Ciao a tutti,

I know, I know, long time no see! What can I say, I’ve been busy. Since May I started having holidays for a few days each month to discover Italy. 

So, in May my first adventure was with my beautiful girls, Juliette and Reme. We rented a car, and we had a small tour in Tuscany. First stop Firenze. If you ever go there, I suggest you have brunch at Le Vespe Café. I’m sure most of you expected a sightseeing place or museum or street. Well, no, this brunch tops it all. Of course, it wouldn’t be an adventure if we didn’t have a hiccup during this tour. After visiting Firenze, Siena, Volterra, Piombino, isola d’ Elba and Bologna, on our last day while driving back home and making a stop at a lake on the way I scratched the wheel while trying to park. Oups, I know it’s just a scratch, but it cost us a lot of money. Sorry girls.

Next stop, June, and Venezia with Juliette. Again, when you go there you need to visit Iguana, a Mexican restaurant. It’s so funny to me because while writing this I’m also realising that it looks like I enjoyed the food more than the places. It’s not true, I’ve enjoyed both equally. Burano was my favourite in this area. Beautiful colours.

Also during this time, we managed to have a bath at the beach which was great.

Jullyyyyyyy!! And my sister arrived!!!!!!! This was a sisterhood trip. Me, Juliette and our sisters, Eleni and Romane visited us in Italy, and we all went to Sardegna. At first, flights were cancelled and delayed, we encounter a very strange taxi driver that didn’t seem to know Olbia, but we finally made it to our place after almost a whole day. For this one I wouldn’t give any suggestions as we made an error, and we lost another day driving from Olbia to Cagliari (8 hours of driving). You can laugh in my face about it, I’m still laughing at myself. One thing I can say is that YOU NEED A CAR THERE!

But we were fortunate enough to have been at some beautiful beaches. After we parted ways and me and my sister had an amazing stay at Cinque Terre. It’s a magical place. Riomaggiore it’s a must! I also wanted to show my sister where I live and work, so we visited Casa Lamar together and did the SUP at the lake.

August was the friendship honeymoon. Six of my friends visited me from Cyprus. Organising this trip really felt that I was some kind of a travel agent! It was sooooo much fun, we did sooo many things. We’ve been to Rome dancing on a bridge all night, we had beer with some local people, we were awake almost 24 hours. I thought I wouldn’t make it to bed but it totally worth it. Next stop Amalfi coast! So beautiful! From there we ended up at Capri, where we rented a boat for a day, and we did the whole tour of the island. This was the best highlight of these holidays. Coming next Napoli!!!!! OMG!! What a great city!!!! For me it was a mixture of India and Europe. I loved it. It’s unique to the places I visited in Italy so far. Coming back though from the last holidays I found an empty apartment with no flatmate anymore. And it hit me. I knew it was coming of course, but my mind didn’t comprehend it. I miss you baby! So much! I can’t wait for our next meeting in October and for our future adventures together.

And since that day there was a sequence of changes in my life here in Italy. Even before I had the time to accept my new living circumstances and with Juliette leaving, I found out that within a week a new person was coming to live with me. I had to cha

nge rooms, rearrange and clean the whole apartment to accommodate this newcomer. His name is Sergio, and I hope he brings his two cats soon. Also, the new girl is coming on the 20 th . At work there is a debate, they are not sure if a Polish or a French is coming. We will find out in the next episode, I guess. It’s a bit hard for me to go through so many changes at a small period of time, but I believe it’s a way to build self-resilience when life is unexpected. I am practising for that, I guess.

As far as my project goes, I love that I have been given new responsibilities, like driving the residents to doctor appointments, or doing the weekly shopping for the home. I am really happy about that. Pfff it’s been long because it’s been a while. I’m done for now. Stay tuned guys! A la prossima. To be continued…..

P.S. I miss my dogs.

-Christina Theodorou

 

Ciao tutti,

After about four changes on my arrival date in Italy, due to Covid, and an 18-hour journey, I finally reached Trento about a month and a half ago. I reached the apartment super late in the night, but lucky I was my flatmate had left me the sweetest welcoming note, a delicious chocolate cake, and food in the fridge. My first morning ever in Italy found me in this beautiful apartment, looking at the amazing view of the snowy mountains around Trento from my balcony. The next two days I strolled around the city and I had my first coffee in Italy at a coffee shop, something I could not do back in Cyprus for a very long time because of a lockdown, it was fantastic! My flatmate introduced me to the rest of the volunteers here in Trento and since then we are discovering the city and the surrounding area as much as we can. So far, I have seen the beautiful Lago di Garda, Sardagna, Madonna di Campiglio and Monte Bondone, where we had amazing time with sleds.

My first day of volunteering was on my birthday, I felt so welcomed and I even had a birthday cake. This year I thought I would not celebrate it because I would be somewhere completely new. However here I was having people singing happy birthday to me. My first two weeks were very difficult in terms of the language as everyone only speaks Italian. However slowly I started learning and understanding more day after day. All the people at Casa Lamar, one way or another, try their best to explain to me when I do not understand. I also started my Italian lessons, which I am so excited about, not only because I will be able to communicate better, but also because is another great way to meet people. I love my days at Casa Lamar, and especially when by doing the simplest thing, like playing some music or making a joke, people laugh, sing, dance and they have an enjoyable moment. I also love helping in the kitchen as I learn a lot. I had my first attempts on making pizza and tiramisu. These moments are precious, and they mean the world to me and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for me here through this beautiful experience. I hope the days that I will be able to explore this beautiful country and its people are close. Love and Light everyone.

-Christina Theodorou