For the past few weeks, I’ve been telling myself that I wanted to go to Barcelona or Italy and just immerse myself in the culture. I thought about the pretty dresses I’d wear and the cute boys I’d kiss and all these wonderfully romantic things I would hopefully get to do while traipsing around Europe like it’s my home. It felt fantastical and just a tad bit out of my reach, but then it started to feel realistic somehow. Because, I made it a reality. Because, the best thing to do was to talk myself out of it, but I just couldn’t even find the damn words to say, “No, Jamie, you can’t live in Italy and have the goddamn time of your life.” Just, you know, not in my vocabulary.
Yet, when I started really thinking about it, all of a sudden, everyone and their red headed stepchild was talking about how they traveled and how much of an amazing experience it was. Then, by what I don’t consider a coincidence, I started working with a client (now dear friend and travel companion) who buys one-way tickets to countries and just explores. And, I thought, PEOPLE FREAKING DO THAT!? Since. WHEN. Because, uh, sign me up, where, when, I’m going, too many commas, I know, it’s ok, I make up grammar rules.
Then, I started reading Eat Pray Love and the part of the book I’m at is where she goes to Italy in search of wordly pleasure and again, I was all, PEOPLE DO THIS!? And, then people WRITE BOOKS ABOUT IT? Where the hell had I been? Because, again, sign me up, I want to go, in pursuit of pleasure, yes, fucking, please.
So, really, I called my own bluff. Because here I was talking about traveling and exploring cultures, but I wasn’t doing anything about it. But, then, today, I booked my one way ticket to Italy without any real rational reason to do so, a good amount of debt, a brand spanking new business, and so much adventure within me that it’s bursting for some release. All I have is the desire to learn, experience, and practice l’arte d’arrangiarsi —the art of making something out of nothing, which I’m pretty sure has been my entire life’s motto, but had never known it until I decided to become Italian for six months to a year to two years, WHO KNOWS.
Excuse me now while I go completely fall in love with Italian men, women, food, wine, architecture, fountains, VENICE, and OHMYGOD did I mention I’m moving to ITALY!?
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Truly, really, F***ing AWESOME!
I’m like, you know, all super-comma writing jealous! No regrets Jamie, always go for the passion, I’m so happy for you, and I can’t wait to hear your man kissing (and women maybe? heck, since you’re trying stuff…), italian partying, wine drinking adventures!
Smart move my friend, smart move, have a BLAST!
hey jamie!
that is really exciting! make sure to go to spain because it’s so amazing there!
also, just wanted to make sure you know that you can only stay in italy for 3 months without a visa. every country in europe is different, i know in the UK you can stay for 6 months without a visa. for longer stays, you do need a visa and a reason to be there. my friend recently got banned from the UK because she got a job without a visa, so make sure you do your research.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES.
I think I just had an orgasm on your blog.
Also? you KNOW I’m coming to visit you in fucking Italy. For REAL girl.
Urgh, no fair, I hate you. How can you leave us NOW?! Now that we’ve got an amazing group of women going and no one can surpass your sense of humor. I am pissed. Beta meta data #insidejoke. See, I’m copying your Twitter style because it’s cool.
How will Jenny B survive without you? We’re gonna have to find her a new BFF.
Otherwise, it sounds amazing! Good luck to you and I hope it works out. Although I know that you will make it work out. While you’re at it, can you mail a piece of Paris to me? By the way, I will be visiting you in Italy.
Weirdly, my friend lent Eat Pray Love to me tonight.
Also, the font is not blurry anymore. Did you change it perchance?
Always gotta’ one-up me eh? I move to Chicago, you move to Rome. Haha, seriously, congrats, I know that will be an amazing adventure for you.
OK I am even more in love with you now. Remember my little sad tale of my best friend that gave me the ultimatum between my career and our friendship? Well said friend has been wanting to move to Italy for 3 years and what is she doing? Waiting tables and living with her loser boyfriend. Not really motivated – just talks about it from time to time.
Remember what I always say about star performers? We get what we want and settle for nothing less. I assure you that you will have the time of your life over there because you are making this happen for yourself. It is decision made by you and you alone.
Matt, you too will love Chicago for the same reasons, you’re making this move on your own, it’s your decision.
When we get to choose things for ourselves, they are automatically better. Think about it. If someone is forcing you to eat something – you don’t enjoy it as much, but when you choose what you eat, you are in culinary heaven. (Extreme? Sure. But it works)
I am, once again, beaming with pride, as if you are my sister or something. You must, must, must keep us updated at ALL times.
And feel free to drop my name/number to some Italian men while you’re at it.
you go girl! “Eat, Pray,Love” has been a force to be reckoned with I think to help women say ‘yes you can.”
Badass. I don’t say that lightly. Way to call yourself out and actually mount up and do something unbelievably cool and fun. I’m kind of mad at you actually…but only a little bit because it was replaced with awesomeness shortly thereafter.
You just achieved the Girl Adventurer badge for Courage & Coolness! You’re going to take Italy by storm, and they’re going to love every minute of it.
xoxo,
D
This is ME wanting to be 24 again (that would be back in 1994 people) and knowing what Jamie knows, instead of 4-years-married, horribly depressed and stuck in a small town in Northwest Georgia with mounting debt and a career that was going nowhere fast at the time.
You GO, Jamie, and prove that youth is not always wasted on the young!
Mind if I live vicariously through you for a while? Can’t wait to read of your adventures to come. I applaud your bravery.
Grab a few electrical outlet adapters and have fun. Be sure the visit the amalfi coast – the most beautiful place on earth.
I just found your blog. You’re an awesome writer! I look forward to reading what you have to write in the future, especially about Italy. Congrats on your exciting future plans!
Damn Jamie that pretty ballsy. Isn’t it funny….the walls we put it for ourselves. Glad you were able to find the door and walk through.
@Carlos – lmao at “…women maybe? heck, since you’re trying stuff…”
That’s great news, Jamie! I hope you have a fantastic time. I’ve always wanted to go to Italy, more so for the food…
While you’re there please don’t forget to blog about all the great food and restaurants you visit.
Be safe and above all, have a fantabulous time!!!
Jamie, you’ve got to stop making me jealous!! Argh. Here I am in my office at work, leaving a comment on your blog when I should be reviewing an ad layout, because I just *had* to tell you something.
I believe you’re in your early twenties, correct? I ask because I’m 28.5 (no, it doesn’t get any easier and you’re still full of hyper self-awareness and dreams that seem forever unattainable), so thought I’d share. And, I was inspired by the pretty picture in your post!
When I was in my early 20s, I came really, really close to having my #1 dream come true: both the opportunity to work for a travel book publisher and the opportunity to work in marketing for EF (the tour group for sending students on trips throughout Europe) presented themselves to me on a silver platter…yet I was in my early 20s and just let both job offers fizzle out. Stupid, yes, but you live, and you learn, especially when you’re fresh out of college, the whole world your oyster and always thinking “Oh, I’m young, something far more exciting will come along and I’ll just tag along with that particular thing for the ride if I feel like it. So, I’ll just wait.”
Nope.
And OMG, don’t even get me started about Eat Pray Love!! My favorite book ever (so far.) I can’t even begin to tell you what emotional, physical and professional havoc that awesome book wreaked on my life! Such as:
Emotional: doubting that I should even be married (and I’m happily married!). I mean, I’m only 28.5. Why be half of a fully functioning relationship, when I could be alone and an international jet setter, especially when it’s with someone who would rather travel to the ass crack of Maine than to Italy or France? (One of those people who says, “We have history here too. I want to see my own country first.” Well, that’s crap. That’s something that people who are afraid of flying over oceans and who dwell on how you *could* get kidnapped in Mexico say.)
Physical: I have had the same bland, predictable hair style for 10 years now. If I lived in Italy or France, I’d probably be inspired to get it all chopped off, a chic casual bob, circa Audrey Tateau (sp.) in Amelie. Also, the anxiety. I mean, why can’t going to the “market” (aka Shaws…sigh) in my east bumblebutt town of North Attleboro, Massachusetts be nearly as tittilating as a leisurely stroll through the cramped-but-cozy market (on the corner of two ideallic cobblestone streets) that’s run by a local farm-like proprietor that has a salt and pepper beard and a lulling Italian accent? Not to be mean to America, because I love my country, but what the f&*^ – why can’t it be more like Paris, or Rome, or Cinque Terra? What’s up with all the cul de sacs and the lack of Vespas?
Professional: why am I sitting on my rolly chair at work, day after day, getting carpal tunnel and commenting on blog posts or diddling around on facebook when I should be working, when I could be sitting outside under a canopy of grapevines, having an authentic cappucino al fresco at some cafe somewhere in Italy, people watching, typing leisurely on my laptop whenever the need strikes, wearing a beret, with my cool hair, my Prada eyeglasses, hell maybe even smoking a cigarette while I “get inspired”?
Anyway, I digress. And I highly suggest that if you enjoyed Eat Pray Love as much as me, you also read The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry. It’s about a woman who loses her job, which prompts her to leave life as she knows it and live out her dream: to go to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. Except every time I pick it up I get depressed that I don’t live in Paris and get around via bicycle with a loaf of bread in my backpack, because wouldn’t we all be happier if we got around via bicycle and carried fresh loaves of bakes bread home to our loved ones every afternoon?
I don’t know. Maybe it’s the cobblestones, maybe it’s the clustered cafes, the accents, the history, the wine during the middle of the day. Maybe it’s the fact that no one knows who you are and that you’re finally outside yourself and living in a world that’s so much bigger than your own self-imposed bubble. Maybe it’s because no one knows you, you can be anyone you want to be or become.
I spent my last semester of college studying abroad at Oxford University. As an english major, a writer, and a free spirit, the world was at my fingertips. My restless imagination beckoned me to create people and places on paper, and in my heart it drove me to the corners of the world, and luckily, I decided to go along for that ride. That one opportunity to spend three months abroad was, at the time, a daunting offer for a 22 year old – I had to leave my tight family nucleus, my long time boyfriend, the comforts and securities that my own little world kept in tact, dusted off and at the ready. Nevertheless, I knew that I no longer wanted to live in a snow globe where everything was predictable and everyone was at my disposal – just shake, stir and snow. I had had enough of that, and I needed some sort of challenge that would help me to step outside myself so that I could grow as a person, because I believe it is only when we do things that we are truly afraid of that we are able to conquer our fears and grow as a person in more than one direction. But, when I returned from Oxford, it was incredibly difficult for me to assimilate back at home. Sad and ironic, I found it really hard to be myself – I kept wondering, how can it be so hard to be myself around people whom I know and love, and places that I could drive to in my sleep? The thing was, I had changed. I had set out to grow, and when I returned home, I was trying to fill my old shoes, but they no longer fit who I had become. It was then that I realized it’s the experiences and the challenges that fulfill us as people, and that we’re able to constantly evolve, if we choose to.
Some people are just plain stuck in tiny little worlds of complacency, lifesize snowglobes – but not me. Not you either Jamie, so I commend you for taking a leap and buying a one way ticket. I don’t think you should ever come back – and I mean that in the fondest way possible! I wish I hadn’t.
…in a word: bellissimo!! Ciao, bella!
If you pass by Switzerland then let me know! They have a Google office here as well you know….
awesome, Jamie. do not go gentle into that good night!
Love your work Jamie!
Both in terms of the blog and MOVING TO ITALY!!!
I look forward to reading about it!
Luke
Seriously. No, seriously. Amazing. I’m sort of jumping up and down right now because Italy is not only one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been to, but I’m also so stoked you bought a one way ticket and just say f*ck it, I’m going to live my life how I want to. It’s the only way to live life. “Buy the ticket, take the ride.” Is my favorite quote by Hunter S. Thompson. I think it applies quite well, eh?
Oh and also I lived in Florence and have family in Italy, so if you have any questions or want a fun recommendation (e.g. best gelato ever) hit me up. gracekboyle at gmail dot com YAY!
OMG wow! Well done and good luck!!
Seriously fantastic! I almost fell over in shock reading this post. Congratulations!!!!!
Andare l’inseguimento la sua ragazza di sogni! Presumo che lei sappia l’italiano? Buona fortuna! x ;o)
Congratulations on making the leap. I’ve just come back from living in China, which was probably the best thing I’ve ever done with my life, so I hope Italy/Europe is the same amazing experience for you. Mmm…wine and Italian pizza!
As you should..! I did the same — hopped off to Florence for two years, and I’m dying to go back. Way to go lady, this will be an amazing experience for you.
Awesome, I love the book Eat, Pray, Love but I have to say that she didn’t just want to experience material pleasure, but also spiritual awakening. Although in Italy she did take the time to just ENJOY.
I really want to go to Italy…but I’m slightly saving that plus Santorini for my honeymoon
If you get a chance I HIGHLY recommend Greece, because it is absolutely gorgeous, and also swing by Switzerland and visit me in Geneva!
That’s A.MAY.ZING!!!!!
I am SO jealous and I can’t wait to hear ALL about your preparation and trip!
Just discovered your blog through Twitter. Great introductory post to your blog, I wish you the best with your journey. Not been to Italy myself but I love to travel. To further the theme of “People do that?!” there’s actually a growing community of location independent people who take their business on the road and just keep going. You can take a look on my blog where I recently reviewed a book on the top or just run a search on Google for LIP/Location Independent Professionals. It will open your eyes to a whole new world of opportunities.
Good Luck & Have fun in Italy!
Okay so the the first time I did this, I moved to California from New York. Well, more accurately, I got in a pickup truck with my brother and a friend and we drove west. They had built a camper on the back of the truck. I got as far as Oklahoma, they eventually went on to California and I back to New York after 3 months.
Years later, I moved to California with barely a shadow of an idea that it was a good idea. No plan to speak of though. Spent three years in Santa Cruz County. Then back to New York.
The following year it was a similar deal but this time, I decided it would be L.A. That lasted 3 months.
Two years later, it was back to California. L.A. again. Figured it would be different. How it was different was that instead of moving back to New York after 3 months, I moved up to Marin. Stayed for 2 years and change.
Then. Yep. back to New York again. Long Island – where I had grown up, and had always returned to.
After a year, I decided to move to Brooklyn, because I had a good friend there. That’s always a good plan right? I lasted there three years before I finally moved back to California again. Marin.
Been here 4 and a half years.
I don’t know where my next move will take me. It keeps feeling like it will be Santa Monica or Venice Beach.
Who knows.
All I know is I always follow my intuition, almost never have any real plan in place, or work lined up, or any massive savings to tide me over.
Who cares though?
Life is an adventure and I have had more experiences in life than many people will ever know. Mostly good even.
Go. Enjoy. Live.
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