If you know me you know I am very naïve. The definition states…
naive |nīˈēv|(also naïve )
adjective
(of a person or
action) showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment.
Now, I wanted to
move to Italy for several reasons, to learn a new culture, to meet
new people, to teach the Universal language of English, and mostly HAVE FUN!
When I first moved
here I realized quickly I had come to Italy WAY too early for the hiring
process. Everyone is on “vacation” in
the month of August. Literally, everyone
is out of town and all the stores and businesses are closed.
So I was
approached with the idea to start an English school a little outside of Treviso to
do private tutoring working for this couple.
This sounded perfect for me! I
can teach while still being able to have a flexible schedule to travel and do
the things I want to do on a long weekend or when friends come in town.
I say I’m naïve NOT
because I am not wise, because I am :) I say this because of the lack of
judgment. Now obviously I am not dumb
and know that all people are not safe people to be around. I do however, give people too many
chances. Since I was little, my sister
and mom have always yelled at me that I’m “too forgiving”. I always give people the benefit of the doubt
and realize I am not perfect, and we all make mistakes. I thought of this as a “Missi” characteristic
and embraced it, and actually thought my sister and mom were harsh and bitchy
for cutting people out of their lives if they were not worthy of their friendship.
BOY HAVE I LEARNED
MY LESSON
There were many and
I mean many red flags that I should not being living with or doing business
with these people. They took advantage
of me, and it sucks. I thought they were
helping me, but actually isn’t helping supposed to be out of the kindness of
your heart and not bought? I felt stuck because I do not know Italian, I had
been emailing schools who were not interested in me because of my lack of Visa,
and because I don’t know ONE person living here in Italy!
I was scared, but I
FINALLY listened to my gut, and my gut was telling me to get out! I packed up my bags and left on a random
Friday.
I stayed in a hotel
for two days and instantly felt relief.
I didn’t know where I was going or what I was going to do, but I knew
that I finally was relying on myself and not someone else.
Why don’t I EVER listen to my
family?!?!?! I always fight against what
they say and then… BAM… it hits me, oh I get what they were saying. I am like Joey on friends when it takes him
60 second to understand a joke. Hahahaha
I went into
overdrive for two days. I seriously never left my hotel room except for free breakfast. I began reapplying to any
school in Europe to get hired, and started branching out onto the social
network called “Couch Surfing”. This is
a website where people from all countries around the world go to meet people
and basically either ask to stay at their place for free or just ask someone to
meet you for coffee or a beer while traveling through town. Now it seems pretty strange, but actually the
people here are hippies… yes… but the nicest people I could ever imagined. They literally all have advised me and helped
me to make the move to Bologna, Italy.
Bologna is a University town and has a lot of people my own age which is
exactly what I need.
I met a British guy
names Felix who looked nice on couch surfing as well on Facebook using my fantastic lurking
skills. He was going to meet me at the train station to help me
with my bags. Oh and again, I never
listen to my family! Brett told me not
to take two big suitcases because if something happens and I need to leave
somewhere, I will be stuck. Did I
listen?…. of course not! Man I was kicking
myself in that hotel room let me tell you.
Now picture this… a
little girl carrying two big ass suitcases, a big backpack, and a purse getting
up and down the stairs (several sets of stairs) to not ONE but TWO different
trains. This was difficult to say the
least. Thank you man on the bike for carrying one suitcase up a flight of stairs. Thank you Italian couple who helped me when I fell getting my biggest suitcase off the train :)
When I met Felix he
was very very nice and assured me that I will be fine living here (in his cute little
British accent) and that I could always do private lessons to make
rent. It is rather cheap to live in this
city thank goodness.
Now, I am a
Christian and I pray every night, but I don’t think in all my life I have
prayed more then I have while living here in Italy. I prayed when I left that hotel room that I
would meet nice people and be able to stay here in Italy. Please show me what I am supposed to do Lord. I knew nothing could be worse than
the situation I was in before, but you never know what other lessons he wants me to learn. Gods path has brought me
here and is opening doors.
Still things are
far from peachy, but I finally feel that this is where I am supposed to
be. I am staying with another guy who is nice. He
promised another girl from Mexico that she could stay at his place as
well. As soon as I got to his house, I
was nervous (I am very weary of EVERYONE now), but both of us girls are relieved we are staying here together. The girl is here traveling from Mexico City for
three months while taking Italian lessons.
She is staying with this guy for a month and traveling on weekends to
other cities using this couch surfing website.
She literally doesn’t have to pay for anything besides food and train
tickets. Smart chica! It was funny
because the guy wants work on his English from me, she wants to learn Italian from
him, and I want to work on my Spanish with her. Haha We all come from different
countries and cultures and are living in a small European style
apartment. Did I ask for an adventure or
what?!
I was offered a job
at a school that finally is willing to work with me on getting a Work Visa. There is still much
to do. I found out Italy has opened an
Immigration Program for the Month of September 15th to October 15th
to allow people to receive “green cards” to work to boost their economy so
hopefully I can stay here and work!
While I am
wandering the streets of Bologna looking at the incredible buildings, I am also
meeting people from all over the world.
I have a Mexican amiga to explore with and a British guy who has been
here for only 2 weeks, and still has met soooooo many people also teaching English or
Italians looking to speak English.
Now I know this
blog was VERY long, but my family and friends keep emailing me and
understandably worried so I wanted to give the whole low down or down low (I
forget :) on what has been going on.
Please keep your
prayers coming because I think they are working.
An example of gods
love…
Me and Felix were
meeting for lunch after my interview. We
went to a place in the touristy part of town and sat next to an American couple
around my parents age. We started talking
about what we both were doing coming to Bologna to teach English and my awful
previous situation. Come to find out
they are from New York and have two daughters about my and Jessi’s age. They were so comforting and told me to stay
strong and asked if I wanted them to call my parents for them :) They said they understood how scary this
could be for me moving all the way across the world and the man told Felix that
he better take care of me. After we
finished the meal, the waiter came by and told us that the couple had paid for
our entire lunch. I couldn’t help but
just cry. I wanted to hug them because
they reminded me of my own parents and I just wanted a parent hug. Ya
know? Unfortunitely we didn’t know where
they went, but from the bottom of my heart those people helped me have hope
that I can do this.
My next blog will be
on the school I got hired at. The lady
is sooooooooo nice and is going to pay me to learn Italian and curriculum the
whole first month. So cool. My British friends are super jealous.
I am stronger than
I ever thought I was. I have been faced
with so many learning experiences and with the help of god have come
through. I have MANY more things to learn and achieve here in Italy, but now I
know that I can seriously do anything.
Ciao my friends and
again thank you for all the support,
Meliss
