What it's like moving from middle of nowhere, New Mexico to ITALIA!
Venice, Italy
Lago Di Barcis, Italy
Trieste, Italy
Prosecco Road
I prayed for this
If I had been told even just six or seven years ago that I would be moving to ITALIA for three years I would have probably wanted to fast forward life to 2020.
If you’ve read my book, you’d know that I went through a pretty life changing self-growth process during college (way too many elements of that to explain here!) that involved a hefty break up. After that break up I prayed hard about what I want my future marriage and life to feel like. One piece of that was living a life of adventure, seeing the world, and truly living life to its fullest.
I grew up very fortunate and we were able travel extensively over Europe. It sparked a joyful curiosity for culture, worldliness, and seeing as much of what God beautifully made as I can.
When we found out we were moving to Italy my mind started racing with travel destinations. I won’t lie, I have a pretty extensive list on an excel spreadsheet already!!
How did the move go?
The move was actually pretty simple, we were lucky. This move can often be very difficult but our timing seemed to work out so well for us.
The movers took all of our things (except 4 suitcases!!) the very first week of November.
We spent a couple of weeks driving a few things (washer, dryer, etc.) to storage in our hometown, celebrated Christmas, visited family in Florida and we were off to Italy!
We lived in a hotel for 30 days and a temporary apartment for another 30 days until we were finally able to move into our home! So, yes, we spent about 3 whole months living from suitcases, but if I’m being honest it wasn’t as hard as it sounds.
We absolutely adore our home and are slowly but surely getting it all set up! It’s much bigger than our last home so finding all of the pieces we need may take a bit. Because let’s be real, travel budget > home budget you know? ;)
Obviously, the difference in life last year compared to today is quite different, but it’s a change I’ve been so excited about. That said, it’s been going so well. Yes there have been plenty of challenges, but we are “the grass is greener where you water it” type of people and we choose to see the challenges with grateful eyes. I mean, we live in freaking Italy!!!!
Culture Shock
The culture shock of moving is pretty strange. We both agree that the biggest “shock” is not being able to talk to people when we are out and about. Tyler is a Chatty Cathy so whenever we go out to eat, or are at a store or what have you he loves to strike up a conversation with the employee. When we do that here we get very confused looks and directions to the bathroom….hehe!
Other things that have been a bit of a shock are:
Squatty potties
The driving (if you thought passing with oncoming traffic was abnormal...think again)
Extreme recycling (also a good thing to learn so I’m here for it!)
Riposo (a big chunk of the afternoon when everything is closed)
Bureaucracy (what takes a day in the U.S. may take two weeks)
Culture differences I LOVE!
Coffee is 1 euro
Don’t have enough cash? Bring it when you come next time.
INCREDIBLE prosecco and wine is 30 euro at BEST. We usually spend about 8-12 euro for a bottle (including prosecco road). These bottles would be in the hundreds in the U.S.
Food…
The slowing down of life
Market Days
Walking or biking everywhere
Trips we’ve taken so far
Favorite trip so far
Ljubljana! Venice is also stunning.
What I’m looking forward to
MORE TRAVEL! Traveling far and travelling often. Tyler and I have a goal of visiting a new country every month. Although the corona virus is really putting a damper on that, hehe! Whether it happens or not it’s a fun way to encourage us to go to places we wouldn’t initially think of.
Summer in Italy...need I say more?
Learning the language.
Taking a cooking class (or 57).
Im currently on a country-wide “Lockdown” sitting in my home until this darn corona goes away.
But besides that, it really has been a dream. We are so grateful for this experience and promised each other to not take it for granted.
I hope you enjoyed this, and I can’t wait to write another one maybe a year or so in! I’ll have plenty more insight then ;)
XO,
Di