ITALY is known for so much and if you’ve been living here for a year or so, this will really be an enjoyable moment in your life especially if you are a European foreigner. I came from a small village in France and after finishing my masters in metallurgical engineering, I was hired by an Italian company and I need to transfer here in Rome. Of course, my transfer and eventual promotion was not without perks.

Aside from Rome, I often roamed places such as Tuscan and Venice because my assignment was also in those areas. Thus, I enjoyed the sights on the side. The beautiful sights that I have seen here so far include the Basilica of St. Peter’s at the Vatican. There, I enjoyed moments and moments of reflection and serene at that. Of course, the Holy See is technically not part of Italy and is a sovereign nation in itself but I have enjoyed being there.

My family has also transferred here and together for the past six months, I have also enjoyed taking an Italian language course every weekend with my daughter. Italian is not that difficult a language to learn. All you need to do is watch that Roberto Benigni movie Life is Beautiful and you can say that the Italian language is indeed that wonderful.

Aside from the language course which I have loved, I have also taken passion in eating Italian food. I don’t mean the Italian items that are found on menus in most Western restaurants especially in France which they claim as Italian. Bologna and pasta here in Italy is different to make and for a minimal price, I can already go to the supermarket by myself here and buy some Italian ingredients for homemade pasta. That is the essence of a true Italian meal. Food must be savored at home. I even organize parties for my new found Italian friends here and they all agreed that my cooking is superb. I believe them that they were telling the truth. After all, they’re my colleagues and subordinates at the company.

Once in a while, I get a vacation with my wife and kids so we often go to some luxury cruise across the sea to go to Sicily. Sicily’s capital Palermo is one of those cute lovely cities and the Italian people living there are all hospitable. They say that the Mafia inhabit Palermo but I believe they were wrong because Palermo is filled with beautiful sights and crime is at an all-time low.

But I usually stay in Rome though because work doesn’t permit me to tour around the country except on vacation time. My residence which I share with my wife and an only daughter is actually just a condominium unit. We are hooked to cable television but most of the channels are in Italian though. They even dub Mario Battali’s Mediterranean cooking show in Italian but ever since taking the language course five months ago, I have come to appreciate and even use the language in my everyday routine here.