living in Italy

Italian Garden 2007: June

June 14, 2007

herbs for sale at an Italian garden center The garden has been largely left to its own devices in the last six weeks, and is thriving. We’ve had monsoon-like rains almost every day for weeks, so it certainly doesn’t need watering, and the vegetables are large enough now that they’re mostly holding their own against [...]

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Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 9

June 2, 2007

upper left: The hospital has waste 8 million [euros] and meanwhile cuts more beds – “I saw again in Lecco the gypsy women who wanted to kidnap my daughter.” lower left: Tragedy: Drowns in the sea the wife of Luigi Belmonte – All the school results, one first-year in three is flunked lower center: [Driver's] [...]

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FemCamp Bologna 2007: Sessions & Reflections

May 29, 2007

In the afternoon I attended some sessions, though I missed the most popular presentation of the day, Iocelopiulunghismo (“Mine’s-the-biggest-ism”), by Elena and Feba, a funny and ironic look at (male) bloggers’ obsession with their (blog) statistics. I poked my head into Andrea Beggi‘s unfortunately-titled presentation on “Blogging for Ladies,” but the room was so crowded [...]

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FemCamp Bologna 2007

May 28, 2007

Saturday morning I got up bright and early – way too early, considering that I had barely slept Friday night (jet lag – I had just returned from Colorado Thursday). Succumbing to travel paranoia, I took a taxi down the hill rather than wait for the first bus at 7 am, and got to Lecco [...]

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Italian Garden 2007: May

May 15, 2007

yes, I know this isn’t a beetle, but at least he’s cute – even if he was probably eating my irises We had a lot of beetles this year, I’ve never seen the like in Italy! In May we had roses, oh how we had roses! I was so busy taking the close-up shots of [...]

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Italian Milk

May 9, 2007

It’s the Little Things That Surprise You When you move to a foreign country, you expect (if you are wise) that the food will be different from what you’re used to. For the adventurous this is a welcome change, a chance to explore new flavors and habits (though sometimes you also crave the taste of [...]

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Shut Up or Go Home – No Culture Likes a Kibitzer

April 17, 2007

I was recently interviewed for an article about third-culture kids, to be published in the Christian Science Monitor. In an hour’s taped phone conversation, Erik Olsen asked many questions, including: “Being an outsider in all cultures, how does that make you feel?” I thought for a moment, and said: “Superior.” No doubt that statement will [...]

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Il Popolo della Rete – Italy’s Internet People

April 15, 2007

Four years ago, I wrote about the difficulties of making friends with Italians. I already had online (and offline) friends in Italy, but most of them were expats. I have Italian colleagues with whom I get along well at the office, but we don’t socialize outside (quite the opposite of my experience in American companies). [...]

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Italian Garden 2007: April

April 8, 2007

Yes, Italians love their gardens, and so do I. I just wish it loved me back. Oh, it’s doing just fine, but it keeps attacking me with nasty pollens, so I’m a sleepy, red-eyed, sneezing, drippy mess. Perhaps I should spend next spring in a desert. In spite of the confused weather, the garden looks [...]

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Non Ci Sono Piu’ Le Mezze Stagioni: Talking About the Weather in Italy

April 5, 2007

“There are no more middle seasons” is the Italian equivalent of “Things ain’t what they used to be” – more than a truism, it’s a cliché of people complaining about the modern world, and resistance to change in general. Taking it at face value, I don’t think the “middle seasons” have disappeared: I’ve rarely seen [...]

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Girl Geeks Dinner Italia

April 1, 2007

Some years ago Silvia, who had been one of our tech support team (of two) at Incat, paid me the enormous compliment of saying that she considered me a role model. This from a woman with a laurea in physics who holds a managerial position in a team supporting HP servers, and certainly never needed [...]

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Italian Garden 2007: March

March 17, 2007

photo by Rossella They tell us that this past winter has been the warmest in Europe for 200 years. Certainly our plants are confused. Some of the bulbs I planted in October were sprouting by December. The mimosas bloomed before la Festa della Donna, which I’ve never seen happen before. Crocuses in Italian are called [...]

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A School Year Abroad

March 1, 2007

In my encounters with fellow alumni of Woodstock School, many naturally ask me if and when my own daughter will attend. The answer is: with a great deal of luck, she will start in August, 2007, for an exchange year which will be her fourth/senior year at Woodstock, but only her penultimate year of Italian [...]

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Immigration and Identity in Europe

January 28, 2007

(originally published in 2002) The assassination of Pim Fortuyn, a Dutch politician, provides food for thought. Fortuyn was “a politician who rejected multiculturalism, called for an end to immigration and excoriated Islam as a ‘backward culture’ for its intolerance of homosexuals, attitude to women and more” and “argue[d] fiercely that immigrants should integrate more wholeheartedly [...]

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A Woman’s Work…

January 19, 2007

When somebody asks “How are you?” my usual response is “Tired”. And that’s been my usual response for as long as I can remember. How did I get to this state? Let us review my typical day: 6:45 wake up, wake Rossella, turn on my computer, take a shower. 7:00 if it’s Monday or Friday [...]

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Close Neighbors: Living Cheek-by-Jowl in Italy

January 15, 2007

The vast majority of Italians live in villages, towns, and cities – very few have ever experienced the American “norm” of living in a single-family dwelling surrounded by its own plot of land. The ancient Romans invented the apartment building, an urban space-saving solution which has remained popular throughout Italian history and across the country. [...]

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Everyday Italian: Learn from Newspaper Headlines 2

January 3, 2007

At the wedding lunch, [he] betrays his wife with his [male] friend. Fell in acid, Lecchese dies after three months. Terrible accident: a woman run over and killed in the crosswalk. Alarm on the Grigna (a local mountain) – six hikers lost. left: It’s a long story, read it here. right: Marconi Cinema closes Old [...]

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Everyday Italian: Learn from Newspaper Headlines

January 2, 2007

The local newspapers in Italy’s smaller cities and towns advertise with eye-catching headline boards, designed to be as sensational as possible. Usually one board reports two headlines of the day or week, and sometimes the juxtaposition is unintentionally funny. Struck by a toilet seat thrown from the train – Priest collapses at mass! (Okay, I [...]

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Out With the Old, In With the New

December 31, 2006

The first time I visited Milan was in early January, 1991 – it must have been right after the New Year. We arrived in the city late at night and had to walk some way to find our hotel. As we went, I asked Enrico if Milan’s garbage collectors were on strike or something. I [...]

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Living in Italy: Personal Reflections of a Long-Time Foreign Resident

December 9, 2006

NB: As of early 2008, I no longer live in Italy. But I still visit there, and write about it. If You’re Thinking of Moving to Italy… Many foreigners dream of living in Italy, and some manage to make that dream come true – and then may find it’s not so dreamy after all. This [...]

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