Today, I am living in Holland for exactly one year.
Time for reconsidering what happened. Did I regret leaving my job in Italy. No, not at all. Home sickness? Sometimes, especially with bad weather, but not a lot. Feeling like a stranger? Probably a ittle, but, believe it or not, not a lot more than in Italy. Money? Money is never enough, but, in comparison to Italy, I cannot but be satisfied. language? I don't know if I should be satisfied, because I can read it decently, or unsatisfied, because I speak badly and I undertand spoken language even worse. Let's try to see the positive side: I've improved a lot. But the opposite would have been impossible, considering the starting point.
Would I move to Holland again? Yes, definitely.
Regrets? The same I had before: sometimes I feel like I'm not exploiting the opportunity to the maximum. I think I should make more friends, go out more... My eternal shyness stops me. But anyway, looking from the positive side, I'm slowly becoming more social. Or maybe I should eventually become an adult and stop thinking about that.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
80s
A new Italian colleague has come recently to the company. Yesterday he invited me and some friends to his home, for an evening together and a dish of pasta.
His history is different from mine. I always tried not to behave as an Italian abroad, therefore I never sought for Italian friendships, rather I tried to mix with the international atmosphere of the company and the city. He, instead, came two years ago and almost immediately signed up in the site Italians in Olanda. This is where most of the people present yesterday came from. Yes, there was the odd Dutch engaged to an Italian partner, but the absolute majority was made of Italians. So, I could really breathe that air of a community, a set of people who share language and culture, but live surrounded by a different language and a different culture, and find their own identities in the culture. Funny, before now I always try to assimilate and mingle with the surrounding culture (with various degrees of sucess).
We watched Notte prima degli esami, an Italian movie which tries to appeal to two types of people: teenagers (being a movie about teenagers) and people who were young in the 80s
(being set in 1989). Despite having a fair share of stereotypes, and showing young age and high school in a way sometimes too idylliac and unrealistic, it is anyway a funny and interesting comedy. And all the 80s music and fashions (the boys played with a Commdoore 64! Fantastic) made everyone feel nostalgic. Many fashions, fads, singers etc. were common then, and gradually faded out unnoticed afterwards. Now, when reminded, they become something special, triggering surprise and emotion. "Look at how Madonna looked like when she was singing Like A Virgin!", "Look at those telephone tokens!", "look at that Citroën Dyane!".
I realised something about myself: I am an 80s person. It is part of me, of my being, just like my name and the colour of my eyes. I am in 2006, but I realise that 2006 is not my home. I just bought a Transavia ticket to the year 2006, and that's why I am here. I haven't bought the return ticket to the second half of the 80s, yet.
Our host also had a copy of an Italian mag called Max, some glossy-paper mag with lots of half-naked models, something about the trend du jour, and a lot of ads of overpriced luxury goods. But one of the titles on the cover was actually interesting. "Goa, the hippies do not live there anymore". Somebody tell that to my landlady, please.
His history is different from mine. I always tried not to behave as an Italian abroad, therefore I never sought for Italian friendships, rather I tried to mix with the international atmosphere of the company and the city. He, instead, came two years ago and almost immediately signed up in the site Italians in Olanda. This is where most of the people present yesterday came from. Yes, there was the odd Dutch engaged to an Italian partner, but the absolute majority was made of Italians. So, I could really breathe that air of a community, a set of people who share language and culture, but live surrounded by a different language and a different culture, and find their own identities in the culture. Funny, before now I always try to assimilate and mingle with the surrounding culture (with various degrees of sucess).
We watched Notte prima degli esami, an Italian movie which tries to appeal to two types of people: teenagers (being a movie about teenagers) and people who were young in the 80s
(being set in 1989). Despite having a fair share of stereotypes, and showing young age and high school in a way sometimes too idylliac and unrealistic, it is anyway a funny and interesting comedy. And all the 80s music and fashions (the boys played with a Commdoore 64! Fantastic) made everyone feel nostalgic. Many fashions, fads, singers etc. were common then, and gradually faded out unnoticed afterwards. Now, when reminded, they become something special, triggering surprise and emotion. "Look at how Madonna looked like when she was singing Like A Virgin!", "Look at those telephone tokens!", "look at that Citroën Dyane!".
I realised something about myself: I am an 80s person. It is part of me, of my being, just like my name and the colour of my eyes. I am in 2006, but I realise that 2006 is not my home. I just bought a Transavia ticket to the year 2006, and that's why I am here. I haven't bought the return ticket to the second half of the 80s, yet.
Our host also had a copy of an Italian mag called Max, some glossy-paper mag with lots of half-naked models, something about the trend du jour, and a lot of ads of overpriced luxury goods. But one of the titles on the cover was actually interesting. "Goa, the hippies do not live there anymore". Somebody tell that to my landlady, please.
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