TOUR.

So I had the brilliant idea of doing the Beers and Bites Tour with all my Canadian friends who had arrived the weekend before the wedding in Milan, I thought it would be the perfect low-key pseudo-bachelorette/welcome to Italy shindig, and I did I ever hit the nail on the head! We ended having a private tour, in the sense that there was no one else except my girlfriends and I that had signed-up. This was ideal for us, but I can definitely say a shame for everyone else. The Beers and Bites option is new and hasn't quite got up to speed in popularity with the traditional food tour but it should not be overlooked. I think it's a fantastic way to spend a non-traditional evening in Milan if you're not overly familiar with the city. It's essentially a great way to get a buzz and have someone to hold your hand, guiding you through the maze of Italy's up-and-coming craft beer scene (while also supervising you so no one ends up in the canal from one too many!). 

The tour starts off as all tours do, with a meet and greet with the guide and as you'll see in the first photo above, the girls were all stoked about ours. I feel terrible, but I've completely drawn a blank on his name during the moment of writing this. I really want to say that it was Marcello or Luca, but then again, I think every Italian man is named Marcello thanks to the million times I've watched "Under the Tuscan Sun". Anyways, names aside, ours was STELLAR. He did the tour in English, naturally, and just had a wonderfully laid-back nature about him. He wasn't overly oppressive like some guides can be, nor annoyed or condescending when we asked for the umpteenth selfie or photo of the evening or when we asked a hundred non-beer-related questions. My friends visiting from Canada commented on this afterwards and particularly appreciated the fact that he was conscious of letting us girls catch-up with each other during the tour.  

The photos above are from the first stop where the brewing company was named "Minchia"- want to know the meaning of that? Take the tour to find out! I'm not going to describe in detail each beer or bite, also because being on the smaller side, I'm not sure I can even remember past beer #3 which is always an excellent indicator of how much fun I had. I should mention that what's great about doing a beer tour in any European city like Milan is that you can take your beer with you as you wander around, so it's not that you're required to throw back an entire beer in a manner of minutes each time. I think there's no beating a warm summer day and an ice cold beer in hand while you take in the sights and sounds of one of Italy's most underrated cities. I say this because every time I take a Milan Food Tour, I find myself enjoying Milan more and more. Your guide will weave you in and out of nooks and crannies that you'd never find on your own and that's the beauty of doing these tours. 

I'm not a beer expert by any means, but I'm definitely a food expert. I mean, eating expert. And the "bites" on this tour were beyond expectations. My favourite was the little cone of seafood (below) we each got to nibble on as we perused the crowds along Darsena. The fish came from Milan's seafood market, often said to be the best in Europe, it supplies some of the biggest names and Michelin-starred restaurants across the unofficial capital of finery. 

The tour lasted from 5pm until past sundown, to be honest, we all lost track of the time. Our guide was ever so kind and at the end of it, even called around to his favourite Milan restaurants to get us a table. I'm consistently impressed by the hospitality shown by the Milan Food Tour hosts and this was just a small gesture that really translates into much more for anyone visiting the city, whether it's your first or fiftieth time. Another plus of the Beer and Bites Tour is that it's a nice combination of walking and the occasional sit-down, it's not overly heavy in history-book facts, which I prefer. It's really, truly how a beer tour should be: laid-back, informal, and loads of fun. Even my girlfriends who don't like beer, loved this tour. I'll sign-off now and leave a smattering of photos. Go to the website by clicking on the hyperlink you have any specific questions about the Milan Food Tours or the Beers and Bites Tour. Cin cin! 

This post is a bit delayed, I had written it almost three weeks ago and I'm only getting around to posting it now. I will also be doing a wedding post, a Milan tour post, and a honeymoon post, so keep checking back in the next few weeks!

I know I said I’d be good about posting new content every Friday, but turns out when you’re two weeks out from your wedding, there’s very little time leftover after tastings, meetings, and table planning!
 
So I’m back at work, August vacation is over (mine was not overly extensive since I only took a week off) and most Italians are slowly coming out of their beach-induced comas to re-start the dreadful countdown to the next vacation. I suppose that would be Christmas which truthfully, is not that far away.
 
For Ferragosto this year, we had our traditional day out in the mountains of Abruzzo. You can even check out last year’s post here: Ferragosto in Abruzzo's Mountains 

We always stay in Pacentro, a town nestled into the mountains overlooking Sulmona and made famous by the fact that Madonna’s family is from here. The day of Ferragosto is always one that reminds more of something Canadian than Italian- we spent the entire day camped out in the open air with a fire, blankets to lay down on, and enough food to feed a small village.

Happy Humpday from a very cloudy and cold Northern Italy. Yesterday night it hailed here in Bergamo; lately Italy has been experiencing a climate similar to that of the tropics- super high humidity, hot days and storm-ridden nights. Anyways, I'm not complaining because the air conditioning is still broken in my car and when it rains, everything cools down and I can actually make it home without having to change my entire outfit after (Italy and India are the only two places I've literally sweat through my clothes while doing nothing!). My post today is just a little musing on the difference between honeymoon destinations if you're North American vs. Italian. I just noticed that of course, geography plays a part and everyone wants their luna di miele to be an extra special trip so the tendency is to go as far away as possible. For Italians, that often means the USA, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Some also do choose Africa or Asia as well. One of the most "classic" honeymoon trips for young Italians is actually to do a cross-USA road trip starting from New York City and ending up in Los Angeles. Then they usually tag on some beach time at the end either in Hawaii or Mexico or the Caribbean. What an epic trip eh?! Sometimes I wish I were Italian and seeing America for the first time in this way, I just have the impression that it must truly be the trip of a lifetime, everything would seem so different and foreign if you were seeing it with fresh eyes. In contrast, North Americans often choose romantic Europe, especially Italy, for a honeymoon, although we do share a mutual love of Hawaii as well. Massi and I have been beyond fortunate to have travelled to many typical honeymooner destinations together including Hawaii, Cuba, and Mexico and then well, we live in Italy so in fact, had a very difficult time in choosing something that would impart a certain sensation of fascination and wonder to a trip that is supposed to be both romantic and 'once in a lifetime'. My initial idea was actually DisneyWorld because our first "international" trip together was DisneyLand (approximately three months after meeting each other!) and I thought it could be a perfect way to make everything come full circle, plus, we adore being kids and had an absolute blast in Anaheim. However, the only problem with this idea was that for us, it couldn't really be classified as the trip of a lifetime. So after much debate and discussion, we finally confirmed our honeymoon over the weekend. Any guesses from the photo where we are headed? 

If you're new here, you might want to catch up with our backstory here.

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Cazzo mene oggi è vene! (A version of "TGIF" that my colleagues from the Crema area taught me). So I wanted to do a very brief post on moving and living in Italy, legally of course. I have written similar related posts here which will take you to Pink Pangea's site where I wrote about visa options as a Foreign Correspondent. I'm going to keep this succinct and to the point because if one avenue interests you, then you can absolutely just Google the crap out of it and some other bloggers like Rick Zullo and Georgette of "Girl in Florence" and Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy have quite alot of posts regarding the specifics. So basically, let's pretend you are a normal, non-EU passport-holding person wanting to move to Italy...here are your options in no particular order: 

1. Get your hands on an Italian citizen and marry them: this is especially effective if you actually have an Italian significant other, might be a bit difficult if you're starting from zero and slightly even more so if you are already married to someone else. Jokes guys, but all that aside, this is your easiest route because once you are married you can pop on over and apply for a permesso for family matters and you're allowed to work legally right away. 

2. Hit the books: probably the second easiest option is a study visa. You can be granted a study visa fairly easily but you usually need to be enrolled in an accredited course (for example, a program at a university) and you will be able to live in Italy for the duration of the course. Obviously, the most effective thing would be to do a full degree, Masters, or PhD. You are allowed to work part-time with a student visa (I believe around 20 hours a week). Another plus of having a student visa is that if you complete your degree at an Italian university (ie: you graduate from an Italian university), you can ask for a permesso for an "attesa di occupazione" which gives you an extra year on top of your study visa after you've graduated to essentially "find a job". 

3. Look into your ancestry: well you can't go too far back but if you happen to have Italian roots, you may want to investigate the possibility of applying for Italian citizenship. I don't know alot on this process but I know it requires digging up alot of documents to prove your Italian blood and unfortunately alot of first and second generation Italians born abroad had parents that were forced to renounce their Italian citizenship. Nowadays, for example, Canada and Italy allow you to have both citizenships but back in the day that wasn't the case. So if your family members "gave up" their Italian passport when they emigrated, it's likely you don't have the right to it either. The only other thing I know about this is that it is a VERY long drawn-out process, it can literally take years. Because of the right of mobility between EU member countries, I suppose you don't even necessarily need to have Italian roots but if you have the right to citizenship of ANY EU country you could then move to Italy after. 

4. Get a transfer from your current employer: if you work for a company with international branches, you're in luck, because you can always ask for an internal transfer to the Italy offices! This works wonders and the company does all of the heavy-lifting in terms of work visa etc. Plus, everyone I've known that has done this has continued to be paid in the currency of their original job and at the same salary plus usually a monthly stipend for food and accommodation so all kinds of yes here. 

5. Win the lottery: if you can afford not to work, you can apply to be an elective resident of Italy, or heck if you can afford not to work I suppose you can be an elective resident of the entire freaking world eh?! But unfortunately for this, you are required to show bank statements that prove you can support yourself in a foreign country without working and some people have told me that the number needs to be quite high, however many retired couples will use this route. 

 So some of you who perhaps follow my Facebook page might know that I’m getting married here in Italy in September. I wanted to write a little bit about what it’s been like planning and prepping for a bi-cultural Italian/Canadian wedding. (Photos above are from my Bachelorette party in Canada this past spring/summer!). 
 
First off, we were very late getting started and I don’t recommend doing this. The usual “rule” of starting a year before is a good one to abide by, also because Italians love getting married on Saturdays and we quickly realized that all the Saturdays were already reserved at on-demand locations when we started inquiring. That was fine by us though since half the guests are coming from Canada and will be on vacation anyways, having a wedding mid-week was actually an acceptable option and we ended up choosing a Thursday. The restaurant is probably the most important thing to book early, then the church if you’re doing a religious ceremony. Keep in mind that if you’re wanting to get married in the church, you absolutely must do the marriage course which is typically offered at very specific times during the year and not more than twice a year in each parish. I’m Catholic and so didn’t have any issues (so far) with participating in the course and organizing the church ceremony so unfortunately I don’t have any insight with regards to options if you are of a different denomination. The course will last one to two months depending on how often you attend each week. We went on Fridays for a little more than three hours for two months.
 
After having attended the preparation course, you then have a whole bunch of fun bureaucracy to deal with as you need to present a myriad of documents to your comune of residence so that they are then able to “publish” your upcoming marriage on the town “bulletin board”. Being Canadian, one of the documents I had to present was an official testament (a nulla osta)  from the Embassy of Canada stating that I have never been married in Canada and thus, there is nothing ‘impeding’ a marriage in Italy. Post-publication of your marriage, you are then required to take part in private interviews with a priest where you are asked a variety of questions separate from your partner. Apparently the documentation is then forwarded to Rome and also kept on file at your church forevermore. We haven’t yet done our interview part yet, it’s the last bit that we’re missing in this never-ending process. So basically in summary, as you can probably tell, just the simple legalities of getting married (especially if you’re doing a religious ceremony) are almost enough to make you not want to get married! It’s then made slightly more difficult if you’re not an Italian citizen and marrying one – our trip to Rome was actually to go to the Embassy of Canada to pick-up one of the obligatory documents, for example.  I’ve actually begun to think that this is a brilliant tactic devised by the Italians to filter out who is serious and actually marrying for love versus those marrying for other, not so noble reasons! 

Happy Friday! I'm making good on my "New Post Fridays" promise and thought it might be fun to do a quick little list of things that I now do every day that I never did before moving to Italy. Let me know if you can relate or have something else to add to the list!

• Have a sweet breakfast. Cake and Italian “croissants” (brioche) for breakfast? Che schifo! (How gross!). But habits change and now I don’t mind a lovely, flaky brioche with my morning coffee…see next point.
• Drink 3-4 espressos in a day. I used to drink drip coffee or the dreaded calorie-laden flavoured latte. Now whenever I have a lull in the day I hop, skip, and jump on over to our office espresso machine! 
• Not use turn indicators on my car. I was a by-the-book driver in Canada, now I don’t bother with indicators because literally 90% of Italians don’t either. I’m not endorsing this in anyway but the bizarre thing is Italian drivers are so much more intuitive and usually “know” what your next move is. There’s a lot of eye-contact communication that happens with driving too. Like pedestrians don’t dare cross unless you literally lock eyes with them, even if you’ve been slowing down since a block away!
• Drink an aperitivo wine before the wine with my meal. I wouldn’t have thought to say drink one kind of wine, usually a white, prior to my meal for the purpose of ‘getting the digestive system ready’ but it’s now my daily pre-dinner ritual.
• Talk with neighbors. In Italy, you’re forced into a relationship with your neighbors because you are obligated to exchange a few minutes of conversation with them every time you see each other outside, but a few minutes in Italy can easily become a half-hour, especially if your neighbors are retired. And they don’t keep things surface-level either, nope! You get to hear all about the surgeries they’ve had and where and eventually you’ll know their entire life story from childhood.
• Buy bread. I have to buy fresh bread every day here. That’s just what you do. There needs to be fresh bread on the dinner table at all times otherwise someone might die. 

This is literally the opening line in my short story that was chosen for publication in the anthology "Once Upon An Expat". Aren't you just itching to read the rest?! Well pop over to Amazon and buy the book. You won't regret it, it's filled with heart-wrenching and laugh-inducing stories of strong women, young and old, who've found themselves all over this world and consequently found themselves in interesting situations to say the least! *cough* naked manicure in France *cough*