How to Italy

We're on holiday

HowToItaly is in vacanza.

We'll be back on September 3. Please don't send any emails during that time because we won't be responding.

Happy holidays to you all.

Ciao
Emma

My holiday reading

Ever since I decided to take the next five weeks off, I realised it was a good chance to catch up on my reading. And you should have seen the rate at which I speed-ordered off Amazon.

There are loads of Italian-language books I want to read, but in the interests of getting my English up to speed I'm ignoring them for the time being.

I've gone for 12 books. Five weeks means 1 business book + 1 'fun' book per week, plus an extra two because I'll simply have time to read more. But, crikey, was it difficult to make the choice. Browsing Amazon, there were hundreds I wanted to pick.

Without further ado, here's the list I've plumped for:

1. The Jelly Effect: How to Make Your Communication Stick by Andy Bounds

2. Raving Fans: Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service (One Minute Manager) by Kenneth H. Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles

3. A Chateau of One's Own: Restoration Misadventures in France by Sam Juneau

4. A Lizard in My Luggage: Mayfair to Mallorca in One Easy Move by Anna Nicholas

5. Around the World in 80 Dates by Jennifer Cox

6. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

7. Au Revoir: Running Away from Home at Fifty by Mary Moody

8. Are You Dave Gorman? by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace

9. A Parrot in the Pepper Tree: A Sort of Sequel to "Driving Over Lemons" by Chris Stewart

10. It's Not about the Tapas: A Spanish Adventure on Two Wheels by Polly Evans

11. Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography by Sir Richard Branson

12. Your Ethical Business: How to Plan, Start and Succeed in a Company with a Conscience by Paul Allen

As you can tell, I'm having a bit of a travel writing moment :-)

But before I start, I need to finish:

1. The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living by Randy Komisar and Kent L Lineback

2. The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford (note to Mum: I'm almost there! Only one more chapter to go)

Resource for choosing your location in Italy

I was talking to friends yesterday who reccomended the following site. http://outside.away.com/

For those of you after an adrenalin rush in Italy, it's particularly recommended as the articles mention lots of little known destinations for you to get your adventure hit.

You never know, it may even give you ideas for places to live in the Bel Paese that you never even thought existed.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Student life in Bologna

It was a late one last night.

My Italian housemates from Bologna were in Sardinia and we went out to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of our living together.

It was a fab. We went out to Trocadero, a cute little restaurant tucked away behind the main Corso in Olbia. We drank far too much wine, laughed (a lot), and reminisced about hanging beds over the balcony when the landlord came for the rent because there were only meant to be four single beds in the apartment - we actually had five but six of us slept there.

Looking back, I realise how lucky I was living with Simone, Tamara, Michele, Michela and Luca. The boys cooked lunch for me and have an espresso on the table waiting for me when I staggered out of bed (I'm not an early morning person and never have been) and Simone used to take me out for a weekly cappuccino. Tamara, meanwhile, used to help me study Italian and she would feed me the delicious food her Sardinian grandparents had sent her. With Simone and Michele, I'd go swimming twice a week and in the evenings we'd go out to parties, the latest bar or a concert that Tamara had managed to get us into for free.

But the thing I value most about them is that every day they would patiently go through the dissertation I had to write on the link between the Italian media and the political system and correct my Italian or give me other suggestions.

I didn't have any non-Italian friends in Bologna that year. I didn't need to. I wasn't homesick or needing to speak English because I was having the time of my life.

In Italy, as I've mentioned before, there is the saying 'chi trova un amico, trova un tesoro', which in English translates as ' he who finds a friend, finds a treasure'.

Italians may take a while to strike up true friendships, but when they do they are forever.

Five things I've learnt since being in Italy (Part 8)

Here's another five things that I've learnt since being here and being as I'm very much in holiday mode, this post is dedicated to the beach.

1) Italians shun conventional wisdom that it is better to cover up in the sun. They believe you are ill if you are pale and rather nicely describe you as bianco come una mozzarella (as white as mozzarella) or palido come un cadavere (as pale as a corpse). After all this time in Italy, I now get my cheeks pinched whenever people see me in the summer as they say compliment me for no longer resembling mozzarella or dead people. I'm not sure when the transformation happened as I wear sunscreen all year around and factor 60 from april through to November.

2) Italian girls pluck their eyebrows and apply their make up under the midday sun. Personally, I prefer to do it in front of the mirror in my bathroom, but each to their own.

3) Italian girls also take a little bag to the beach with all of their sun creams and oils in. Me and you obviously only use one or two spf factors but not Italian beauties. You need a low one for your legs because they tan slowly, a higher one for your feet because walking about in flip flops means the sun is always on them, a not-to-high one for your face, and a lowish one for your arms, and a very very low one (SPF 1, 2 or 5) for your abs which are hardly ever exposed. This ensures an even tan all over. But that's not the end of it. Oh no. Next up is the oil for the hair and the freshwater spray for the legs to boost circulation while frying in the sun.

4) Italian mammas and babbos don't like their wee ones to get sandy feet once they've got dressed to go home. So said child will be hoisted up by the arms, carried down to the beach and be made to dip their feet in the sea until all sand has gone. Then, they will be carried back to the towel to dry off and put their shoes on to walk back to the car. My sandy barefoot walk back home doesn't pass muster.

5) Italians don't do light lunches at the beach. It's not uncommon to see families under their gazebos as they get out their pasta salad, prosciutto, mozzarrella and tomato salad and fruit and then round it all off with an espresso that they heat up on their little camper stove. Gosh! No wonder Italians can't go in the sea for three hours after eating.

Happy holidays! Five things I've learnt... will be back in September!

Free accommodation in Italy

If you're moving to Italy and you're on a tight budget, why not try one of the following? Not only will you get a free place to stay, you'll also be able to meet new friends and see your new town from a local's perspective.

The Couchsurfing Project

Hospitality Club

Global Freeloaders

Teaching positions and when to apply

Just a reminder that I'm not the only one shutting down this Friday. Most of Italy is off in August to flee the city, go on holiday, relax and generally have fun.

The holiday mentality has already begun. That said, if you're planning to apply for teaching jobs, either send in your resume/CV right this minute or wait until the beginning of September.

Language schools open at different times depending on whether you are in the north or the south. With the hotter weather in the south, schools start back later and it's not uncommon to start the academic year at the end of October.

But don't send off your CV on spec. Ring beforehand and find out what is the preferred means of application and when. After all, there's no point spending all that time crafting your sales pitch as to why you are the best teacher on this planet, only to find it's been forgotten during the summer break.

Mentorship 2008 - do you have what it takes?

HowToItaly Mentorship - applications accepted now

Internships can only take you so far- that's why we've combined certain aspects of an internship experience along with an intensive weeklong mentoring session with an Italian manager to fully prepare you for your move  to Italy.  This course can also help you if you are already planning an internship abroad- you'll have spent a week with an Italian business manager who will mentor and mold you into the perfect candidate for any Italian company.

We believe in getting your money's worth. We believe in honesty, integrity and passion. What we don't believe in is wasting your time. That's why we don't accept anyone, and that's why we require you to apply. If we don't think you have the experience, motivation or skills to move abroad, we will tell you. If you do, well- get ready to experience a workshop unlike any other.  We want you to move over. We want you to be a success.  We want you to live and work in the Bel Paese.. And with the right tools, you'll find out how.   We've done it- and we know you can too.

Want to apply? Read on to find out how.

Ordering coffee in Italy

It's far too hot to do anything here bar wilt in the heat and swim in the sea. We've had forest fires here in Sardinia and people evacuated from their homes. Luckily for me, it's really windy so the air temperature is bearable. Unluckily for Sardinia, it's spreading those fires even more.

Suffice to say, the heat is slowly eating away at my mind. Rather than drowning you in a whole lot of whaffle, I've taken the sensible route and decided to introduce you to the joy of coffee as drunk in Italy.

But I'm not going to do it. Oh no. Not when Sara, from Ms. Adventures in Italy, (great blog, by the way, check it out if you haven't already) has provided the guide How to order an Italian coffee in Italy.

Enjoy!

Aupairing

I've aupaired in Naples, Abruzzo, Paris and Corsica and each time it wasn't that great.

That was partly my fault. I was clueless to knowing what I should have been asking before I accepted the job and consequently I ended up sharing a bed with the other aupair in one case and a bedroom with a little 3-year-old in another. See, I told you I was clueless.

So that you don't have to make the same mistakes that I did, here's my checklist of what you should be asking if you are planning to aupair in Italy some time soon.

1) Light housework is normally included in your duties. Find out exactly what is meant by this. In theory, you are only meant to be doing housework associated with the children. In practice, it's hardly ever like this.

2) Find out when you are expected to work. During the day, evenings, weekends. Generally speaking, you should be working during the week and have evenings and weekends free, unless arranged in advance.

3) If you need to have a driving license, ask if you also have use of the car in your free time. If not, are you close to public transport networks? I spent a lonely time in Corsica finding out that the luxury villa I was in was at the top of a mountain and at least one hour walk from the tiny hamlet. In Abruzzo, in contrast, we were slap bang in the middle of the village and I made loads of Italian friends.

4) Does the family have broadband or wifi? Ok, this isn't essential but you might want to be able to email friends and family occasionally. If they don't, is there an internet cafe nearby?

5) Check with the aupair agency their policy. What happens if your experience turns out to be less than great? Do they move you? Or do they leave you to get out of your agreement with your family.

Had I actually known what I was doing beforehand, I'm sure I'd have had a fantastic time. What about those of you who have aupaired? Am I the only one to have found myself in bizarre situations? How were your experiences? Families resembling angels? Families from hell? Fee free to comment anonymously in worst case scenarious.