By: Cherrye Moore

Here at ACC we spend a lot of time talking about expat life and in truth, many of us have a lot in common. We are all living in a foreign country. We all miss things about home. We all love, or at least like most of the time, things about our new countries.

But I’m convinced the reasons that motivated our expat status have more to do with our experiences than many people consider, at least for those of us who are expats in Italy.

So, in this two-part series, let’s examine the eight-in my book-types of expats you will meet in the bel paese.

The Short-Term Expat
This expat moved to Italy for a study or work abroad opportunity, not necessarily because he was in love with Italy or the Italian language, but because it seemed like a fun addition to his ever-growing resume.

This expat is blissfully happy with Italy and is friends with other expats he met at work or school. He doesn’t cement ties to the country since he knows he’ll be leaving in T minus 10 months.

It is typically easier for the Short-Term Expat to accept Italy’s nuances and adapt to that post-college lifestyle he might be living as an expat.

The Old-Timer
On the other end of the spectrum is the lifer … the expat who moved to Italy years and years and years ago, likely because she married an Italian and they chose to live here rather than the US.

This person may have lost some of their (insert country of origin here)’ness and speaks to other expats from her country in Italian rather than their native language.

While she may have had a hard time adjusting to life as an expat in Italy, she doesn’t really remember … it was too long ago.

The Lover
The Old-Timer likely entered Italy as a “Lover,” but from those aforementioned years and years and years of living in Italy, became an Old-Timer.

The Lover, like yours truly, came to Italy because she was in love with an Italian and they decided to start their lives together in the bel paese. The Lover may or may not envision spending her whole life in Italy and may secretly be plotting her return to native soil.

It might be easier for The Lover to adjust to Italy because she has an Italian citizen showing her the ropes, yet she might feel more torn between the two worlds, since she may not have wanted to leave in the first place.

The Run-Away
The Run-Away, on the other hand, wanted to leave. He left his home country because he wasn’t feeling satisfied or fulfilled in either his career or personal life. This expat is here for the long-haul and tends to focus on the positive aspects of his new country.

It might be easier for this expat to pack up and leave than it is for the Old-Timer or the Lover, but the longer he is here, the more Italy feels like home.

Come back on Thursday to meet the other four kinds of expats you’ll see in Italy.

Cherrye Moore is a freelance writer and travel consultant living in Calabria, Italy. She can organize a group Calabria tour or help you plan a custom itinerary for your family from her website, My Bella Vita.

Photo: The Trendliest

By: Cherrye Moore

New York has Little Italy, London has a China Town and Catanzaro has its own Little America.

Or so it seems.

Right in the middle of Catanzaro between the downtown area and the beachfront neighborhood, Catanzaro Lido is an international grocery store that will darn near make an American expat feel at home.

And that store is Lidl.

This German discount store has over 8,000 stores worldwide but when I’m inside, I feel like I’m at my local supermarket at home, browsing for Mexican chips and chocolate chip cookies.

Some of the best things I’ve found in Lidl include:
- Bluberry muffins
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Grapefruit juice
- Bacon
- Tortilla chips
- Popcorn
- The most American-tasting OJ I’ve found in Italy

These things are such a welcome treat that I forgive their overly cheesy American-sounding product brand name … McKennedy.

Sometimes Lidl will host an international week, such as “American Week,” “Mexican Week,” “Greek Week,” or even Thai, British or Swedish weeks.

When they do, I stock up on cheddar cheese, pancake mix, pecans, dried cranberries, cranberry juice, flour tortillas, extra-large burrito-sized flour tortillas, jalapeno peppers, Mexican salsa, Greek olives, peanut oil …

I, do, however, skip their “American” pizza. Eek. Just look at that corn over there.

Unfortunately, I’m not always the first one to the store when they release their new products and I’ve missed my all-time favorite American breakfast item-bagels.

I rarely miss out on the good stuff, though. In Lidl, I’ve found Mexican tequila, Scottish Whiskey, Greek wine and Ouzo, as well as the hard to find green apple liquor and coconut rum.

Yes, yes, there are many things an expat can love about Italy, and having this little taste of home, just a few minutes down the road, makes a world of difference.

Expats, is there a Lidl near you? If so, what have you found?

Cherrye Moore is a freelance writer and travel consultant living in Calabria, Italy. She can organize a group Calabria tour or help you plan a custom itinerary for your family from her website, My Bella Vita.

Photo: cndrnh

by Tina Ferrari

Many of us, when bitten by the living abroad bug, find ourselves charmed by the idea of living in a small town, while others get excited by the big city.

Oftentimes we dream of specific places because they are so different from what our current lifestyles have to offer.  If you live in a large city and are constantly rushing to meet deadlines, stuck in traffic, exhausted, you are probably thinking of a small town where the pace is just right.  If you have always lived in a small town, you might be antsy and wishing for some rush and excitement – and chaos.  Each of the two choices has its pros and cons:

Small towns.  Who, after seeing Under the Tuscan Sun, doesn’t love the idea of living in a small town where everybody knows each other?  You have your butcher, your green grocer, your florist.  You take walks and run into people you know all the time.  There is always somebody to stop and say hello to.  On the other hand… everybody knows each other.  If you’re used to life in the big city where you can do whatever you want and nobody notices, you’re in for a surprise if you switch to a small town.  People do notice. It’s not necessarily a bad thing – just keep in mind that a little bit of discretion goes a long way.

Big cities.  The rush, the excitement, the constant movement. There is always something going on in the big city.  A diverse population, a sense of individuality, and the neighborhoods are all different from each other.  People are straight-forward and to the point.  They are so busy carrying on with their own lives that what you do is your business – they don’t have time to worry about you.  On the other hand, if you’re used to the tranquility and slow pace of a small town or the country, you might get overwhelmed.  I know someone who had panic attacks almost every day their first week in Buenos Aires.  It can be a lot to handle if you’re not used to constantly busy streets and sidewalks.  My advice in this case is to find your favorite park and make a regular visit to it.  Just a few minutes of silence surrounded by green can do a lot for one’s well-being.

What’s your advice or experience on small towns vs. big cities?

Tina Ferrari is a tango dancer, translator and writer currently based in Lecce, Italy. She writes at AffordableCallingCards.net as well as on her own blog, Tina Tangos. Comments are always welcome!

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By: Cherrye Moore

The April showers have hopefully come and gone and here in southern Italy, we are preparing for another smoldering summer. You know how I know? My nose knows.

Here are three clues your nose will tell you about summertime in Calabria.

1. You will be overcome by the smell of orange blossoms

A couple of weeks ago I walked outside and was struck by an overpowering scent of blooming flowers, mixed with sweet citrus, mixed with something else I couldn’t quite discern.

“But what is that smell,” I asked my husband after I’d looked around to see if someone had dropped a bottle of $100 perfume on our doorstep.

“It is so strong.”

He smiled and pointed across the driveway to the alleyway of orange trees that line the drive.

The blossoms had been showing signs of life for days but on that particular morning, they burst from their bulbs with all of the force they could muster and sprayed our garden.

And it was heavenly.

2. You will smell the lavender

While not as strong as the orange blossoms in the driveway, the flowers that have grown over our walkway are equally inviting. We have an old bench, sitting near the canopy of ivy and lavender that is faded from too many years in the Calabrian sun. Once springtime hits and summer is on its way, that bench becomes a light beckoning me to grab a book and a pair of sunglasses and just bask.

And bask I do … .

3. You can smell the beach

Just a few days ago my husband lifted his head into the air, wiggled his nose and said, “Ahhh, you can smell the beach!”

And we are a couple of miles away.

After the orange blossoms and lavender have left their distinctive marks, the summer sands start stirring and you can smell the breeze off of the Ionian Sea.

When you are lucky enough to be able to distinguish among these summer scents, you can experience the changing of the seasons in a whole new way. If you are like me, and think someone dumped perfume on your welcome rug every time a new tree blooms, then you still have a few things to learn.

Lucky for us, we can try next year.

Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and freelance writer living in southern Italy. She writes about expat life for Affordable Calling Cards and about traveling in Calabria her own site, My Bella Vita.

By: Cherrye Moore

It is just as easy for expats to fall into the same ‘ole dull routine of going to work, washing our car, cooking dinner and so on and so forth as it is for our non-expat counterparts back home. This is something that is hard for many non-expats to consider and something, I’ve noticed lately, that expats love to point out.

Yes, it is true things can get dull in Paris just as easily as they can get boring in Beaumont (a personal lesson I learned while living in the City of Lights), but let’s not take it all too seriously.

Here is a quick reminder-if only for myself-of the top five things I love about being an expat in southern Italy.

1. The Adventure

I love how adventurous it sounds to say I live in Italy. (Yes … I’ll admit that!) But I also love the adventure. I love that I can experience a whole new range of sense, taste new things, see new sites, smell new scents and somewhat more persistently … hear new sounds.

2. The Unknown

Something that goes well with that sense of adventure is the idea of facing the unknown. I like that I don’t always “know” how things are going to go-or even how they should go-because it is just so darn different from how “we do things back home.” There is something to be said about consistency, yes, but there is something else to be said about staying on your toes.

3. The Push

Sometimes it is scary to venture into the unknown, but I love that living in Italy makes me push my boundaries and try new things. Without Italy, I’d have never learned a new language, forced myself to drive in a foreign country or taken some of the chances that have me happy.

4. The Work

If I had never moved to Italy, I would never have explored the life of a freelance writer. I’d have never started my own website, updated a travel book or written for a travel magazine. One of the newest things I’ve tried lately is to expand my business and start offering travel consulting services for people traveling to my area … something I never would have done if I lived in the US.

5. The People

In addition to the new Italians I’ve met, living in Italy has introduced me to a world of new people. I’ve met interesting expats, professional travel writers and world travelers and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.

What about you? What do you most love about being an expat?

Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and Bed and Breakfast owner living in southern Italy. She writes about expat life for Affordable Calling Cards.net and about living and traveling in southern Italy on her site, My Bella Vita.

(Photo: atomicshed on Flickr)

By Cherrye Moore

Last week fellow ACC blogger and expat, Chantal Panozzo of One Big Yodel wrote five tips to help expats fight isolation abroad. Her tips were right on the mark and in fact, I did many of those things to help with my own isolation when I moved to southern Italy.

But sometimes expats relocate to a country,or in my case, a part of the country, where they truly are very much alone.

When I moved to Calabria in April, 2006-happy anniversary, Me!-I fully expected to be able to quickly and easily meet new people. I did everything experts tell you to do-I joined a gym, I frequented the same places, I was open to making new friends.

But it didn’t work.

In addition to Chantal’s tips, here are three more things I expats can do when they are in an under-expat-populated community.

1. Teach a Private English Class

Teaching private English lessons is the number one thing I did that helped me make friends and meet new people in Calabria. My very first student, a freelance photojournalist, introduced me to his wife and now, years later, the two of us are still friends. I also met some of my favorite people, a family with four children, through teaching English and one of my closest expat friends found me through an ad someone placed for me in a bookstore.

In fact, I can trace the largest percentage of my friends in Calabria back to these lessons.

2. Join an Expat Forum

Expat forums are an easy, non-threatening way to introduce yourself and find more expats in your area. The very first expat I met saw a posting I had made on the Expats in Italy forum and emailed me telling me she was only 45 minutes away. Now, 45 minutes may seem far to those of you in big cities or metropolitan areas, but here in Calabria, meeting an expat an hour away, is like getting a great new neighbor.

3. Look up Expats on Facebook

It is strange to see how much the Internet has changed since I moved to Italy, but new expats have so many more opportunities for meeting like-minded people than we did four years ago. If I was a new expat today, I’d go on Facebook and search for groups or fan pages for Italy and start talking. Once you meet two or three people, you can see who their friends are and, ask them if they know people in your area and easily get connected.

What other tips do you have to help expats in less popular areas meet new people?

Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and freelance writer living in southern Italy. She writes about expat life for Affordable Calling Cards.net and about living and traveling in southern Italy on her site, My Bella Vita.

(photo: Mr.Happy on Flickr)

Last week we celebrated the Easter holiday in southern Italy. Like previous years, Calabrians spent the days leading up to the big event by attending and participating in various processionals throughout the region. Here in Catanzaro, the annual ‘a Naca event was-as always-a success.

Each year, event organizers gather in one of the city’s churches in preparation for their annual processional. The event is called ‘a Naca-pronounced with a strong a N-and is a living representation of the Stations of the Cross. It is accented by bold banners, towering statues and heavy wooden crosses, as well as hundreds of aptly-dressed parishioners from the major churches inside the city.

Organization of the event rotates annually, with a brotherhood from a different church in the community assuming responsibility. Attendees arrive early and in the end, thousands of people cram inside churches and along the streets in Catanzaro’s centro storico and watch the event with anticipation.

A trumpet and bass drum lead the group and create an eerily comforting rhythm and steady pace for the processional to follow. Perhaps one of the more charming aspects of the processional are the groups of children-the boys dressed like their adult-counterparts in white robes, while dozens of Mini-Marias trail along with their mothers and grandmothers.

At one point in the event, a bleeding Jesus Christ is preceded by two thieves and their crosses, with three Marias somberly following behind him. It is a solemn moment for everyone in attendance and for a brief moment, the streets of downtown Catanzaro are quiet.

After the event, the solemnity continues as the people of Catanzaro retrace their steps, return to their homes and begin preparing in earnest for the Pasqua and Pasquetta feasts that will follow. It is one of my favorite events here in Catanzaro and I’m just a wee bit sad I’ll have to wait another 12 months to witness it again.

Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and freelance writer living in southern Italy. She writes about expat life here at Affordable Calling Cards and about living and traveling in Calabria on her own site, My Bella Vita.

Last week I wrote about a few of my favorite Italian dishes I discovered here in the bel paese. I’ve expanded my Italian food knowledge past spaghetti and brooshetta and have opened by palatable palate to the world of home-cooked Italian goodness.

But that’s not the only thing that’s changed.

Here are three of the main ways living in Italy has changed my diet.

Photo: JustinKnol on Flickr

1. An apple-or two or three or four-a day

Maybe it is the culture. Maybe it is a habit. Maybe it is the fact that there are fresh fruit trees looming over my head as I type this post, but whatever it is-it works.

Most Italians I know finish both their lunchtime and evening meal with a healthy helping of fresh seasonal fruit and of all of the new habits I’ve learned in Italy, this is by far the most helpful.

2. Hard-Core Digestive Tricks

Italians are more in tune with their digestion than any other peoples I’ve ever met and thus, they have great devices in place to keep them on track. My favorite digestive trick is the world-famous lemony liquor Italians like to serve post-dinner … limoncello.

I don’t actually know if drinking a glass of limoncello will make me healthier, but really, who am I to question years of hard-trained Italian habits and time-tested cultural beliefs?

3. Routine is Everything

When I lived in the states I was very much a “eat when you are hungry” type of girl. Sometimes I’d skip lunch for a big meeting or eat in the car on my way home from the gym.

Let that go.

But here in Italy, we have an eating schedule I don’t think I could live without. Lately,  I’ve noticed I eat less, snack less and enjoy my meals more than I ever did back home.  And regardless of where else I might live in the world, I’d never go back to being the fast-fooding junkie I was back then.

Have your eating habits changed since you moved abroad? Are they better or worse than they were in your home country?

Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and freelance writer living in southern Italy. She writes about expat life here at Affordable Calling Cards and about living and traveling in Calabria on her own site, My Bella Vita.

by Tina Ferrari

You’ve seen me write about my three-course lunches in the past, and I’m still eating up a storm.  I’m amazed that with all these wonderful foods I’m enjoying, I’m losing weight!  I think a few factors can be taken into consideration:

1.  In Italy, we eat at the table.  Not in front of the computer, not in the car.  At the dinner table.  Together.  Mealtimes are definitely valued here.

2.  Olive oil and wine.  The elixirs of the gods. These two products are staples in Italian cuisine.  Olive oil is added to most things and it’s acceptable to drink wine even at lunch – on a work day!  Both have their health benefits, and something Italians do that we could all stand to learn from, is consume these things is moderation.  Which brings me to…

3.  The portions.  Portions here, in my opinion, are reasonable and substantial.  Just enough of each course.  On a recent visit to the U.S., I saw a single serving of salad at a restaurant that was the same size as what you’d see at a family dinner table in Italy (for everyone to share).  A big secret to being healthy, I think, is being portion savvy.

4.  The fresh, clean food.  Here, when I feel quite full after a meal, after just an hour I feel perfectly fine and not full at all.  I like to think things are generally cleaner here – it doesn’t take much effort to find fresh food with no preservatives. Fruits and vegetables are seasonal, and the food is so naturally packed with flavor I feel satisfied easily.

How is the eating culture where you live?

Tina Ferrari is a translator, writer and tango dancer based in Umbria, Italy. She writes at AffordableCallingCards.net as well as on her own blog, Tina Tangos. Comments are always welcome!

There is a big cultural difference between being an expat in Italy with Italian-American roots and being a plain Jane American expat in Italy with a big fat goose egg of Italian heritage running through your veins. Growing up, my idea of Italian cuisine was limited to spaghetti and meatballs or maybe, on a good day, a new Olive Garden special.

Sad, I know.

Yet one of the most interesting things about this is that, like the proverbial kid in a candy store,  I kinda went crazy for real Italian food once I got here.

Here are three of my favorite “new” Italian dishes I’d never eaten in Texas.

Pasta e Fagioli
The idea of tossing pasta and beans doesn’t really appeal to many Texans (although they’re crazy about pork and beans, so they’re obviously cool with mixin’) yet, it is one of my favorite go-to lunch dishes.

The original recipe is more of a soup-like substance that can be accented with pork or pancetta (see, Texans, there is something there for you!) but we usually make it vegetarian-style with a little less sauce.

Yum.

Pasta e Ceci
If the idea of mixing beans with pasta was foreign for my non-Italian tastebuds, then it isn’t a stretch to discover I’d never had pasta and chickpeas.

Actually, I don’t think I’d ever had chickpeas, but that’s a story for another day.

This recipe is also often seen as a soup, a la this pasta and chickpea recipe from the About.com guide to Italian food.  Again, my recipe is much simpler and can be made in the amount of time it takes to boil your water. My favorite version is with cherry tomatoes, but it is also favolosa on its own.

Pasta al Tonno
Considering the fact I never ate tuna in Texas, it is easy to understand why I’d never ventured out into the tuna-recipe related family and dined on pasta al tonno.

However, Calabrian tuna has unleashed a sea of opportunities for me and well, it is not just a recipe I enjoy, but it is now one of my favorites. My stand-by recipe calls for canned tuna-I use Vibo’s own Callipo-olive oil, garlic, pepper and pasta.

And yes, it really is that simple.

What new recipes did you discover once you moved abroad? Please share in the comments!

Cherrye Moore is a Calabria travel consultant and freelance writer living in southern Italy. She writes about expat life here at Affordable Calling Cards and about living and traveling in Calabria on her own site, My Bella Vita.