My name is Michela (Mikela to be read), but you can simply call me Miki, it is shorter, easier to pronounce and to remember. I’m Italian, working in a bank since nearly seven years, but since February I have been living abroad! I have always been in love with traveling and since I started working I could dedicate myself to this passion… traveling whenever possible: in Italy, abroad, especially in Europe, for a week, ten days, or even just a week-end!
Traveling on vacation is nice and fun, but you often do not get the chance to know the real life of the place! I always wondered what it actually meant to live in a foreign country. Unfortunately, I did not have this experience before (perhaps doing an “Erasmus”) simply because when I started college, I almost simultaneously started working in the bank, and so I took with me this “regret” for not having had the chance to live for some time outside of Italy!
I did not leave Italy because I was looking for a job abroad…Even though if I were left unemployed in my home country, the first thing I would do is to travel to Australia! And in fact, Australia was the first place I visited during my sabbatical year as soon as I got a job leave. I went to Cairns – a modern, but quiet town in the North of Oz, Queensland. The town is still pretty “wild” when compared to Sydney or Melbourne. You actually live with local aborigines (drunk and unemployed), and the danger of crocodiles and jellyfish is still in ambush!!! When I first arrived to Australia I really felt like being on another planet and the first few weeks had not been very easy!
I started studying English wanting to take the IELTS – an English exam that many people must pass to get a visa or to enter a University in Australia. Within a week I found a night job and so my days became full and intense, but I manage to have some social life as well. Thanks god, I am a person who does not lack energy and I managed to do everything I wanted and I could: nightlife, trips around Australia, good score for the IELTS, wonderful relationship with my host family….as my father would say: “Once you make up your mind to do something, you are like kamikaze” 🙂
The initial plan was to spend one year in Australia, but most plans change…and so in September I flew all the way from Australia to Spain, simply because I wanted to get closer to my boyfriend and family in Italy and to leave in a different place! Spain is a lovely place pleasantly dominated by the “slow Living”, to which I have easily gotten used to 😉 The months in Spain have been full of many events, ideas, interests and social interactions with the people and the country. I have integrated in very little time and almost felt like home.
I can’t believe my sabbatical year is coming to an end…in just a few weeks I will return to my “normal” life…fortunately I have my blog where I write about my discoveries, my friendships, my conquests abroad. If you are curious or have something to ask me, please feel free to drop me a line. I will promptly reply!
And in conclusion, dear readers, I advice anyone to seize the opportunity at least once in your lifetime and leave….leave to stay…or even leave but then return….in any case, you will enrich your life tremendously!
Inga 
English