I spent a little over two weeks in Italy this January and I miss it terribly. I even miss all the things that confused and confounded me while I was there. I don’t miss the beggars, but I learned to tolerate them.
Anyway, I have to seriously start considering the fact that I might get rejected from all the grad schools I applied to. I already got one rejection, actually. And I was thinking, “Well, I’ll take a year off, work, write some more, and try again.”
But maybe I could take that year off in Italy? It seems impossible and out of the question, but only because I have no idea how one even plans to move to another country for a year.
So, out of the question and crazy or doable with a little bit of research and time?
This is going to be a tough one. If you actually want to move and work in Italy, you are going to have to get a job first and then get a work permit. The problem is that there are very few of those types of jobs. Young Italians can’t even get them themselves and the law states that you cannot take a job that an Italian could have taken.
How about applying to grad school at an Italian University? I was in Padua at the last day of ?classes? ?graduation? ?dissertation defending? and they were having some strange tradition where they put up semi-insulted, semi-sexual caricatures of the students all around town, the went around getting drunk and making drunken speeches about how graduating person X is a helluva guy/gal. Looked like fun.
By the way, every country in Europe has that rule but there are more “outs” in some countries than others. Have you looked into those international English language schools? I bet they have them in Italy and they always need native speakers of English.
You also might want to get started on the application materials for your Fullbright scholarship.
pepperlandgirl, I’m with you on this one! I’ve been trying to think of a way to do this exact same thing for awhile now. When I was in Italy (spent most of my time in Perugia, where they have a university for foreigners), I met lots of folks from all over the EU who were “stuck” there, meaning, they got there, loved it so much that they stayed too long, spent all their money, and couldn’t get home (or maybe they just didn’t want to go home, who knows?). Don’t know how that ended up working out for them, but it sounds like paradise to me! Of course, the reality of this probably isn’t so dreamy, so I’m sticking around here til something more concrete comes along. I dream of buying a villa somewhere along the Amalfi coast (a la “Talented Mr. Ripley”) and retiring there one day.
Oops, sorry. I’m not answering your question. I second Shagnasty’s suggestion of just saving up and going there for awhile. Maybe you’ll meet someone along the way who will give you an idea of what you could do. (and if you need a travel buddy, ahem, I do know a little bit of Italian)
Heh, I can easily imagine getting “stuck” there. Easily. I’ve read a few books about Italy that mentioned there are many, many people who went on vacation there and just never went home.
I tried to explain to my husband how…addicting? enchanting? wonderful?..Rome was, but he doesn’t get it. I almost don’t get it either. But I wish I could just run away and live there for the rest of my life.
Until that last post of yours, I was going to suggest marrying an Italian
Your best bet is getting into a university course there. Unless you have skills an Italian employer would kill for, it’s probably the only sure way of living there for an extended period.
