The Italian Adventure
I know all of you have been waiting for an update as to what
I've been doing since I’ve been back from my internship in Buenos Aires,
Argentina...so here it is!
As soon as my plane landed in Des Moines on Friday,
September 13th ( I remind you my luggage was lost for two days…coincidence?
I think not lol), I immediately started working
for The World Food Prize organizing the entire logistics portion of their
Borlaug Dialogue week. I have a lot respect for that foundation and can spend
hours upon hours doing work for them.
After the completion of the dialogue in October, I had to
start making decisions about my professional future. Simply put, I needed to
start my career. My initial plan was to live at home, find a good paying job,
and pay off my student loan debt as quickly as possible. Well, that WAS the plan. Did it happen? Not
quite.
With a job market saturated with many unemployed,
experienced individuals, how was a new MBA graduate expected to find a job?
Sadly, it was depressing receiving rejection emails, and by this time I have
been back in Iowa for three months; three adventure-less months. This was when
my new plan started to unfold.
My best friend from Argentina, Nico, one day mentioned he
would be studying in Milan, Italy from March to July in 2014, and we started
talking about the possibility of living together to make for a cheap experience. Joking or not, I was game and started searching for job/internship
opportunities. By mid-January, this turned from a possibility to a reality as I
accepted a paid 90 day internship in the Italian city of Milan. In just a few weeks
(March 1st) I will be living the Italian way… Ready, Set, Go!
(BTW, I did land a contracted job for the month of February working
in the John Deere Order Fulfillment section for TIG Distributing in
Marshalltown; money is money and anything will help defray the costs of living
in Italy. LOL!)
The Job
First things first, finding a job in Milan was not as easy as Buenos Aires but it wasn’t too difficult. I utilized mostly the websites LinkedIn and InterNations. Joining groups within these sites, I dispersed several job posts
stating who I was and what I was looking for. Is it sad to say I received more interest
abroad than here at home? LOL!
After several emails back and forth, working out the
conditions of an internship, I reeled one in. I will be performing SEO (Search
Engine Optimization) work for the publisher of the visitor concierge magazine “Where|Milan.”
This company is an editorial partnership between the largest publisher of
visitor information in the world, Morris Visitor Publications, and a leading publisher
of cross-media communication projects for the past 30 years in Italy, Proedi.
I’m still not quite sure what path of SEO I will be doing,
so there is an element of surprise with the position. I will be working Monday –
Friday from 9am to 6pm, earning 100 Euros a week. Now, I know you think it isn’t much
but when compared to getting paid nothing in Buenos Aires…it’s something. Plus,
we are working on the possibility of incorporating Italian lessons after work
from 6-7pm. I can’t wait to see what this position will bring!!!
Housing Situation
Finding housing in Italy matching my criterion was a bit
more difficult when compared to Buenos Aires. Nico and I started the search in
January, looking mostly at price and location. We used sites such as http://www.kijiji.it/, http://www.attico.it, and a few others which
were basically classified ad sites. Then Nico ran across this dorm style
residence called Rubattino and is managed by Camplus Living. The residence has
common areas like study rooms and a gym but has apartment style rooms.
We decided on an option where we would have one other
roommate in a double room, single room layout costing us 450 Euros each. The two of us started the application process and got approved, but boy was it a process. The
hard part was working within the time difference because Milan is seven hours ahead. Finally after we were all booked and our deposit information sent, we were informed
the option we originally applied for was no longer available. Not wanting to cause another hassle, we agreed to the new layout of two double rooms with two other roommates; crisis adverted.
We will be there for at least the month of March and
evaluate if we like it or want to find an apartment for April and May. Either
way, I can handle any situation as long as it doesn’t surpass 500 Euros a month.
Just think…my studio in Buenos Aires cost me about the same as my portion at the
Rubattino…I think you can say the cost of living is a bit higher in Italy. LOL!
I will say I’m looking forward to having roommates again.
Airfare
Flying with one airline the entire trip, United, my luggage should follow me better than in did coming back from Argentina. I depart Des Moines on March 1st at 6:30am, connect
in Newark/New York with an 8 hour layover (Kara…I better see you at the airport
to save me from boredom lol!), and arrive in Milan, Italy on March 2nd at
8:30am. After having the time of my life in Milan, I will make my way back to
Des Moines on May 30th. If you are wondering how much my airfare
cost because you want to come visit….I paid around $1,100.
See you there!
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