In my head, my bags have been packed for months. Basically since D first applied to the job in Verona. My mental luggage is Coach by the way, LV is way too pretentious. People that have heard about the move have asked me why I am so eager to go, because Rome is beautiful and lalala. Basically, I like parts of Rome: the historical center, Trastevere, ect. What I HATE is where our apartment is. In NOWHERE land. To get to the places I actually like in Rome requires me asking for a ride to the train station (because it is out of walking distance, not because I am lazy), taking a half hour train to Tiburtina, then taking a Metro. So it’s like an hour of gross public transportation, and due to school I am required to do it twice a week. So on all the other days of the week I choose not to go through all these motions. The fact is that I live depressingly far from anything cool. Also worth noting is that my little villaggio consists of a tiny pastry shop, the forno, 3 bars and a pizza place. Oh and no sidewalks. Oh and people drive down the roads at 110kph. So walking to any these places is a death wish.
All this complaining leads me to why I have been mentally packing for months. It all has to do with simple math. Living in Verona + living in the center = Jessica is happy forever! (Someone remind me of this equation in case I ever complain about life in Verona).
Why am I so optimistic?
Firstly, D will be making more money, so we can can actually afford to do cooler stuff than we can here. Secondly, I have 80% of the say in where we will live. When I came to Rome, I had no choice. For the first few months I lived in D’s bachelor pad until I couldn’t handle the naked chick posters anymore. Then we remodeled and I was a little happier. If only we could transport our apartement somewhere else, everything would be perfect. So basically I am the bridezilla of apartment hunting and have been scoping out gorgeous apartments in the center of Verona. They are not that expensive either. We are finding beautiful two bedrooms (notice not just 2 rooms in the whole apartment) and even one with 2 bathrooms (I SO want this apartment!) and around 80-90 square meters for around 700 euro. Which is crazy to me because apartments in Rome are so expensive. A few of my friends lived in absolute holes in the wall *shared* apartments for 500+ euro a month! Which is mental in my opinion, especially since they were far from the center (but not as far as me, but we don’t pay rent-the only positive). Back to Verona- A lot of the apartments have wood floors, which I love because it reminds me of my old bedroom in my parent’s house. The views are spectacular as well. All of these things combined make me very very happy.
Now all that’s left in my larger, more complicated “happy in Italy” equation is to make friends. (Ideally their names will be more varied than Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, which are the only friends I currently have).
Good Blog. I will continue reading it in the future. Nice layout too.
Aaron Wakling
Sounds like you have something to look forward too. I think I’d love that apartment in Verona. It definitely sounds like a big step up
Definitely! I can’t wait!-jessica
Hey I know your blog from Bluefish
That apartment really sounds like a bargain, great deal! Here apartment is painfully expensive and just thinking about finding another one makes me having a huge headache!
I Eva! Where are you at in the world? Canada?-jessica
I am excited for you! when do you move?
We think it’s June, but being that the Italian government is involved (military), I won’t get my hopes up until we are actually unpacking in Verona-jessica
You should take a lot of pictures of Sistine Chapel.
Hi Jessica!
How is everything going over there in Roma before the move? I went to Rome in January, and had an unbelievable time! I absolutely loved it! I don’t speak Italian myself, but could understand a lot because of my knowledge in Spanish. How are you doing with your Italian? It takes a lot of time, patience, and just plain mistake making to be anywhere near fluent! Don’t worry! Are you still taking Italian classes? In addition to classes I suggest listening to a lot of Italian music, playing video games in Italian, and buying an Italian reader- a great book with a short story followed by questions & answers-. These things all helped me a great deal with my Spanish while I was in Spain. When I first got there I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed, every sentence in Spanish sounded so fast, and my high school Spanish didn’t help me out as much as I thought! I just kept telling myself that it would get easier, and it sure did! It doesn’t matter what length of time it takes to learn the language… as long as you keep practicing, it will come!
Good luck!
It sounds like you just described Mostacciano, which is where my parents rented an apartment about 12 years ago when they lived in Rome for 6 month. My dad was attending the NATO Defense College. I was in college in Germany at the time, but when I came home for visits, I found Mostacciano very blah! We would take the bus into the historical center of Rome almost every day and I would LIVE for that…!
Hi there , just called over from My Melange who has left comments with you. I do hope your move comes off soon and that you get the apartment you would like. :-)
Thanks Anne!-jessica
I’m just catching up on your blog now after a few months. (This is Tina of expatsinitaly)
I think Verona is absolutely beautiful, and it’s easy to get from there to Padova, which is even cooler! Congrats on your upcoming move. :-)
Baci/Besos
Tina