The world’s largest Christmas tree? Why, yes, I have seen it… Having spent the night in our hotel in the countryside, just outside of  Perugia, we made our way to Gubbio. No, I hadn’t heard of it either! I had, however, seen pictures on Instagram of the world’s largest Christmas tree. The tree, which has […]

The 8th December in Italy marks the Feast of the Immaculate Conception bank holiday. Having a good chunk of days off together, Nadia, my Canadian friend, and I decided to embark on a road trip to Umbria. For such a long time, I have wanted to go to Perugia and Assisi. Im not particularly religious,

My life this academic year is the polar opposite of my life in years gone by. Having once worked all the hours that god sends in a school, giving up outings and meals with family and friends for the sake of catching up/ keeping up with my mammoth workload, I am now free to enjoy

Autumn is truly upon us. My lovely friend Jo came to visit from Spain this week and it has been just great showing her around. Halloween also happened. Wow, I am truly gobsmacked at how well Bracciano does Halloween. The shops were all decorated, the kids were trick or treating in the shops, rather than

One sunny afternoon this week, I decided to take a trip up to Viterbo. About 50 minutes from Bracciano by train, Viterbo is a beautiful medieval city nestled in the Lazio countryside. With beautiful buildings, imposing squares, winding streets and a tonne of history, Viterbo is a true treat for visitors and locals alike. I

As I find my feet in my new home town, I thought it was time that I started to deviate from the main route that I take as I go about my day to day business. Although my town is relatively small, I find myself being constantly surprised by the new streets that I come

Right before I moved to Italy, I was listening to my favourite podcast about moving to Italy (see the link below) and Vera, one of the co-hosts mentioned “Sagras”. Having spent 18 years to-ing and fro-ing between the UK and Italy, I have to admit to never having heard of a “sagra” before.  For the

So, time has flown. It’s now a month since I moved here and I can’t believe how settled I feel. To be honest, I’ve been very lucky. My accommodation is small but well situated, my internship is fab and all of my encounters have been really positive (apart from the lady in the deli at

Moving to Italy was no mean feat. It feels as if it is probably one of the hardest countries within the EU to be able to move to for a non-EU citizen. Damn Brexit.  I had almost given up hope of ever being able to move permanently to Italy following the Brexit referendum in the