A year in Rome today!!!!!!!!

So at some point I decided to have a life and neglected posting my musings here (post about Salento in Puglia to follow). That said, today it is officially my 365th day in Roma and I have decided to go through some of the highs and lows of my…7th year abroad (5 in Italy from 2009-13 and one in the U.K in 2019). I will never forget how this latest Lizzie McGuire moment came about: a semi-breakup with someone that I was never really dating living in Rome (let’s save that for another time). Sad, cliched but true. That said, the moment I hounded the school for a job interview and spoke with my now director, I knew that this was something for me and no one else. I love teaching and knew that this was an exciting way to combine all my loves (sans boys though). In the leadup to my departure, I was running on adrenaline and the delicious fear of the unknown.

I left Australia as Melbourne went in lockdown 2.0 and drowned in the Roman humidity in my quarantine for two weeks. I felt completely alone. My housemates were away on holiday, I was barely speaking to the most important person in the world to me and my only friend was the fan that hovering precariously above my head.

Since then, I have fully settled in and feel a comfort here that I have not felt in a long time. As I sit here writing this at Osteria da Fortunata (treating myself to a divine carbonara), I feel like my year has been so rich and any list I create minimises how much I feel I have grown as a human.

That said, sporadic THINGS I have done:

1. Driven around Tuscia (not Tuscany!) by myself for a week…and got bogged in my underwear.
2. Driven around the Salento by myself…and finally seen the Puglia that I was never able to see many years ago when I lived there (another story). I even got a tan!
3. Got fully vaccinated….yassssssssss!
4. Been in promotional material, done voiceover work for a clinical laboratory.
5. Got my healthcare card on my own! Took 6 months, and running around like a headless chicken but oh well.
6. Taken on way too many tutoring gigs because I have the time.
7. Taught Italian to Italians (and non) in Italy- Take that! (A personal dig at people who don’t believe in non-native languages teachers.)
8. Undressed as many corners of Rome as humanly possible. (Going to write about my favourite corners soon)
9. Turned 30 surrounded by my Italian family and loves.
10. Laughed with my housemates (Italian fam), cried with my housemates and sung Marco Mengoni at the top of my lungs with my housemates.
11. I am using this awkward number to say: found balance in so many areas of my life that I had never previously had – professionally, personally…………. 🙂
12. Written a mini poetry anthology in my daily commutes.
13. Stayed in touch with every person I truly love around the world.