First time experiences

Since moving to Italy back in June of 2019, we quickly adjusted to our new life. The move from the U.S. made us realize how different everything is. The culture shock is real! I’ve put many of our new experiences together to share with you. What has also been interesting for me is to see these new experiences through my daughters’ eyes as well. Simple, every day ativities become an event, some unique to living in Italy.

Summer camp

The girls went to summer camp for a week at the tennis club in Bergamo. They would practice tennis, go in the pool, Italian food for lunch, team games that would have all the children compete against each other accumulating points and at the end of the week, the winning team would win a prize. They made friends, practiced their Italian and most importantly, were active playing outside. The girls loved it too!

Going to the grocery store

This is usually an easy task when you have a list and a plan, but when you don’t know the language it takes twice as long. When trying to cook every day dishes at home, those ingredients weren’t hard to find, but when want to cook anything different, anything that’s more international, good luck trying to find those ingredients.

The international aisle in the supermarket is very limited. There are a few Mexican, Asian, and American products. I found tortillas, salsa, beans that were Mexican. Asian noodles and soy sauce along with a tiny jar of peanut butter, syrup, and a few other things on a very small section.

In the very beginning, I would go to the grocery store and be in there sooo long. I knew what I needed to get but I didn’t know how to ask where the item was and I didn’t know how to translate the item. I would get so anxious when I needed to buy specific ingredients for a recipe.

The things I miss a lot are going to the grocery store and being able to get everything I was looking for. For example, shredded cheese, anything microwavable, ethnic ingredients if I want to do Mexican food. There are no short cuts like we’re used to in the States. When a recipe calls for a cup of shredded cheese, I need to shred it myself. Which makes for a tastier dish when everything is more fresh, just a little more effort goes into it. After a while, you learn the vocabulary and shopping becomes a breeze. You start to appreciate the quality ingredients that are just the norm here.

Having my hair done

A little after arriving in Italy, my roots on my head weren’t looking so great. It was time for me to visit the hair salon. I found this place https://italian-concept-bergamo.business.site/ which was right in the center of town. I started to get anxious, how would I tell them what I wanted? What if they didn’t understand me and ruin my hair? So many thoughts were going on in my head. Luckily I met a Cuban lady who owned a cafe on the bottom floor of my temporary apartment. I was able to speak to her in Spanish, so I told her I wanted to highlight my hair. She told me it’s called “colpo di sole.” I walked into the salon and no one spoke English or Spanish but I knew what I wanted, so I just told them that. To my surprise, they don’t take appointments. You walk in and take your turn by order of who showed up first. When it was my turn, a really nice lady helped me. She knew exactly what I wanted and got it done. I was really happy at the results, the problem is that I can’t ask for the same girl again. You get whoever is available. My second time, I wasn’t so lucky.

From what I understood, the girl helping me was telling me that she suggested to dye my roots first and then she would highlight it. She brought the book that has all the colors to choose from. My hair turned out very similar to my natural color, which is pretty dark. I thought well that’s ok because then she would highlight it. That didn’t happen. She was done and I wasn’t happy. I thought to myself, why would I pay for someone to dye my roots very close to my own color when I’ve been highlighting it all this time? I left and told myself that I’d be back in a few weeks to get it highlighted and that’s just what I did, and I specifically said “colpo di sole” and that’s all I wanted. It worked! Now everyone knows me there, since I’m the only one that isn’t Italian.

The girls also had their hair done to get ready for the new school year. They had a wash, a cut, and a blowdry. I was impressed a cut alone is only 10 euros. This place is right in the middle of town so I was surprised at how affordable the prices are. They loved their new cut and I was happy too!

Looking for an apartment

I recommend using an agency to help you with the big things like looking for an apartment. We had a translator go with us to each appointment. First we decided what part of town we wanted to be in. We started looking from the U.S. and sent our agency a list of properties we liked. We first took a trip just my husband and I to choose a place to live before our big move. Our translator showed us around the town and really gave us a feel for what area we liked.

Since we’ve always lived in the suburbs, we thought it would be nice to change things up a bit and live the “city” life. We really liked the city center because of the walkability it has. You can walk to the market, go shopping for pretty much anything, and go to bars and restaurants without getting in your car. I loved the idea of living at the top of a building and coming down to do any of those things.

After living here for a few months, it has really been practical and everything I imagined. For the apartment being in the center of the town, we do have a pretty big balcony. The view to citta alta, the upper town, is amazing. We love to sit out there for an aperitivo when the weather is nice. Now that it’s getting warmer, we even got an inflatable pool for the girls to enjoy.

Getting a dog!

Before coming to Italy, we expected to bring our 15 year old beagle, Pookie. Her health was fine, but we thought about how she would do with the long flight? I had started researching the process on how to bring a dog internationally with you and that’s when she started to get sick. Unfortunately, we had to put her to sleep and we were devastated she would not be making this journey with us. She was our first dog together as a couple, but I knew it was a stretch to think she would be coming with us.

Anyhow, months passed and we missed our dog so much. Italy is a very dog friendly country. Everywhere we’d go there would be people with their dogs. They were allowed in stores, restaurants, pretty much anywhere except the grocery store. So I was really missing not having Pookie. I thought it would be a great idea to get a dog to keep me company when the girls are at school.

A mom friend I met from the girls’ school was also in the market to get a dog. We started searching for dog breeders in the area and we found several. Danny, my husband wasn’t too happy about the idea. He mentioned if we got one, it had to be a hypoallergic dog who doesn’t shed. During the last years of having Pookie, his dog allergies started getting worse and I agreed, having a dog who doesn’t shed would be a better option.

We went to visit a few breeders, some in the middle of nowhere, but we didn’t get a good feeling from some of them. Were we getting ripped off since we barely spoke the language? Were they giving us a sick dog? If we gave a deposit, would they steal our money and not give us a dog after? I know, so many thoughts, but how could we help thinking this way?

We finally found https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Pet-Breeder/Mondialdog-allevamento-pensione-toelettatura-107304343447442/ We were met by the owner and his son. They showed us around, we were able to see the puppy’s parents, and all the dogs seemed healthy. We put a deposit on a maltipoo and were so happy we were really doing this.

I went back in a month to pick up the puppy. My husband decided to name her “Khaleesi” after Game of Thrones. We are so happy with our pup and recommend this place if you want a new puppy in Italy.

I’m sure as time goes by, we will definitely have more new experiences living in Italy. If you have moved to another country, let me know in the comments section what your new experiences have been.