Moving abroad: an Italian mum in Cambridge

How did your daughter feel the transfer from Italy to England?

The English classmates welcomed Giulia very well; no jealousy, no bullying (that is punished severely), and especially at school, and till the end of high school, they are all  well dressed, all with the same black or gray skirt or pants and the school’s sweatshirt. No excessive makeup, no heels, no smoking banned… In short, here everybody tries to keep the environment quiet for as long as possible. She did not regret one day the move.

What are the English customs and traditions that most hit you and what have become part of your daily life?

We have adopted with pleasure to have dinner early in the evening. Usually at 19pm, we have already tidied up and are just ready to spend the rest of the evening chatting, reading, playing a board game or watching TV. At the beginning we were shocked to see people having dinner in pubs already at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, then, especially in winter, which is dark at 15:30 and all shops close at 17 is not that there is so much more to do than stay at home to cook.

Another English tradition that we now fell is the picnic. We love to enjoy the beautiful days in the parks while having a picnic. Now in our trunk there are picnic towels (strictly waterproof on the side that touches the ground) that live there perpetually and are pulled out at the right time. The English countryside is stunning and the rare sunny days must be fully enjoyed!

Do you think you’d be a different mom if you were in Italy?

If I were in Italy I would certainly be more apprensive; I’d probably still have my daughter at home, but I’d definitely be worried about her future, work… And I almost certainly would not have a job myself, so yes, in Italy my life would be completely different.

Do you miss Italy and if yes, what? 

I miss Italy, I miss the sun, the sky, the weather, the sea… I miss the openness of the Italian people, I miss the beauty of Rome (less its degradation), but when I come back, after a while, I begin to notice many little things that remind me why I went away; such as the endless bureaucracy, the corruption, the traffic… It’s kind of like I had my heart split in two now, but I was aware that I had reached the point of no return. 

Yes, I miss Italy, but I would not go back, and to a young man today I would say to see what there is abroad. It must not be necessarily England, however I think it’s important to see that you can have more, that you can contribute with more love and commitment to the life of the community, having confidence that what you give will be returned, that you can have a greater confidence in the future. And I would really like that one day all this could be said of our beautiful country.