Expat Interview With Brandi - US expat on Work Visa in Florence, Italy

Brandi Scarpelli is a Cali girl living in an Italian world! She is a just turned 30 year old who picked up and moved to Italy with her adorable husband Brandon Scarpelli. They had a dream and made it their reality. She is the writer of Blicious and blogs about her personal life sharing stories and photos of their crazy adventures. She believes that you should do one thing every day that is out of your comfort zone to keep your mind going. Like moving to Italy! She believes that the key to happiness is dancing, jumping and high fiving! essere in amore con la tua vita! Brandi's expat blog is called Blicious by Brandi (see listing here)

Here's the interview with Brandi...

Where are you originally from?
Cali girl! Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA! Born and raised.

In which country and city are you living now?
Florence, Italy! sighhhhh Get's me every time.

How long have you lived in Florence and how long are you planning to stay?
I have been here for 3 months and will be here for the next 18 months on my work visa and after that is unknown..cough:cough FOREVER.

Why did you move to Italy and what do you do?
My husband and I moved after I visited Florence in 2011 for work. I work for a licensee of Guess handbags and our design team is in Florence. I was fortunate enough to travel for work and the moment the taxi drove me in the center of Firenze I knew. I called my Husband and told him if he ever wanted to see me again to come to Florence. I just knew we would live here. You know those crazy deep feelings where you just know? You know the man/ woman you're going to spend the rest of your life with, you know if you need to buy those shoes or if you need to make a life changing decision without hesitation? I just knew. I eventually returned home and came up with a game plan to move with my company. After a long process my company accepted and gave me the green light to move and work in our Florence office. In March 2013 we moved to Florence without our visas being complete and only having 90 days to be in Italy without being "illegal." Two and a half months in Italy and our visas were finally ready. A year in the making. We flew home to LA and received our visas. It's been an incredibly long ride but a lovely opportunity that we will cherish forever. La Bella Vita!

Did you bring family with you?
I did! duhhh! Italians laugh when I say duh! I brought my amazing husband who was also fortunate enough to keep his job and our two kitties, Mixie and Mowgley. I wish the rest of my family would move with us. Then it would be perfect.

How did you find the transition to living in a foreign country?
I am still transitioning. I feel like the first few months in a foreign country is a dream. I walk to work and giggle to myself in disbelief. Is this real life? Is that the Basilica di Santa Croce? How did I take the 405 to work every day? Where is the traffic? I think I am adjusting quite well. The one thing that is difficult is not having friends. I have been able to make friends with some girls at work and I love it. Slowly but surely. There are things we needed to learn like how to buy produce in the grocery stores, asking for the wifi password every bar we go to, playing cherades to get our questions across, dodging cars and buses because oh ya pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way and dealing with the insane heat AND trying to understand why Italians don't like air conditioning. There is so much more to learn and I can't wait to soak it all in!

Was it easy making friends and meeting people; do you mainly socialise with other expats?
Easy? no. My husband and I are very sociable. We make friends on every vacation and we just love meeting new people. But it's so difficult not speaking the language. yet! Most everyone that we meet speaks english and are only traveling through Florence. I want to befriend locals and I know it will happen. I'm bummed it's taken this long. I would LOVE to socialise with other expats as well. It would be nice to grab an aperitivo with someone who is going through or been through the same things I am.

What are the best things to do in Florence; anything to recommend to future expats?
Honestly, WALK AROUND. Florence is magical. As a coworker described, it's a "museum under the sky." It truly is. My husband and I take a walk almost every night and there are always new things to discover and look at. We sit on the bridge and people watch. It's fascinating. Every weekend there is some sort of festival (gelato being my favorite so far), concert, art exhibit, wine walk, car rally etc. I feel like we live in ancient Disneyland.

What do you enjoy most about living hin Italy?
I love being out of my comfort zone. I love the culture. I love how relaxed Italians are. Americans go go go and before you know it the day is over. Italians take it easy and smile at strangers. It's refreshing. I also enjoy the food. ALL of the food. The gelato is my drug. It's the best!

How does the cost of living in Florence compare to California?
It's about the same. We are not comparing apples to apples here but we are paying about the same amount each month as we did in LA. In fact it may be cheaper since we don't have to pay a car payment, car insurance or gas! But we havent received some utility bills yet so I can't properly answer this. ;) The lifestyle is much more expensive though. It's easy to say to yourself "let's go out and get dinner" and that turns in to 1 drink, 2 drink, appetizers and meals and boom...pricey. There is so much to do and see and it's difficult to not spend money. It's been challenging for us.

What negatives, if any, are there to living here?
The one thing that I get down about is not knowing people. Missing our friends and family is so hard and feeling lonely can be draining. My husband travels a lot and thats when it really hits home. I miss girls night, wine night, throwing theme parties on a random saturday and just having people over. If you're in Florence, come over!! :) Most people think living in Florence is the perfect life. And I admit...it's almost perfect. I just want my favorite Cali people to come visit.

If you could pick one piece of advice to anyone moving here, what would it be?
Learn Italian! Really. Husband and I are trying and we will get it...one day. I should go call our tutor... And, TRAVEL! I mean Paris is an hour and a half flight away. All of Europe is at your fingertips! mmmmmm.

What has been the hardest aspect to your expat experience so far?
The hardest is meeting people. I want to so badly go up to everyone and ask if they speak a little english so we can become besties and live happily ever after. I miss that connection with people so badly. It's also hard not knowing if you are getting ripped off because you're American. It happens. But when it's blatant it's rough to deal with. We are slowly learning what is supposed to happen and what things are supposed to cost. Normal to Italians may be making up the prices from person to person.

When you finally return home, how do you think you'll cope with repatriation?
IF we return home I will need to live and work in a place that is no more than 10 minutes away by car. I honestly don't think I will ever be able to commute again. Spending 3 hours in a car each day is just a waste of a day. I am learning to enjoy life and every second of it. I want to keep that always. The food at home will be a challenge. We are eating like kings over here. I don't know how I will cope without gelato.

What are your top 5 expat tips for expats moving to Italy?

1. PLAN your stay in advance. The visa process was a long nightmare and our blood, sweat and tears are all over our passports. It's a challenging process that I'm sure weeds out the weak and lazy people. Fight for it and it will be yours! Research your to-do's and know what paperwork you need. It's a lot. Hang in there!
2. SAVE your money! That means nothing coming from me but really things can get pricey here. You may think you have enough saved but keep saving. It will go so fast.
3. KNOW all about Florence. Where are the museums and what's inside them? Learn where the locals hang out and not the toursits. We are still learning each day and it's incredible how much history is here. Florence is so inspiring and everyone should get a piece of it.
4. MAKE friends. Don't be lonely. Get out there and meet people to throw theme parties with!
5. LEARN Italian! You can only get so far in Italy until you're tapped out. Learning Italian will open up so many doors and allow you to be in the Italian world!

Tell us a bit about your own expat blog.
I sarted Blicious in 2007. It's been my therapy outlet where I share personal stories and photos. I recently started a series called "La Bella Vita" to capture all the Italian things I think are worth blogging about.

How can you be contacted for further advice to future expats coming to your area?
Email me, facebook me, tweet me, instagram me...Oh the times now are funny.... All my info is on my blog!

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