do i return to europe or be a grown up and stay home?
LONG but need advice, please!
I moved to Italy last year for 3 months for a nanny job and it was great. I was there from OCT-JAN.I’m canadian.
I missed it so much that I got a holiday working visa that was valid from APR-OCT.
I’ve spent 4 months living off my savings and now when I return home in October, have to replenish it all. I always have a job at home cos my parents own a restaurant.
But I want to return to Italy! I know I can’t keep going back and forth forever but I figure if I can work half the year and vacation half the year, why not?
Problem is, my folks have the place for sale and could sell any day so I know after my next ‘vacation’ I won’t be able to go back. I’ll be 27 and broke with no savings.
I am only allowed back into Italy for another 3 mnths (the working visa is only valid once in a lifetime) unless I go to school. I’m actually thinking of paying 3 grand for a language course just to stay 6 months instead of 3.
I could maybe find work here as a babysitter or in the open air market but I have no desire of having a desk job, and am not bilingual anyway.
I make jewelry and am a ‘writer’. I get articles published in magazines here and there but nothing substantial. I’m trying to get my book published but who knows how long that could take.
Anyway when I buy my ticket to return to Canada it has to be return since it’s actually 1/2 price, go figure.
My parents are Italian so I am waiting for my Italian passport so I can travel & work throughout Europe freely but that could take up to two years! I know if I just go home and “wait” I’ll get comfortable and never come back.
Also, my great apt here is very cheap and the landlord said if I come back I can have it again but I told him I’d be back for a year… not for 3 months. The price I pay for a studio is what most people pay for a single room in a house with 4 other people.
My options are :
a) Come back for 3 months from JUNE-SEPT, and not need a visa but likely not get my cheap apt, back for such a short time.
b) Come back for 6 months from JUNE-DEC, and need a student visa and pay 3 grand for classes
c) Don’t come back and just focus on my life in Canada…
d) Go somewhere else like Australia, and have a similar ‘work & travel’ experience…even thought my heart & soul is in Italy
lol the likely hood of me marrying an Italian is ZERO.
also, I HAVE to buy a return ticket to come back in june.. i so 3 months or 6 mnths is the q i guess.
Related posts:
- Best way to call home (USA) from Europe (Germany & Spain)? I’m going on vacation to Germany and Spain this summer, and leaving my cell phone behind. I’ve heard of ‘international calling cards’ and have been looking into them, however, I’m...
- shipping clothes back home from europe? I’m a Canadian on vacation in Europe right now. In Munich now and will be taking the train to Paris. I’ve realised that I probably packed too much clothes in...
- Property manager extended lease on my home without permission? What a mess. I leased my home through a property management company for a one year term. About 3 months into that lease, I asked the property manager is the...
- A philosophical and political question regarding property and wealth? Conservative please ignore this question and return to your normal programming. Liberals I need an answer to my question. Okay here goes: We are citizens of this country right? It...
- Is a home an investment? I talk with people young and old on a daily basis and most say a home is a great investment. However, I’ve found that the older owners will never see...
Tags: Desk Job, Jewelry, Passport Travel
vacation property | , 18 Dec 09
By mrcdkid, December 20, 2009 @ 5:00 pm
b sounds like your best option until you have better options… whats the likely hood of marrying an italian?
By Uncle Tim, December 23, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
If you go back to Canada and apply yourself at getting ahead and keeping your dream in mind. You’d eventually have enough money to move permanently back to Italy. Your book is already written so, at 27 you’re already ahead of the game it sounds like. Just come back to Canada and push to get published.
By Aleister, December 26, 2009 @ 10:42 am
i’d try to first go back for three month and see if you can find another cheap apartment for that period of time or just ask the landlord, in the three month you could figure out if you stand a chance of living in italy and if you decide you want to stay but the passport thing doesn’t work out too quick you can still book the classes during your three month stay , to have the chance to stay longer
from the way you’ve written your question it really seems to me as if you want to go/stay in italy
By MissDementia, December 26, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
I can’t tell you what is best for you, I can only tell you what I did.
I am Norwegian. I am now living in the US. A lot of my family members, my Grandparents, parents, several siblings and cousins, immigrated here over a period of about 6 years. I followed because I missed my family. I fell in love with California! We have a year round growing season, we don’t get the few months of eternal dark we had back in Northern Norway during the winter and I can drive an hour one way to go snow skiing and an hour a different direction and be at the beach. But how to stay?
I joined the US Army. Not only did that smooth the way for citizenship for me, but it guaranteed me employment. It also made me the toughest little cupcake you’ve ever met in your life. ;-p
I sometimes miss sitting on the roof of my cottage and just watching the Northern lights. I sometimes miss the good manners and generally laid-back attitude of most Scandinavians. But I do love the US as well. Norway only recognizes my Norwegian citizenship and the US only recognizes my US citizenship. So I can travel between the two freely (and by virtue of that Norwegian citizenship, all over most of Europe).
I spoke only broken English when I first moved here, but now I’m better than most native speakers. So do take some Italian language courses and look into citizenship. If your parents are immigrants from Italy, you shouldn’t have much of a problem getting citizenship there. Many countries will let you stay while your immigration status is being worked out, too. If you want to return to Canada some day, you can. By your own admission, your heart and soul is in Italy, so if I were you I’d definitely look into citizenship and start working on fulfilling their requirements.
Oh, and don’t spend that kind of money for classes. Just join their military. Not only is that a set number of years (not sure how many in Italy) that you have to serve when you enlist, women aren’t supposed to engage in direct combat in most countries. Italy isn’t involved in any wars or conflicts right now anyway, so you’ll just get the benefit of an education funded by the army while proving your dedication to your adopted homeland. You’ll have to make your own poutine, tho. I’m pretty sure you can live with that, though.
By Jake No Chat, December 29, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
B. sounds like what it will take to make you happy. You are young and have this opportunity. Go for it now. Travel safe and enjoy it. Bella.