I Moved to Italy to Challenge Myself. I Planned Next to Nothing And It Worked Out!
Being resourceful is a much needed skill when you like adventure! Learn how to build that muscle as soon as possible!!
After I left my au pair job with the British family, I found myself a job as a Reservations Agent for a chain of hostels spread across the UK and Europe. I never thought I’d enjoy an office job, but I totally did! I loved the casual atmosphere, my colleagues and the job too of course as I was helping people book their stay and I found this very satisfying.
I’m glad to say that I did pretty well because after about 2 years in, I got promoted to Reservations Manager and was in charge of running the team among lots of other very interesting tasks. I was pretty pumped I must admit.
However, in 2013, I hit a wall and I knew that something had to change.
I had dedicated 7 years of my life to this company and felt like it was finally time for me to pack my stuff and go. That’s what I did, literally.
I had been living in London for 11 years already and although I have a strong connection with this city, I wanted a serious change of scenery and get myself a nice new challenge.
So… What did I do? I packed my bags and moved to Rome, in Italy — indefinitely.
I remember feeling a serious attraction for this country, although I had only been once before, while on a holiday. I was ready to take on a new language, I wanted to be surrounded by beautiful architecture and… Eat super tasty foods. Hence, the decision.
Here comes the twist…
Now… One of the weird things about me when I travel is that I don’t like planning everything in advance. I adore spontaneity and always want to have the freedom to change my plans if a better opportunity comes up. I hate feeling tied down.
In this case, all I had when I got to Rome was a room reservation for about 10 days and one lead on a possible job at a trilingual nursery school where I was hoping to either teach French or English to the kids. I really wasn’t too worried about finding a job in Rome because I could speak two languages fluently (French and English), I had plenty of experience in the hotel industry and in childcare, so I felt pretty confident.
As for the accommodation, I thought I’d start looking for a flatshare during my first week in Rome. I thought I could always extend my hotel booking in case of a slight delay in finding a more permanent place to stay. I really wasn’t worried about that.
So now I’m sure you’re dying to hear how it all worked out, right?? Well, once again, it is a pretty long story, so I’ll have to break the whole story up into a few articles I think but here is the bulk of it:
I found out the hard way that, living in Italy and not speaking a word of Italian is a problem. Not because you cannot communicate with the clients/ guests etc, but because Italian people have such a poor level of English (like us French in fact…), that they need to communicate in Italian between colleagues. Therefore, it took me a great deal of effort to find the full time job that I needed to survive — Eeekk.
I walked around the city with piles of resumes, talked to hotel, hostel and Bed&Breakfast owners, but they were just not interested. I managed to get a few hours at the trilingual nursery school as an English teacher, but I needed more money, so I found another part time job as a Tour Promoter to encourage tourists to visit the Colosseum, The Palatine Hill and the Roman forum with one of our guides. I did this for a while, but I still wasn’t making enough money to live the way I wanted to, so I kept on looking online to see what job offers there were.
As for the accommodation, it happened pretty quickly. Once again, with the internet, it makes everything so much easier. I got a bedroom in a lovely palazzo where the owner and two other girls were living as well.
Besides finding an accommodation and a job, I was also very keen on finding a language school so I could learn Italian properly. That’s also a great way of meeting people and making new friends! I found a school within a week or so and I loved it. I had a great teacher, nice classmates and it was just very fun to find myself in a classroom again, learning a new language at 34 years old.
Although I cherish my alone time and never really get lonely, I had decided to go out there and mingle because that’s how you build a network and then hopefully, opportunities arise. To do this, I had signed-up to an online platform called Couchsurfing. That’s a site where you usually get in touch with people and see if you get crash on their sofa for a night or two as you travel, but in my case, I only wanted to attend the weekly meet-ups.
You pay a cheap entry fee and you get an aperitivo included. I used to go there once a week to meet other foreigners and Italian people too. It was such a blast! People were really friendly and the Italians loved speaking in English and French with me. I tried very hard to practise my Italian with them, but it was a bit of a struggle to be honest because my English kept taking over…
After about 6 months in Rome, the stars finally aligned!
Although I was thoroughly enjoying my time in Rome, it was pretty expensive and I wasn’t making enough money from my two little jobs. I was still looking online everyday for a full time job and one day, an ad caught my eye.
“Looking for a PR/ Activity Coordinator” for a well-established yoga retreat in the Sabina mountains, one hour north of Rome.” Accommodation provided + salary.
I was like — That’s it! I need to apply!
I did apply and then got invited to come for an interview where the yoga retreat was. It was so I could discover the place, meet with the owner, the staff and decide whether the job could be for me or not.
I went, got the job and stayed there for three consecutive seasons!
I was so addicted to this place, the job, the people, I really felt like the luckiest person on earth!
I still feel so stoked about it all! All these amazing experiences came from this one simple decision I made to travel to Rome, to satisfy my curiosity about the Italian life and see how it would turn out. I’m just so incredibly grateful!
Go for it guys if you’re thinking of travelling abroad and settle over there for a while. Trust yourselves and just enjoy the whole process. It is SO priceless.
I’ll be sure to tell you more about this experience at the yoga retreat in my next article as it was absolutely life-changing!
Have a good one!
Take care,
Addie
