After a busy Summer spent mostly in the Czech Republic, leaving day crept up on me quite suddenly. Practically every fourth year I’ve met has told me how exciting I would find the year abroad and what a great experienc
e it is, and I knew they weren’t lying… buuut I still didn’t believe them. So it was with a heavy heart that I said goodbye to Mum, Dad and Benoir (the dog) to start the first leg of my journey in Italy…
Thankfully my 
sister, Kristy, came with me for the first weekend so that I wouldn’t be alone in a hotel for 3 days. We walked from Padova station with my 30kg (exactly) bags – no overcharging me, Ryanair – to the hotel. We passed vespas, terribly-driven cars and an angry nonna who, hearing a car beeping as it passed her, pinched her fingers and thumb together and violently shook her forearm at the offender in such a stereotypically Italian way that Kristy and I couldn’t stop laughing.
I think I underestimated how hard it would be finding myself alone in a new country with no-one I knew here. However, things have completely turned around so quickly. I forced myself to go out and meet people and in just one week of living here have been to many an aperitivo (where my hosts 
taught me the intricacies of gesturing in Italian), to a dinner party where I was taught Latin American dancing and have also had my first motorbike ride around the city. I am beginning to see what everyone has been raving about…
As for the language side of things, this has been surprisingly al
right! It hasn’t been a struggle to understand people except for one Neapolitan guy I met. After a few glasses of Prosecco, I ambitiously claimed that I could speak napolitano. I think he was less than impressed when I recited my extensive vocabulary of monezza, spenneciato and Gomorra – rubbish, tramp and mafia… I was, however, assured by the Northerners at our table that this was all the vocabulary I would need in the South.
Work-wise, my boss, Monica is absolutely lovely and CIELS university seems like a really great place to work. A
t the moment the only problem is not having enough work to do. As term hasn’t started yet I will barely be working 2 days a week until the 6th of October. It sounds fantastic, but when all of my friends here either work full-time or study in the day it can get quite boring.
I guess I will just have to spend my days developing an alcohol problem leading a Spritz and Prosecco fuelled lifestyle till October then…
Charlie on the Continent 
Great post, Charlie! Keep on writing and sharing with people your amazing adventures! BTW, we’re having pizza, Latin dancing, wine and that thick sweet thing which name I don’t remember again tonight! So come back quick cuz you need to catch up! ❤
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