Christmas Adventures in Europe

Christmas has always been my favourite time of the year. In fact a big reason I wanted to brave away from the tropical climates is so I could experience once again a European Christmas season. When I lived in London I absolutely loved the cheer that filled the air. London is a city that knows how to do Christmas! While living in London I got my first taste of European Christmas markets and immediately fell in love with the whole concept. During this time I traveled to Nuremberg, Germany for their festive markets and also visited several throughout London.

This Christmas season I did my best to soak in every Christmas experience possible. The only thing lacking in Europe was snow and of course my family. Lucky for me, I had both when I came home to Canada this past week!

My Christmas season always begins in October. I try to fight the urge so not to annoy people with my obsessive Christmas cheer, but as always the festive music usually starts mysteriously playing on my computer about a week before Halloween. Parties start to get planned, Elf plays on repeat and my warm Christmas pajamas somehow pop out from hiding. Come November I'm in full blown Christmas mode and am feeling like I can start pushing the Christmas spirit on others since Halloween is now over (some Scrooges still think this is too early!).

The first Christmasy adventure this season was with three of my girlfriends to some villages in Northern Italy near Switzerland. We visited Stresa and Verbania. We had read that the Christmas markets were starting this particular weekend so we took an early morning train to these beautiful villages on Lago Maggiore. Sadly, when we arrived we found out the markets were not beginning until the following weekend. We did however find ourselves some mulled wine, roasted chestnuts and enjoyed a wonderful meal as we walked around villages outlined by snow covered Alps. Despite the lack of markets, it was a great kickoff to the Christmas season!

The following weekend I flew to Warsaw, Poland and visited a friend from home who is living there. I had my fingers crossed for some snow but instead was greeted with a whole lot of rain and cold temps. Nonetheless, Warsaw is a beautiful city with a lot of dark and interesting history. The Old Town was destroyed during World War II but has been restored and is a beautiful area to tour. After a quick trip to the markets, some mulled wine, mulled beer and delicious perogies it was pretty much time to hop back on a plane to Milan and prepare for the next Christmas adventure.

My next Christmas adventure took place with four wonderful colleagues in Belgium. We took a late night Friday flight to Brussels and stayed at a lovely hotel that had incredible Christmas markets at its doorstep (Thanks Katy, Erika and Meredith for sharing your hotel!!). Saturday morning we had breakfast at a delicious pastry shop and then took a train to Bruges. If you have never been or seen a picture, just imagine a fairytale village with houses and shops that look like they are made of gingerbread. It was truly a magical village with so much Christmas cheer on each and every corner. We spent most of our time here walking and soaking in the beauty. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of mussels and beer (a Belgium favourite). We also spent perhaps too much time shopping in chocolate shops (another Belgium favourite). Belgium has as many chocolate shops as Ireland has pubs. It was pretty wonderful!! After a long and Christmasfied day in Bruges, we returned by train to Brussels. The next day before heading back to the airport we once again enjoyed the incredible Christmas markets, took a walk around the exterior of the Grand Palace (breathtaking) and enjoyed some more chocolate!

 My last weekend of Christmas season in Europe was a solo one. After a bit of a crazy month I decided to take some time to relax. I took the train to a small city about 40km from Milan called Bergamo. It is a quaint little city with a ton of character and of course... more Christmas markets! I enjoyed a relaxing night at a nice hotel near the mountains and treated myself to a spa day. Bergamo consists of two parts - Citta Alta (upper city) and Citta Bassa (lower city). I stayed in the lower city and on Sunday took a finiculare to the upper city. The city has a very medevil vibe with narrow, windy streets. The views are incredible here. The city was so alive with familes, couples, shop owners and tourists all out and about enjoying a stroll on this sunny day, shopping at the Sunday markets and enjoying a coffee break at one of the many quaint little sidewalk cafes. After a relaxing and restful weekend I went to take the train back to Milan only to find out that the trains were on strike. A few bus rides later and I was back in Milan. 

My Christmas season certainly lived up to everything I hoped it would be. My weekends were busy with flights, trains, hotels and early mornings.. but I also enjoyed all that the season had to offer in my own city. Milan is truly a beautiful city and becomes even more magical when it is full of Christmas lights, giant snowflakes outlining the streets, a massive tree outside of Duomo and Christmas markets lining the roads. Milan also hosts L'Artigiano in Fiera which is a massive Christmas fair. There are crafts and goods from all regions of Italy and also from many countries around the world. It was a great place to stock up on Christmas goodies.
Another festive night out was with the parents of my students. My school has a tradition that the parents of your class take you out for a Christmas meal or cocktail night. My teaching partner and I were treated to a nice evening out with all of the parents where we enjoyed some wonderful food and drinks, got to know the parents a little bit better and were presented with a lovely Christmas gift. The next big event was a Christmas staff social at Dolce and Gabbana's Gold bar (with flat screen tvs in each bathroom stall, it is as fancy as it sounds). My European Christmas season came to an end with one final Christmas party hosted by myself and my roommate. The next morning I boarded a plane and 12 hours later I was back in Canada ready to start my Canadian Christmas! 

Christmas season has now come to an end and I eagerly await the adventures of 2014. My first big adventure begins in just a few hours as I am about to board a flight to travel to Iceland to spend four days in Reykjavik. I have a feeling 2014 is going to be another great travel year with so many new places to explore!

Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for a safe, happy, healthy and hopefully adventurous year ahead! 

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE...

Next week will mark three months since arriving in Italy. It is hard to believe how fast time is going and how quickly the seasons are changing. Milan has been giving me a taste of Jakarta with this ongoing daily rain. Thankfully, the rain feels clean and smells fresh (what a nice change!). This evening as it poured, I decided I needed to get outside and go for a walk. I bundled up in my raincoat, grabbed my umbrella and explored my area of the city a little more. As I wandered down side streets I had not yet seen, I found a variety of bars, cafes and even a little Christmas shop! As I walked in the rain, enjoying the open sidewalks I began to really re-appreciate where I am living. I am by no means a fan of rain, but there is something about the rain in this city.. the rain just seems a little bit more magical and a little bit more bearable than it does anywhere else. Or maybe it's not magical rain... maybe, I just really love where I am!

Living abroad has never been overly challenging for me. I find exploring the unknown and unfamiliar to be the biggest thrill in life! A teacher/mentor I used to work with once told me that she thinks of me as a chameleon in the fact that I can adapt to my environment so naturally. I thought this was a really nice compliment. I've spent the majority of my life moving and adapting. Growing up in a military family meant that a town or house wasn't necessarily your home. Your home was where your family was and there was always the possibility that it could shift or change. A feeling in which I wasn't overly crazy about as a child has now shaped my adult life.

CBC recently had an article about Canadian teachers moving abroad for teaching opportunities. With an incredibly limited job market for teachers in Canada, more and more teachers are exploring alternative options. Some go purely because it's a job offer, others desire the challenge or change, and many want the experiences of culture and travel. Teaching abroad has certainly been the best adventure of my life! I have come to understand and appreciate that living abroad means not always having things be familiar. It means stepping outside of your comfort zone and learning to adapt. Things are done differently, foods taste different, there are language barriers, and different approaches to living life. Although at times the unfamiliararties may become overwhelming, they are part of living abroad... and frankly why move to a foreign country and have everything be the same as it is back home? If that's the case, why not just stay home? I've always found that the people who don't stay abroad very long are the ones who don't embrace the differences. It's a lifestyle that isn't for everyone, but it's also a lifestyle that is so enjoyable when you decide to let go of the comforts of home and embrace your new environment for all that it is and all that it is not.

After living in the Bahamas and the UK, it was Jakarta where I learned the hardest lessons and the true meaning of being somewhere foreign. Because of my time in Indonesia I feel extra fortunate that moving to Italy has been such an easy transition. A country that is so rich in culture, yet has such a sense of familiarity. I absolutely love living in Italy and the opportunities that present themselves. I wouldn't change it for anything. But there are days when I miss the excitement of being somewhere completely foreign and so drastically different. I am fortunate that Milan has many of the comforts of home. It has been an easy transition and other than not speaking the language, it is a city that is easy to live in. It is clean, friendly, entertaining and has excellent public transportation. At times, things may not be as efficient as in North America, but with this being my fifth year abroad, I am becoming much more adaptable with accepting that time in North America is wildly different to the rest of the world, and despite being an inconvenience at times, is totally okay! I really have no complaints.. but I do long for more adventures that bring to me places that shock my senses and reveal things that I hadn't previously known existed!

When I first moved to Indonesia I knew very little about my new host country. I picked a totally random part of the world and dove in head first. My first week in Indonesia I was sick and had only been introduced to the "local" grocery store where there was nothing familiar at all. I remember one night during that first week where I really questioned my decision to move to such a random part of the world knowing so little about what I was getting myself into. I still did not have a roommate and my school had really left me to fend for myself the first week. Not knowing the language or my way around the city was challenging. I did my best to be adventurous and explore but had taxi drivers rip me off, people stare, and I was overwhelmed by the sights of extreme poverty, was constantly uncomfortable with equatorial temperatures and felt nauseous from the stench of pollution. I can plainly recall one of my first nights in my new home. I was sick and hadn't eaten in far too long. The only familiar food I had found was a cereal similar to rice crispees. I remember sitting on the tile floor of my living room by myself … no internet, no television…  trying to cool my body temperature by laying down on these tiles (my a/c was not yet working) and eating plain cereal because the milk was far too sweet and made me vomit. I sat on these tiles listening to prayer call from the local mosque, watching lights zoom by from dozens of ojeks (motorbikes) and wondering, "Can I really make a life here?" I later woke up to thousands of tiny ants invading my apartment and taking over my bathroom and kitchen! There was a strong odor of sewage seeping through the pipes in my apartment. That was it. I had that night to think "Crap, why did I move so far from home?". This was decision time. Let the fear of such a foreign place and a drastic lifestyle change take over - or, embrace the adventure, differences and unfamiliarity for all that they were!

I traveled to foreign lands, adapted to new work ethics, mixed and mingled with people of all walks of life, forced myself to go out alone and meet new friends, spent time traveling third world countries alone,  and pulled myself away from comfort foods to try eating more exotically (even after many horrendous episodes of food poisoning). My point is, it wasn't easy and I did make complaints along the way (part of being human, right?). But, I did it and my life is richer for having these experiences and doing my best to embrace it! I met friends I will never forget, taught children who made me a better teacher, and saw sights that words cannot give justice to.

I very much had a love/hate relationship with Jakarta. A Global metropolis with such an array of old traditions and new world luxuries. A city where glamorous malls are outlined by slums of starving families. The fourth most populated city in the world - a city where you can find fine five star dining from around the Globe and also see naked children eating garbage off of the street. Extreme opposites come together to form this city. Jakarta is a city of luxury for those who can afford it and sadly appears as a nightmare for those who can not.

The sights of Jakarta were enough alone to overwhelm anyone's senses. The city hosts some of the most intense traffic in the world. Mix in some goats, cows and street vendors crawling in and around the vehicles and look out your window to see a tiny human being holding their hands out and begging for money, food and hope. Add in the the cultural differences and you really realize you are no longer anywhere close to home. In my experience I often felt a major cultural divide in daily life. Being a "bule" (meaning: Caucasian person) meant constant stares, giggles, and being approached on a regular basis for photos or by someone hoping to practice a little bit of English with you. As silly as it may all sound, it became exhausting. A simple outing to buy groceries could often leave me feeling insecure and wondering why I must get so many stares and giggles. It was probably in these moments I missed familiarity the most. I sought after being somewhere so different, but was unprepared for the fact that I was what was different in this city. My Indonesian friends often tried to reassure me that it should be taken as compliments, but it wasn't always easy.  

By the end of my time in Jakarta the giggles, the stares, the differences in work ethic and perspectives on everything from how to dress to how women should act became more easy for me to understand. I learned that it isn't about one culture being right and the other wrong. It is simply two different view points due to so many factors.  This is after all what culture is all about and if you are going to live away from home, you better do your best to embrace it! Things are done drastically different and you have to choose your battles. This was the biggest lesson I learned last year. I was careful not to be taken advantage of as a foreigner, but also made sure to avoid coming off as an entitled North American demanding the luxuries of home in a country that I was a guest in.

Despite the challenges, heartaches and stresses - I do not for a second regret my time in Jakarta. I met people who have had entirely different upbringings from mine, who view the world so differently and value things that I hadn't before. I learned from these people and became richer because of them. I was a guest in their country and learned to adapt the best I could. 

From climbing one of the world's most notorious volcanoes in the Sunda Strait, to visiting a hill tribe in Thailand's North.  Working with rehabilitating injured elephants and crawling through the war tunnels in Vietnam. A surf lesson in Bali to walking the streets of little India in Singapore and caving in Malaysia. Being placed on a billboard in Jakarta to trekking the jungles of Indonesia. Learning about life from Monks to spending time playing with some of the world's most impoverished children.  Spending the worst moments of my life being interrogated and threatened for hours on end by immigration due to a visa nightmare to exploring new tastes, customs, and traditions.

Being abroad: It isn't home. It isn't always easy. Things are different.

But....Adventure is out there! There is beauty in even the most chaotic places and it is in these unfamiliar places you learn the most about the world. 

The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - Gilbert K. Chesterton

It has now been a little over two months since I began the Italian chapter of my life and what an incredible time it has been! I have been making the most of my time here and feel so fortunate to be living in such a beautiful and magical part of the world. Every weekend I have the opportunity to easily access a different region of Italy or hop a plane and fly to a different country. The travel in Europe is extremely cheap in comparison to home and the short distances make a weekend or day away so easy to do and so hard to resist.

I've spent the past four weekends touring and wandering. As much as I love to research, I am not a big planner. I like to wander, get lost, find places that are off the beaten path and have experiences that are more authentic than touristy. Fortunately my roommate views traveling the same way so she has become a great travel companion!

Here is what I've been up to in the last month:


The Dolomites: Trento & Bolzano 

The Dolomites are a mountain range in Northern Italy. From Milan I took a three hour train ride to the beautiful town of Trento. My roommate and I had decided to stay here for the weekend and explore the city and venture into the mountains.

One of the sacrifices I had to make moving to Europe from S.E Asia was giving up a lot of luxuries. In S.E Asia travel is very cheap - making five star hotels, room service and spas very realistic options when traveling. Moving to Europe meant trading in those comforts for hostels and grocery store snacks as meals... a sacrifice I am more than happy to make if it means living in Europe!!

Trento is a small city and not overly touristy, so finding a hostel wasn't easy. In fact we only found one available hostel online and the reviews were terrible. People went as far as saying to avoid Trento if your only option is to stay in this hostel. Other reviews said it was noisy, dangerous and dirty. Maybe the commonsense thing to do here would be to take this advice and avoid the hostel. But, my roommate and I both agreed we had traveled in far more crazy places than Italy and thought how bad can it be??
We arrived at our hostel and braced ourselves for less than comfortable conditions. Much to our

pleasant surprise we opened the doors to a spacious, clean and friendly hostel. Our five bed room had one other guest and our room opened to a balcony with mountain view! Moral of the story: people find anything to complain about, so don't always trust reviews! (Sure my pillow case may have had a cigarette burn in it, but who cares when you're spending the weekend in the mountains!)

Saturday we toured the city, enjoyed the local markets and found ourselves at a German pub meeting some local beer makers! Later we ventured into a cable car and up a mountain into the most quaint little mountaintop village. There wasn't a soul in sight. We wandered through the fog covered streets and enjoyed every aspect of our journey. Eventually we found a little hole in the wall restaurant. We walked in and found a sweet old Italian man cleaning mushrooms. We were the only guests and there were no menus. We were told what they had in their kitchen for the day and we then ate one of the best meals ever. All local mountain food - beef, goat cheese, etc. 

The next day we woke up early and decided we felt satisfied with everything we saw in Trento and felt we should explore the mountains further. So, we took another train further North and ended up in a German region of Italy. This was the town of Bolzano - located close to Austria. We immediately took a cable car up into the mountains and enjoyed specatcular views on a clear, sunny day. When we reached the peak of this particular mountain we were greeted by an Austrian band. The whole village (including the whole police unit) had gathered around to enjoy the music. Fall had hit this area much earlier than it has hit Milan. The colours were beautiful and the whole atmosphere was magical. With only a few hours left, we decided we should keep going and see as much as possible. We hopped aboard a tiny mountain train and ventured even further up the mountains. At this point we were in the clouds and the rain started. We found shelter in the coziest German restaurant with views of mountain peaks and clouds all around us. 

A long journey of cable cars, trains and transfers and we were back in Milano ready for another week of work and preparing for another adventure...

Norway

My roommate Sarah and her friend in Sweden and my friend in Germany all met up in Norway for a fun filled weekend! This was a quick trip. Early Saturday morning we took the metro to the train station where we got on an hour long bus ride to the airport where we took a 2.5 hour flight to Oslo where we then had to get on another hour long bus ride to arrive in the city centre where we then had to walk until we found our hostel!!! Did I mention how much I love traveling? I live for these adventures. They may be exhausting, but they are so exciting!
We all met at our cozy little hostel in the heart of Oslo. It was so great to see an old friend who I met while living in Indonesia. We caught up over a Norwegian meal at a quaint little

pub and then enjoyed our time walking and touring the city.

We spent time at the Nobel Peace Centre, the waterfront, visited the Vigeland Statue Park, made a trip to see the famous 'Scream' painting at the Edvard Munch gallery, toured the Viking ship museum and spent a night out pubbing and clubbing Norwegian style!
Oslo is ridiculously expensive. In fact for many years it was the MOST expensive city in the world. It now ranks in the top three. So in the end we were pretty happy our stay was short. It is a beautiful city and I am thrilled I saw it, but I will not be in a hurry to return.

Alba

A friend who teaches at another school invited me to attend a truffles festival in Alba. Alba is a small town about three and a half hours Southwest of Milan by train. On the way we had to switch trains in the town of Bra. When we arrived we missed our train by seconds so we ended up having to wait an hour for the next train. We decided to wander around the town of Bra. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but we did have many laughs over the name of this town.
Once we arrived in Alba we wandered the streets looking for the festival. We saw a few booths and shops with very expensive truffles for sale, but even more exciting was a medevil festival we stumbled upon. The town had been transformed! The cobblestone streets were covered in hay, there were lines of vendors and games and everyone was in character. We had such a

fun afternoon playing medevil games and winning bottle after bottle of wine. Games included throwing darts at a sausage, fishing for bottles of wine and riding horses made of hay. In the evening there was music, mulled wine and medevil food! With our winnings in hand we were ready to take the long train ride back to Milan - stopping in Bra and Torino this time!

Venice

Ahh Venice... One of my favourite cities in the world. This was the place that made me fall in love with Italy and ignited my dream to live in this country. Ten years ago I visited Venice on a high school trip and fell absolutely in love. It was such a wonderful feeling being back in Venice!
Venice is really unlike any other city. It's a city you can wander around in for hours without feeling bored. Everything about this city is magical. The canals, the rustic apartments, the music, the food,..the list goes on.
It's pretty incredible to think that Venice is just a 2.5 hour train ride away from where I live - making day trips very feasible. I plan to return in February for Carnival!

October has been a great month and a busy one. This coming weekend my school is sending me back to Canada for visa paperwork. I will be home for a week and then will return just in time for Christmas season in Europe!!! Stay tuned for upcoming adventures to Poland and Belgium!

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Last week marked one month of living the sweet Italian life!

The days and weeks seem to go by so quickly here. My days are filled with teaching adorable Italian children and my evenings are often busy with meetings, planning and marking. However, my weekly social nightlife is a big upgrade from that of last years in Jakarta. My friends and I have been enjoying apertivos in the evening, dining on delicious pizzas, shopping, and expanding our circle of friends by attending Internations events. This is definitely a city where boredom doesn't exist!

A few weeks ago Vogue hosted Milan's Fashion Night Out. A big group of us ventured downtown and arrived to the busy streets filled with fashionistas, photographers and curious tourists. My roommate and I wandered into a few stores. We were greeted with cocktails and complimentary gifts, while DJs played in the background. The stores were more like clubs than shops! Our Fashion night out also led us to meet the wonderful Austrian designer, Arthur Arbesser (a friend of a colleague). It was a fun glam filled night!

Milan seems to have a long list of things to do and I plan to enjoy my new city as much as I can. But, I am also here to explore and travel Italy and the rest of Europe. So, a few friends and I took the 2.5 hour train ride to Bologna a few weekends ago. We spent the day wandering the beautiful city, enjoying perhaps one of the last sunny, hot days of the season. We dined, we wined, we shopped and we enjoyed our time exploring a new place!

The following weekend I had a trip booked to Cinque Terre. This was an area in Italy I had visited during my last time here and I always rave to everyone how it is one of my favourite places in the world! Unfortunately, the wicked back to school germs caught me and knocked me out for the weekend resulting in a missed trip and one sad little Canadian, while my friends all soaked up the Mediterranean sunshine! Looking at the positive side, I now only live a few hours away from this gem and I will definitely rebook a trip in the future!

This past weekend we had a few party nights out with lots of new friends. On Sunday I took the train to Saronno to spend the day with wonderful friends/hosts! Melanie is a friend I met five years ago while I did my University teaching placement here in Milan. We've kept in touch over the years and it has been great to have a familiar face around while settling in. She and her husband invited me to their town for the day. I am definitely more of a small town girl than a city girl, so I immediately felt more at home! The town has beautiful streets with quaint little shops and cafes. The sidewalks were filled with art displays and it had that home town feel where everyone seemed to know everyone. It was definitely a treat to visit this town. To top off a lovely day, Angelo also prepared the most AMAZING lunch ever. A great day with friends and a full belly later and I was on the train back to Milano. Thanks Melanie and Angelo for a wonderful day!!

As this busy week comes to an end I am preparing to escape to the Alps with my roommate this weekend. We are off to spend two days in Trento. Trento is a German region in Northern Italy nestled under the mountains and dotted with lakes and rivers. I can't wait for a German beer and a nice hike up the mountain (maybe not in that order)!
Other upcoming adventures:
Oslo, Norway next weekend and Canada at the end of the month!
Stay tuned :)

La Dolce Vita

Almost ten years ago at the age of 18, I took a trip to Italy. I fell in love and knew I had to live in this beautiful country one day. Fast forward five years of Uni, four years of living abroad and working in various International Schools...and here I am, living in Italy!!



The past two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind with jam packed days, a few obstacles, a case of bed bugs and a bit of homesickness for the first real time in four years.

 After an over night flight from Toronto-Frankfurt-Milan, myself and three other new teachers from Ontario arrived in our new city. It was great to have others to travel with. I’ve gotten so used to traveling alone, that I forgot how much more fun it is when you’re with others! We were greeted at the airport and had a mini bus waiting to bring us and all of our luggage to our apartments. The following evening our school director brought all of the new teachers out for a lovely Italian meal (lots of pizza and wine!). There are a fair number of new teachers -mostly Canadian, but also teachers from the US and Scotland. It is great to have instant friends and we are conveniently all living within walking distance of one another and our school.


The next day our school brought us on a walking tour of Milan, treated us to gelato and showed us the main attractions like the Duomo. The staff at the school have been amazing. So many friendly and welcoming faces. The teachers seem like a really fun group of people who love to socialize. After our tour the owners of the school arranged a cocktail night at a bar downtown (which happens to be one of the biggest bars in the world). Here we met the whole staff, were treated to drinks and a lot of REALLY good food. Italians definitely know how to enjoy themselves!



The next day we traveled to Lago Maggiore which is North of Milan and close to the Swiss border. We spent the next three days doing workshops, taking walks along the water and through the village, singing karaoke and indulging in more wine and food! What a beautiful setting to kick off the school year. 
Sadly, during our time at the lake I received news that my Grandmother had passed away. It was definitely one of the first times I felt extreme homesickness and wished I could hop on a flight to be with my parents. Thankfully, I had just been in Newfoundland the week prior to leaving for Italy and saw my Grandmother for one last time. This and the fact that my Grandmother lived a long and incredible life brought me a lot of comfort and made it easier to accept being so far away at this time. 



Our time at the lake came to an end and we headed back to Milan. I had only slept in my apartment two nights prior to the lake and both mornings woke up with weird bites. While at the lake it was confirmed that my apartment was infested with bedbugs (one of my biggest fears). So upon returning to Milan, my roommate and I were put up in a hotel while our place was fumigated. Thankfully, our beautiful apartment is now bug free and after several nights of waking up at 3am in a panic and checking my mattress for bugs, I can now sleep much sounder! 



This past week at school we have been busy with more workshops, meetings and classroom/lesson planning preparation as the children will start school this Thursday. I will be teaching Grade 2 again (my favourite) and I am SO excited to meet my little Italian kiddies! The school is a PYP IB school which has been a career goal of mine for some time. I am looking forward to learning a new curriculum and approach to teaching!



The first two weeks have flown by and I feel like I haven’t stopped once. On the weekend a group of teachers and myself participated in the Colour Fun Run. It was a 5k run/walk through Milan (known as the happiest 5k in the world). After each kilometer you enter a fun zone where you get doused in a different colour of powder paint. It was definitely a great way to spend a sunny (and extremely hot) Saturday. The following night we had a pizza party at our apartment with our teacher friends and then went to a concert/party in a forest.

 After a busy first two weeks I am really looking forward to some quiet and relaxing time. A few of us are planning a trip to the sea side in a few weekends so we can explore, relax and soak in this beautiful Mediterranean sunshine. The travel opportunities here are endless. Those who know me well, know my love for travel and maps! I have strategically placed a world map next to my bed. Any early morning I wake up grumpy and not wanting to get out of bed, I plan to look at my map and remind myself of where I am and the opportunities that surround me! Looking forward to the adventures to come in the next two years of my Italy chapter and living my European dream. Stay tuned for updates!



Random Facts:

1. There are many transvestite prostitutes in my neighbourhood...and it is pretty entertaining to see what outfit they have on each night.

2. Italians eat supper around 8:00 or later. Restaurants don’t even open until 7pm.

3. Most stores/restaurants close for a few hours in the afternoon.

4. The bartender at the pub near our place already knows mine and my roommate’s names!

5. Not as many people speak English in Milan as I expected.

6. People here assume I speak Italian - unlike Jakarta where I stuck out like a sore thumb and nobody expected me to speak Bahasa. 

7. I will be starting Italian lessons soon!

8. Wine IS cheaper than water in many places.

9. The phrase “Welcome to Italy” is used extremely often when referring to how slow things are here. However, when I lived in the Bahamas I often heard “Welcome to the Island Life” and when I lived in Indonesia I often heard “Welcome to Indonesia”. I am beginning to think it isn’t the rest of the world that is “slow”, it is North America that is “fast”. 

10. Living without internet is REALLY hard!!! (Hoping to get it installed in the apartment soon)

11. Aperitivos are very common. This is when you go to a bar in the afternoon and pay for a cocktail or glass of wine and food is served with your drink. It’s like the Italian version of afternoon tea..except with booze! We’ve already had a few and I see many more in my future.

12. It seems like everyone in Milan has a dog. Wishing I could get a puppy!!!
13. It is way hotter than I expected. The temperatures mixed with the humidity and the lack of a/c everywhere (because apparently Italians think a/c makes you sick) is just like being back in the Bahamas...without the beach!

14. My new favourite snack is melon wrapped in proscuitto. If you have never had it, TRY IT!
15. Living in Italy seems like it will be a fairly easy transition since there aren't really any cultural shocks here.