Adjusting to Life as an Expat in Italy: Which Home is Home?

By Cherrye Moore
July 31st, 2009

9 Comments »
Posted in ( SEO Tools )

For all accounts and purposes, I’ve spent the last six weeks as a homeless person. I left the comfort of my Calabrese casa and headed across the ocean to crash on my mother’s couch, live out of a suitcase and accept the charity home-cooked meals of my doting grandmother, aunts and cousins.

While visiting America isn’t out of my ordinary expat life routine-I travel between Texas and Calabria several times a year-this trip was different. If you have followed my personal site, My Bella Vita, you might remember that my family experienced a mind-boggling tragedy when we lost my father earlier this year.

Since then, it has been, understandably many people say, increasingly difficult to be so far from home. I compare any upset in Italy, no matter how trivial it may seem, to America and assure my ever-patient husband that “things don’t happen like this back home.”

But sometimes I am wrong.

Yes, sometimes, even when I am in Texas, I see reckless drivers, unreliable websites and (gasp!) poor customer service. All things I’m accustomed to as an expat in southern Italy, but oftentimes don’t think exist in my home country.

You see, after you have been an expat for awhile, the glitter of your adopted country fades and you are left with the sometimes bitter taste of that country’s core. This had happened to me.

I had grown somewhat disenchanted and it took a six-week hiatus to set me straight. In part one of this four-part series on adjusting to life as an expat in Italy, I wrote about missing home. But what happens when those “home” lines get blurred and you feel nostalgic for your adopted country? So let’s flip it. Here are the top three things I miss about Italy when I am in America.

1. Soup’s On!

Nothing is better for my blood sugar-or my waistline-than eating meals at the same time every day. We do that here in Italy. In fact, our lunch time rarely varies more than 15 minutes from day to day, while dinner is consistently cooked within 30 minutes. As a creature of habit, I crave this kind of routine-a routine rarely-if ever-I follow back home.

2. Pasta, Please

I realize this is in direct contradiction to the variety I requested in Part One of this series, but trust me, folks … all pasta is not created equally. I miss our authentic Italian pasta when I am in Texas-and don’t get me started on the wine. When I am in America, I miss the five-liter bottle of table wine my father-in-law buys us for €6 and I miss sharing it with my wine-loving buddies in bella Calabria.

3. Walk it Off

One of my all-time favorite Italian customs is the afternoon passeggiata-the day-ending stroll where neighbors meet, walk arm in arm and catch up on each others’ day. Besides the fact that the 100+ degree temps and 99% humidity in southeast Texas prevent an afternoon stroll, Law & Order marathons and Wii tournaments would likely win anyway. It’s not that I don’t love you, Jack McCoy … I just miss the passeggiata, too.

Be sure to visit My Bella Vita next week for Part III and Part IV of Adjusting to Life as an Expat in Italy.

So, what do you most miss from your adopted country when you are away? What would you miss if you moved back to your home country?

Cherrye Moore is an American freelance writer in southern Italy. In addition to AffordableCallingCards.net, she writes about living and traveling in Calabria on her site, My Bella Vita. Comments and messages are welcome on both sites.

Photo: Michele Catania

Rate Post

Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Tags: Calabria, expat in italy, Italy

Get Affordable Calling Cards For Cheap Long Distance Calls

Make talking fun again with PIN-less dialing and guaranteed clear calls.

Check out Pingo.com's calling cards!

No hidden fees or rates - don't lose minutes to dirty marketing.
Top-rated prices per comparison reviews on AboutCallingCards.com.
Fast dialing through speed-dial.

Pick Country or View Rates

Comments

Cherrye,

I know what you mean about missing wherever you are not. In the U.S., I miss things about Argentina, and in Argentina, I miss things about the U.S. Most people find being an expat romantic and adventurous, which perhaps it is, but the cost is never feeling quite at home.

Comment #1 by Julia Evans

July 31, 2009 Rate Comment

“five-liter bottle of table wine” WOW that’s a lot of wine!

Also, as a huge fan of pasta, I can attest to the fact that it’s not all the same. The sauces, cooking time etc make a huuuuge difference.

Funny story: One day, my friend was over for a meal before a fast (it’s part of a religious holiday). We decided to make pasta. Unfortunately, I completely overboiled the pasta and we ended up with mush. As someone who typically scarfs down his pasta, it was all the more telling how bad the food was when I couldn’t have more than a couple bites!