as you may have figured out by the title, I have found a new family!

But that will only be a part of this massive update that I owe you guys!!!

I’ll include pics of other stuff I’ve been up to as well! 😊

I guess I’ll start off with the juicy stuff of why I have a new family!

Living in Colleferro is…… nice…… but VERY isolating. There are no other au pairs here. There are next to no people who understand English besides my host family.

It is really hard to meet people and hang out with them when you’re traveling for an hour and a half total to get into Rome (walking + bus + train + waiting times). And that’s just one way.

It also doesn’t help your social agenda when you only have one full weekend off a month.

Now I’m giving you these facts as if they’re obvious, but to be honest it took a long time for me to realize that this was my situation.

It took even longer to realize that this perhaps wasn’t the best for me, and that I should perhaps search for another family more central in Rome.

And because I’m a major people pleaser and hate going back on my word, you can imagine the guilt I piled on myself by even just thinking about finding another family and telling the Mugnano’s.

But I had a lot of lovely people supporting me and my decision, and gosh darn it I owe it to myself to put my own happiness and wellbeing first!!! I worked my ass off to get here, and I’m not about to spend the rest of my time here miserable. I refuse!!!

So I got in contact with a truly wonderful lady who runs one of the Rome au pair groups on Facebook, Kayley. I explained my situation, and it was a relief to hear that I was not alone in my experience and it’s completely normal to want to search for a new family.

Weight. Off. Shoulders.

So we met in person to talk about my options and what I wanted, if I wanted a new family right away, or to wait and maybe get a family in time for the summer holidays.

Keep in mind this was in March.

I thought it over, but I quickly realized that I’m gonna need a change sooner rather than later, because tbh I was lonely as hell and needed friends.

pictures are fairly random, but these are from when I visited Trastevere, and the island in the Tiber.

The Au-Pair-Itivo!

In March, I was invited out on Saturday for an evening of meeting fellow au pairs and dancing. These are some images from that night, which was an absoltue blast!

I was able to meet people and make some awesome friends, so I’m really glad I went! I stayed out til 4 am drinking, dancing, and laughing. It was so fun, but absolutely exhausting.

Ostia!

I went here one Sunday with a friend from class, and I had an absolute blast! I got to see the sea, enjoy (multiple) gelato, the sunshine, breeze, and I got to put my feet in another body of water other than the Pacific Ocean. Pretty cool!

……. yeah. I may have enjoyed the sun a little too much, with not enough sunscreen.

Okay, so this was pretty cute. Fabio and I decided to make a mini comic book based on Captian Underpants. He came up with the story, and I was the main illustrator and editor, along with small colourist job. LOL.

But this was a really fun project I did with him, I just wish I was able to finish it before I left. Oh well.

Anyway, here is our story, I hope you enjoy it!

Wow what a beautiful place!!! If you follow me on insta you got a smalllllll taste of the kinda views I got that day.

This post is just an excuse to post all these pics. Sorry, not sorry. But you’ll see what I mean. This place is absolutely insane.

So this place actually started out as a mausoleum of Hadrian, one of the many (many) Roman Emperor’s. But as time went on it was built on and improved by other important people from Rome’s history, be it Emperor’s or Pope’s or others, and became the fortress it is today.

The mausoleum was given lavish apartments on top, an armory, a passageway leading directly to the Vatican (for the Pope, if he was ever in danger and needed a safer residence), and a moat. Among other things that I am definitely forgetting lol.

The Castel was originally built to be a Mausoleum, and the reason it hasn’t been destroyed or left to ruin is that it was continuously renovated over the centuries to make it useful for a really long time, both an impenetrable fortress but comfy and fancy enough to host the Pope if need be.

These days, instead of a fully functioning moat, (there is still remnants, although it has been long dry) there is a park that surrounds the Castel, which is also quite peaceful and lovely – despite being smack dab in the center of Rome.

Of course, now the museum mainly welcomes tourists from around the world as its guests, and hosts a lovely cafe as well. 😊

As you can see, the Castel is pretty close to the Vatican, and you can get a pretty cool view of it from here.

The Castel, when you purchase your €14 ticket, gives you access to the WiFi and download a tour app specifically for the Castel. It had multiple languages, and you could go on your own guided tour at your own pace, which I really appreciated!

I’m not going to lie to you all, I pretty much gasped everytime I went into a new room. The pictures don’t fully inclde the lavishness preserved and the full scope of the rooms. I have tried my best to give you the details as well as the full picture.

I hope you enjoy, and have enjoyed the pictures so far!!

On this rooftop, they used to light fireworks every year (to celebrate what – I can’t remember), but they had to stop after they lit the entire roof on fire (wow who would’ve guessed?! *eyeroll*).

There are also bells up here with the statue, and if I remember correctly, only rang when they were going to execute someone. Pretty morbid, hey?

Y’all…… I full on lost my breath when I stepped in here. Amazing.

This room used to be where the Pope would host people, if he was ever in residence at the Castel. It was lavishly decorated not only to impress the guests, but to intimidate. It still does it’s job pretty well, don’t you think?

Now we’re getting into the personal rooms of the Pope. It is certainly less intimidating, but no less lavish.

You get some pretty amazing views from all around the Castel, don’t you?

All right! And that was the tour of the Castel, the rest is pics of the park, and what I saw/ate after!

So this was like I said above a massive photo dump. But hopefully yo enjoyed it!

This place has actually been one of my favourite places to visit in Rome so far! And with my family switch, I work really really close by!

Okay! That’s pretty much it! If you think I’ve missed something, or have questions about the Castel, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them!

If not, Google is also your friend…. LOL

I’ll talk to y’all later and give you a proper life update soon! I promise (PROMISE, promise) it’s in the works, I just have a lot to write tell you about.

You’ll get it really soon, I swear (although I know I said that last time, but I really swear this time).

Ciao for now!

Hannah

xoxo

Hey All!!!

Happy February! It’s just over one month hat I left for Italy!! Wild right? Time flies.

So it’s been a little while! I figured you could all do with a little update in what’s happened in my life since I’ve landed in Italy.

So, some major things that have happened are: I am settled (mostly) into Colleferro and my routine with the boys. I have started taking Italian language courses, as of Feb 4th, and as you may have seen, I have also made multiple trips to Rome. There. Major details over and done with!

So Colleferro, if any of you have done a bit of research, is a small town just south-east of Rome. It has a population of about 22,000 people (so about halfway between the size of Summerland and Penticton).

As I’ve been gone for over a month now, (I can’t believe that the time has just flown by!) I’ve had a bit of time to do some exploring, and I’ve accumulated a list of things that I thought some of you might find interesting to know about life in and around Colleferro.

Cobblestone streets and sidewalks are very real and very common. Especially in Rome (that kinda goes without saying), but in Colleferro as well.

Something that is just as common as cobblestone streets, is apparently not picking up after your dog. You seriously have to watch where you step. It’s pretty nasty.

It did snow one day!!! It was super cold and icy, but this was all we got…. haha sorry!!!

There’s actually a bit of a funny story behind this picture. So during one of my first few exploring adventures, I came across this cute lil kitty and I started taking pics of it! It’s pacing, meowing, and sitting on this little place on the sidewalk. But as I walk closer, I hear a voice. But there wasn’t anyone on the street around me so ya girl got a little spooked™️. But as I’m about to pass it on the sidewalk, I see a gentleman leaning out of the window in front of the cat. It seemed that he was talking to it!! And it seemed as if he and the cat were interacting! He seemed a bit surprised and then a little embarrassed to being caught talking to -what I’m assuming is either his cat, or a familiar neighborhood one- the cat out of the window, but he seemed to make light of it and said something to me in Italian and laughed. I, of course, had no clue what he said, but smiled and laughed and continued on my way! It was really cute to watch, and I snapped this pic after I had walked past.

Italians are very good at recycling. Paper, plastic and metals, glass, and organics all their own bin and get picked up on a certain day each week to get recycled! Nice!

Dinner is suuuuuper late. Like around 7/7:30 for the kids and like 9pm for the parents. Bedtime for the kids is around 10/10:30 (yes, I am exhausted thank you for asking)

The radiator in the bathroom is also a drying rack. Warm towels and warm bathroom. Win-win!! (see above pic)

And yes, before you ask, bidets are still terrifying and I will not be using them unless forced to. So there. (may or may not have had to google how to use one, but that’s beside the point)

They wash their sheets and towels every week religiously. Every Sunday. Get it? Hahaha I’m hilarious guys. They practice cleanliness, not Catholicism. Okay, I’m done. Promise. It is pretty muggy here, so the bedsheets I can understand, but the towels? Maybe I’m just a slob, but that seems a little excessive to me.

Apparently having a dryer is super rare, so most if not all Italians hang their clothes out to dry. It is super common to be walking around and seeing people’s laundry hanging out to dry.

I’ve realized upon arriving in Italy, that the cellphone plans we pay for in Canada are an absolute joke. I have a cellphone plan worth €7.99 (that’s like $12.50 people!!!) and I get unlimited texting and calling in Italy, and 40 (that’s right, you read correctly 40!!!!) GB of data. A month. A MONTH!!! Insane. We’re getting robbed back in Canada. Just sayin’.

Now, I don’t know if this is every family in Europe, but my family turns the wifi off at night. At first, I was upset bc no late night Netflix binges (crossed out) confused as to why they would do that, (because like isn’t that important?) but then they told me about the data in cell phone plans and then it all made sense. You pretty much have more than enough data to get you through the month. Without even having to turn your wifi on once. Nutso my dude. Absolutely nutso.

I still haven’t gotten used to showering sitting down. Why can’t they have a shower like normal people? ☹ I think it’s pretty sad to me that that’s one of the things I miss the most.

FOOOOOOD. OMG THE FOOD!!!!

So this section is only a small taste (haha get it? ok… I’ll see myself out) of what I’ve sampled in Italy. If I had taken a pic of every food I’ve eaten, half of this blog would be food. And I don’t want to make you too jealous 😉

So this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I haven’t actually had a lot of ‘real’ Italian food yet. I’m nervous to order it cause I don’t know any Italian. I think I’m just nervous to order or ask for help or talk to people in general because I don’t know any Italian. I guess it’s a good thing I’m taking language courses now!

OH, THE PLACES….. I’VE BEEN?

As you have hopefully seen before in my previous post, I have made multiple trips to Rome.

The walk to the train station from the house is about 20 mins. Less if you’re in a hurry. It’s up a steep hill and down a steep hill, so it’s a bit of a workout getting there and back.

Thankfully, I’m just now getting to use the buses around Colleferrro, and that cuts down on my trip to the station by about 10 minutes.

The train from Colleferro into the center of Rome is about an hour’s ride. A monthly pass (train into Rome and transport in Rome) costs €73.30. Single one-way tickets from Colleferro to Rome cost €3.60 each. Depending on where you go in the Rome area, they can be cheaper or more expensive.

Besides purchasing your ticket, you also have to validate it. It needs a time and a date stamp, otherwise, the same ticket can be used multiple times. If train staff catch you, you could have to pay a fine. They routinely go around the trains checking tickets. You also, I learned quickly enough, have to validate your ticket BEFORE getting on the train to your destination. I know this seems pretty obvious and logical, but it wasn’t to me at the beginning because I’ve never had to do that before.

THE KIDS

My duties mainly revolve around the 2 older children, Valerio and Fabio. Cecilia is still young, only 3, so she goes to nursery school until 2pm and then her grandparents take care of her afterward and feed her dinner until either Francesco or Sabrina can pick her up from after work, which isn’t until pretty late. Maybe until 8 or 8:30 pm? Sometimes closer to 9.

Basically, my duties revolve around dropping the boys off at school, picking them up from school, taking them to their various afterschool activities, keeping them occupied, and feeding them dinner until the parents arrive home. And trying my best to impart my English onto them, along with some lessons here and there.

I am not allowed to post pictures of the kids or family online, so I’ll do my best to describe them for you from what I know about them so far.

Valerio is the oldest child and is 10 years old. He is in his last year of elementary school and will be attending a local middle school in the fall. He absolutely loves to read, his favorite books are Julius Zebra and Timmy Failure. He likes Harry Potter, so when we get one on one time, I’ll spend some time reading it aloud to him. His favorite colors are (in order!) red, orange, black, and yellow. His favorite animal is a snake and his favorite soccer player is Cristiano Ronaldo. Valerio goes to water polo 4 times a week. He loves watching TV and playing on the PlayStation. Besides his parents, Valerio’s English is the most advanced. He has brown hair and brown eyes and is a talker. He can go on foreverrrrr…. Just like someone else I know!! Ha!

Fabio is the second oldest, and the middle child. He is 7 years old. His favorite colors are red and blue, and loves, loves, LOVES soccer! He has soccer (or football) practice twice a week. On top of that, if he is unable to watch TV or play with the PlayStation (which is also his favorite, he wants to play indoor soccer with a foam ball. We take turns scoring and goalkeeping, with the front door acting like the goal. He is a pretty VERY energetic kid, so we have to be watchful that he doesn’t kick the ball too high. He’s already smashed a picture frame off the wall. (accidentally of course!) He adopted his love of Cristiano Ronaldo form his older brother. It’s very funny, because whenever he is scoring, his name is Ronaldo, and when it’s my turn to score, we changed from Ronald-o to Ronald-a. Very cute. I don’t mind playing, but it is exhausting. But I think my football skills should improve throughout the year! Thankfully Fabio is pretty good with me taking a few breaks here and there. He could go on foreverrrrrr.  Sometimes I can convince him into playing UNO and Left, Right, Center. Aside from soccer FOOTBALL, he also has swimming lessons twice a week. Fabio has lighter brown hair and green eyes. He lost one of his front teeth just before I arrived, and the new one is slowly growing in.

Cecilia, I know the least about, as I spend the least amount of time with her. She also knows the least amount of English. She understands if you speak it to her, but will only respond in Italian. She loves the cartoon Masha e Orso (Masha and the Bear), pink and purple, princesses (particularly Elsa and Anna from Frozen), playing with her moms makeup, coloring, playing with her kitchen set, watching TV, and playing with her brothers. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, and is very cute and sweet when she wants to be!! She plays pretty rough and is a tough kid, which is no surprise when you have 2 older brothers. Her favorite word when she’s angry or upset at someone is “cattivo” or “evil” in English. She is also getting into her independent stage. She wants to do everything by herself  “IO, IO!” and if we’re ever in a situation where we have to do something for her (ex/ late for school) it results in either screaming or crying. Usually a mixture of both. Fun! But she is also the one who is most excited to see me at the end of the day and gives me routine hugs and kisses. I melt. Some words she’s picked up since I’ve been here are: “oh my goodness!” and “careful!” …. guess I say those a lot haha.

SCHOOL: LANGUAGE COURSES

Ok y’all, so there was a bit of drama that happened before I got settled into my language courses.

Originally, I was going to apply for a student visa to get to Italy, which meant that I had to prove that I was enrolled in classes that lasted at least 4 hours per day for 5 days a week. So, that’s the original course I signed up and paid for at my language school.

Unfortunately, there were some complications, and I ended up getting a working holiday visa instead. That meant I didn’t have to take any language courses at all! But of course, I wanted to learn Italian, seeing as I know all of -4% Italian. And, no offense, if I don’t have to take 4 hours of language lessons a day, I won’t. I’d rather nap. LOL.

So, I got in contact with the school and we worked out a partial refund, and that with the rest of the money, I decided to take 2 hours of lessons a day, 5 days a week for 3 months. No problem, right? Wrong. A couple of weeks before the class was supposed to begin (Feb 4th for all of those of you who care), the director emailed me, saying that the classes would be scheduled from 2-4pm.

Now, knowing what you know about my schedule and how long it takes me to get into Rome and back…… Well, let’s just say that didn’t go over very well. Thankfully I was able to work something out with the school, and now my class times are from 12-2. It was definitely a lot more dramatic and stressful than how I’m explaining it. But! I was able to figure it out and I’m really glad I did because my lessons are fantastic!

I’m at the ‘absolute beginner’ level with 7 other people in my class. And get this.

There is another girl named Hannah in my class.

Who is also Canadian.

From the west coast (Victoria).

And is here because…… you guessed it, SHE’S A FREAKING AU PAIR TOO!!! Nutso. Absolutely insane. You can just imagine our conversation hahaha

Alright, that’s all I have for you guys right now! I’m actually going to Florence for my first weekend off, so expect pics!!:

ALSO: THIS BLOG POST TOOK FOREVER BECAUSE IT KEPT DELETING ITSELF. I AM TIRED AND FRUSTRATED. PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK. THANK U.

love you guys,

Ciao for now!!

xoxo

Hannah

p.s. keep scrolling for more details

Italians apparently teach their kids to all a cough and sneeze into their hands?! YA NASTYYY I’ve been trying to teach the kids to cough or sneeze into the inside of their elbows, but it’s slow going. I just see it everywhere and its SO. GROSS. I’m honestly surprised that I haven’t gotten sick yet because just imagine! All! The! Germs! Everywhere!!!  I’m no germophobe, but that shit’s still just plain nasty to me. *sprays Lysol on everything and everyone*

Fabio never. Closes. The. Damn. door. EVER. Boi!! I don’t want to have to see you on the toilet or changing in your room!! I mean Cecilia is the same, but she gets a pass because she’s 3!!! Come on!! Jeeeeeez. Like I understand that he might be doing it to shock me or get a reaction, but BOI! Just close the door like your parents asked you!!!

Fabio also likes lifting up his shirt (at the most random times) and “flexing” his muscles. It’s cute and funny sometimes, but other times I’m just like ‘boi why. pls, stop. I’m exhausted and idc.’ I would never say that tho!!!

Also, do you remember my last post about going to the Altare? I had a conversation with Francesco about it a while ago, and apparently, nobody in Rome really likes it!! They consider it too new and out of place amongst the ruins. They call it the typewriter!! They think it’s too white!!!!!! LMAOOOO IM DEAD Y’ALL.

ok, that’s it. thank u if u made it this far. ily ❤

Hey guys!

This is basically an excuse to post all the pictures I took today in Rome. I was there earlier on today because I had to drop some papers off at the language school I’m enrolled in.

There’s more to the story, but I’ll put it in my next post cause it’s a pretty long story! Make sure to look out for those juicy details 👀. Lol.

It’s about 3pm now and I got back an hour ago, so these babies are only a few hours old.

These are pretty much taken right as I make it out of the Rome Termini train station. You bet my jaw hit the cobblestones when I first saw these buildings!!!

So it takes about 20-30 minutes to get to my school if you’re walking (and stopping every 5 seconds to take pictures). But if I can ever figure out how to use the buses I think it’s something like 9 minutes? Apparently. That’s what my good friend Google Maps told me.

So as I’m walking, I pass these closed down streets. It looks like maybe a pop-up market? It was very cool. If I wasn’t on a mission to get to the school, I would’ve meandered my way through it!

That and there was this adorable vendor selling lovely flowers out of the back of his truck! So cute!!! It smelled AMAZING when I walked past! The smell made me sooo eager for spring!

You people might think I’m crazy, but literally every time I turned a corner or looked down a side street, I gasped. I swear. It’s a good thing I was by myself, cause I’m sure if you were with me you’d be soooo embarrassed at how I was acting! I don’t even have it in me to care tho because it’s all SO COOL!!!! I was pretty much looking through my camera, that’s how often I held it up to take pics LOL.

So this is the street view of just outside my school! Cute right?

And this is the inside look!!! The staircase is soooo tiny and cramped. It’s awesome. Literally so so in awe of this place (Not the school, but just in general look). And I know this is sooooo clichè of me to say, but pictures don’t do it justice. (Sorry!!! Don’t hate me lol)

So I don’t think a lot of people know this, but my school is pretty close to the center of Rome. I took a screenshot just to show y’all how close my school (the red balloon pin) is to some of the major sights of Rome!! Nuts, hey?

So basically after I meet with some people at my school, I have a bit of time before I want to start heading back. Rome is about an hour train ride away from where I live, so I want to give myself plenty of time to get back. I basically just chose a direction and started walking.

I definitely took my time, giving everything a close look. Definitely found some pretty cool (tho I’m sure, not uncommon) things!

Just a happy bean exploring! This is also in case you forgot what my face looked like LOL 😆

So as I’m walking, I find myself turning down a street to have it open up onto this view! I honestly had no idea where this was or what it was called. Looking it up now, I had apparently found my way to the Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland in English) and I stood just in front of the Colonna Traiana, or Trajan’s Column. I don’t really know the in-depth history of either, but I’ll give you a brief rundown of what I learned.

So apparently the Altare Della Patria is a monument built in honor of the first king of a ‘unified’ Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. Getting it unified was apparently complex and a lot of work, so good job Victor! Construction started in 1885 and took 50 years to complete! It’s a building that is considered a national symbol of Italy and holds no small amount of significance to Italians. It is made with lots and lots of marble.

Maybe I’ll go back another day and take better pictures.

Now the Colonna Traiana is a column dedicated to the Roman emperor Trajan in his victory in the Diacan Wars. The war was fought basically because of resources and Dacia being a threat to the Roman Empire. Go figure.

(This is veryyyy watered down and heavily paraphrased from Wikipedia in order to get through this quickly. If this is ur area of expertise I’m sorry if I messed it up, but this ain’t a history blog. Thank u, next)

Continuing on, the column is roughly 30m tall made of massive drums (and I mean MASSIVE boys) of marble stacked on top of each other and covered in a spiral bas relief (aka shallow imagery) carved into the marble. Presumably describing how the wars went down. It was built roughly between the years of 107 and 113 AD. It has a bronze figure of St.Peter that was put up there in 1587. Before that, it was originally a statue of Trajan.

(Gee, no really Hannah, I wonder if that’s how it got the name… 🙄)

And apparently the column was flanked by two libraries, so maybe that’s what those ruins are! I’m not sure. This was supposed to be a quick post. Lmao oh well.

Ok! History lesson over. If you want to check out more of either of those monuments, Google and Wikipedia will be your friend. I am no history buff.

Here are some more in-depth pics. Cause I’m sure you really wanted those. Haha.

So I decide it’s time to head back after getting my eye full of that monument. That and it looked like rain, and I had no umbrella LOL. So I turn back and make the 25-minute walk back to the Roma Termini train station, and then back to Colleferro.

It’s lucky I turned back when I did because almost as soon as I sat down on the train, it started raining. I definitely gave myself (mentally) a pat on the back. However, before making it to the train station, I did think it was a good idea to purchase myself an umbrella. Look how cute it is!!!

I was also peckish, so I got me a snack. I have never seen these chips before, and they were pretty tasty!

Anyways, that’s pretty much all I have for you guys right now! I hoped you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!

Ciao for now!

xoxo

Hannah

Again! Just want to remind you guys to subscribe by email if you want to be notified when I upload a new post!!!

Love Y’all ❤️💕❤️💕

I’m just going to preface this post by saying that I’m pretty sure the Jan 12th is a cursed day for flying in the Penticton airport. This time last year in 2018, my mom’s good friend tried to fly into Penticton to surprise my mom for her birthday. The cloud level was too low for the plane to land so she had to turn back to Vancouver.

And… lo and behold, I woke up on Saturday morning at around six to find that it was very foggy in Summerland. It did not bode well for my flight that morning at 10. I tried not to think about it too much, spending most of my energy that morning getting ready, trying to eat breakfast through the nerves, packing my stuff into the car, and saying a tearful goodbye to my dogs. The weather hadn’t improved that much since the time I woke up and into the drive in Penticton. There was no fog in Penticton, but there were still some very low-lying clouds, similar to the ones from last year.

I was a mess in Penticton. I was worried that the plane wouldn’t land or take off and that I’d miss my connecting flights, or that (for some reason) I’d have to pay extra to change my flights, or that I wouldn’t see Alicia, etc. The list went on.

I definitely cried saying goodbye to everyone. I got through security ok and my bag was underweight (thank god!!! 49 lbs babyyyy!!! Heck yes), and as soon as I sat down in my chair after getting through security, I couldn’t stop crying. Not like the ugly cry, mascara everywhere, sobbing crying, but the kind of the silent, emotional, non-stop kind of tears. Dad saw me thru the window of the door looking into security and waved and blew me a kiss. Cue the waterworks.

Anyways so my flight was definitely late due to the weather and not being able to land, and I definitely missed my connecting flight to Calgary. So, there was a period of a mad scramble to try and reroute me to make my flight to Calgary. I came out of security, mom made phone calls to Air Canada, but the easiest way was to go on the delayed Vancouver flight and change my connecting flight from Vancouver to Calgary to a later time. So, I make goodbyes (again), but this time with no tears as it was much more rushed because I had to go through security again. Dad still at the window to blow a kiss and say a last goodbye.

As it happens, my flight was further delayed taking off and getting into Vancouver so I again missed my connecting flight to Calgary. As it was too late to even make it on to my flight in Calgary, Air Canada re-routed my trip entirely, before I had even got off the plane. A+ Air Canada!! I haven’t heard a lot of good things about Air Canada, but it was a very pleasant and very welcome surprise for them to have done that for me! I was very stressed and tired by then so I was glad about having to worry about one less thing.

So now instead of going to Calgary and then to Frankfurt and then on to Rome, Air Canada changed it so I was going to London straight from Vancouver, and then on to Rome with only a couple hours delay in arriving. My good friend Alicia lives in Germany, and she had been planning on taking a train down to Frankfurt to kill some time with me in what would’ve been a 5-hour layover there. It broke my heart to tell her that I wasn’t able to see her this time around. So that was fun… NOT.

So, after waiting a few hours in the Vancouver airport, I get on my newly rebooked 9-hour flight to London and go through with my flight with very little problems or incidences. Heathrow itself was a different story, but we’ll get to that. The food was… ok. The on-flight menu told me that I had honey peppered chicken with pasta and veggies with corn, edamame, and carrot salad along with a brownie (which was a frickin’ godsend!!), and a tiny TINY bottle of water for dinner. I didn’t take any pictures of my food because let’s be real no one really wants to see airplane food in terrible lighting. You’re welcome in advance.

After that, I tried to sleep, but I maybe only got a couple hours in. The plane was cold and loud, two things not really known to help induce sleep. At least, not for me. I guess the one good thing I got see from not sleeping is the sunrise creeping over the horizon. I didn’t get a window seat, but I did manage to sneak a few pics past the guy who was sitting there. Haha!

So a little after sunrise (which was very surreal for me considering my watch said it was like 1 am) we had a breakfast of yogurt and a “spice loaf”. That’s deadass what they called it. I died. Maybe because I was so deliriously tired, but I actually found it pretty tasty.

So after security, and the lovely gentleman that helped me at the Alitalia desk, I managed to get some pounds from a currency exchange machine and pick up some food and postcards (that was before someone chundied in front of me -thank god- or else I wouldn’t have eaten anything). After, I facetimed with Alicia for about an hour, definitely the best thing that I did there. It wasn’t the same a welcoming in person that I would’ve got in Frankfurt, but it was lovely just the same.😊

About an hour before my flight was set to leave, they announce my gate number and I make my way over. On my way over, I saw a store in the airport that pretty much exclusively sold Harry Potter merch and oh my god I could have lived in there. I only allowed myself a quick look (I promise you it was very quick, ‘cause I know if I had spent more than 5 minutes in there I wouldn’t have made my flight) before I made it to my gate. I didn’t take any pictures of the store either, because even just looking at them would’ve made me sad.

But anyways, I get on my flight and everything was good. I think I was the only one on the plane who didn’t know Italian (I mean probably -hopefully- not, but still). Being that cut off communication wise, was a very surreal (and slightly scary) experience, and something I’ve never come across before. I guess you could call it an ‘English privilege’. I’ve never experienced that communication barrier before, and it was pretty daunting to me, knowing that in the back of my mind, that this was only going to be the first time experiencing this, not the last. I guess it comes with not only from the privilege of coming from a place that predominantly speaks English, but because English one of (if not, the) most sought-after language to know, and especially as North Americans, we expect it from other people to know it and speak it as well. I guess the good thing was that the flight announcements were both in Italian and English and that the flight attendants knew English also. And so finally FINALLY!!! After almost 24 hours of being stuck in airports or planes, I was on the last leg of my journey. The flight was good, and I had no problem at customs either, which was what I was most nervous for. I mean, I had a visa and stuff, but they still could tell me to turn around and go home, ya know?

It was a long exhausting worry-filled time, but I made it and Francesco picked me up no problem. It was about an hour drive and we got back to the house pretty late, but the kids were all still up. We all did introductions, and almost as soon as I had walked in the door, I had ‘mail’. It was very very cute.

Francesco and I had a late dinner of cooked chicken breast and cooked… Cabbage? I think? It smelled like it. Anyways, I ate it all without question like a good Canadian even though I was beyond caring about food from being so tired.

Afterward, like the crazy person I am, while everyone else was getting ready for bed, I (partly) unpacked. Then I got myself ready for bed and passed out around just after midnight. I woke up again around 2 am and then fell back asleep around 3:30 am and then woke up at 2pm the next day. Sabrina was working from home Monday and Tuesday, so it was really nice to have someone home even if I was sleeping half the time! She showed me (this is going to sound ridiculous, but it’s the truth because I, apparently, am an idiot) how to work the shower because it is just a bathtub with a shower hose attached, with no curtain or glass walls. Basically, you either have to sit or squat in the shower and wash your body one section at a time. I guess the plus side is that I should have really strong quads by the end of my trip! The downside is that I’ve already done my fair share of slipping and falling in the tub. Something else I’ll have to get used to among the list of many!

Okay! So that’s all I have for you guys right now. The family doesn’t want any pictures of the kids online, so you’ll just have to trust me that they’re very cute!! I’ll include some pics I’ve accumulated of my first few days in Colleferrro at the bottom. Thanks for reading!

Ciao for now!

Hannah

xox

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