Dreaming of being an Expatriate?

People often comment that I am very lucky to be living in Italy and I can’t help but agree.  Even though I sometimes seem to have a little whinge about the frustrations I have experienced as I go through the challenges of living in a foreign country, I really feel quite fortunate to be living and working in this beautiful city, Florence.

When I think back to all the hurdles I have crossed, I breathe a huge sigh of relief that I don’t have to go through those challenging and frustrating experiences again.  From getting my driving license, organizing my permesso di soggiorno, getting married and having a baby, when you are in a foreign country, you can often feel very lost.

One thing that has been a big help for me are the other expats that I have met along the way.  It is great to have such a support network and sometimes just a nice release to speak to someone in your own language who understands what you are going through.

It is amazing how many expat blogs are around now which are also a great resource for anyone thinking of making the big move to another country or even just having an extended holiday in your favorite city.  One of the most active online communities for expatriates with 420,000 members from 206 countries and 400 large cities is the Expat Blog.  It was launched in 2005 by expatriates, for expatriates with the ambition to help people living or willing to live abroad.  It is a platform of expression and exchange and an information source about expatriation that I would highly recommend if you have a few questions or concerns about living in another country.   You can access their various tools such as the discussion forums, guides, photo albums, business directory, classified and even an expatriate blog directory (where you can even find my blog!) 🙂

They have recently added two dedicated spaces aimed at helping people in their job and accommodation search,  a Jobs and Housing section which are two essential steps you need to look into when expatriating.  So if you are planning to come to Italy to live, the  idea is to get access to job offers in Italy and everywhere in the world, wherever you are. You can have access to job opportunities in Italy, per job category and job contract. You can also create your CV and contact potential employers.

The Italy Housing section enables you to look for or to offer an accommodation: rental, sale, flat share, flat, house…it’s up to you! You can see pictures of the apartment and get in touch with the person via Expat blog (you need to be a member of Expat blog to post an ad). http://www.expat-blog.com/en/housing/europe/italy/

So if you are seriously thinking of packing up your life and moving to a new country, do your research well and if you want to have a browse of the Expat Blog, you can access the site through the logo below.

 Happy Travels!