Ciao, Holly!

Hello everybody!

I am writing this first blog post on the plane on my way to Florence, Italy from Newcastle in the North East of England.

Since I am moving to Italia from the UK in the transition period of Brexit, I thought it would be a good idea to write about my experiences. I myself have been reading a few blogs to try and wrap my head around all of the immigration rules and how to obtain things like residency or permesso di soggiorno, and so some people may find it useful for their own research to see how I (hopefully) manage to do it.

Since this is my first post I shall introduce myself and explain the reasons behind my move to bella Italia!

My name is Holly and I come from a beautiful little village by the sea called Tynemouth, near Newcastle upon Tyne. I have just graduated from the University of Leeds with an international BA (Hons) in Philosophy and Politics. It is international because I completed a year abroad in my third year of study, in Florence! I studied at l’Università degli Studi di Firenze, taking modules in philosophy and anthropology, whilst working in a pub and babysitting an Italian ragazzino (little boy) to make some money on the side.
I met my boyfriend at that bar job and we have been making it work long distance for this past year that I have been finishing my degree in Leeds.

The day that I arrived in Florence, I fell in love with the city. I already knew that I would not want to leave at the end of my studies. During that year, I met some wonderful people who are now some of my dearest friends. I lived in a flat just off Piazza Santa Croce with some lovely girls who were also students. I learned Italian. I found a job I loved, which gave me the freedom to eat out and see a bit of Italy. I met the man that I love.
To sum it up, I carved out a lovely little life for myself in that renaissance Italian city. And I extended my stay as long as possible to maximise my time living it!

Since returning to the UK in September 2019, I have been back to visit Florence 4 times. I had another trip planned, but then the coronavirus hit and Italy was put into lockdown and my flight was obviously cancelled. The UK then followed suit, and I couldn’t get a flight until July. It has been 5 months since I last saw Florence and my boyfriend, so I am both nervous and extremely excited to return now, hopefully for good!

I do not have a job lined up, and I imagine it will be difficult to find one for a while as many people unfortunately lost their jobs with businesses having to close and tourism disappearing for months on end. However, I have a small amount of savings from my past year’s wages, and a whole lot of positivity to make this work!

I will keep you updated on my progress. Ci sentiamo presto!

Ciao, Holly x