“It’s be nice to live in a smaller town,” I said to my husband Michael. “One that has its own life–doesn’t close down in the winter. And it would be great if the city center streets were closed to traffic. And it was close to a big city if we needed it.” “In your travels…
Category: How I Got Here
Becoming Italian Part 4: The Locals
(Originally posted January 7, 2017) The first time I took Michael to New York to meet my family was on the occasion of Grandma Gallo’s 90th birthday party (March, 2014). “How many people will be at this party?” he asked. “I don’t know. Fifty?” “Fifty?” “Well, her four kids, and their spouses. That’s eight. Then…
Becoming Italian Part 3: The Marathon Round
On April 2, 2015, I got the official letter from US Customs and Immigration stating that my great-grandfather, Luigi Gallo, never became an American citizen. I couldn’t believe I held, in my hands, the document that could be my ticket to getting my very own Italian passport! “Why might one want an Italian passport?” you…
Becoming Italian Part 2: The Qualification Round
Not everybody can become an Italian citizen. Lots of Americans have parents, grandparents, great-grandparents who were born in Italy. But it is not by birth alone that one qualifies. You are only eligible if the relative from Italy was not an American citizen at the time of the birth (in America) of the next descendent….
Solo Travel 101 (Thank you, Mr. Briggs and Ms. Troccia)
My first trip “across the pond” was led by my 11th grade English and Social Studies teachers Mr. Briggs and Ms. Troccia. We saw all the major sites: the Tower of London, Stonehenge, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. But the most important thing I was given on that trip? An adult’s belief in my ability to navigate…
A Friendship Story
I scanned the shelves of the refrigerated case. Fanta. Aquarius. Pineapple juice. But no orange juice. And then I remembered: I’m in Spain. I turned to the counter and there it was: a pile of oranges in a square tub atop the now-recognizable-to-me juicer. Every bar/coffee shop in Spain has one, even here in the…
Living The Dream
I’m living the dream. If you saw me now, sitting on a chaise lounge on my private deck overlooking the ocean, you might think my dream was to live on a tropical Caribbean Island. But no. My dream? To live next door to my husband. I love Michael. I enjoy living with him. But there…
Wicked Plants And How We Met
“Thinking about going here to celebrate our anniversary,” Michael texted me. I didn’t have time to read the rest of his message, so was left wondering what anniversary he was talking about. Up until today, we have never celebrated the anniversary of anything. Probably because we don’t even agree on when it was we actually started dating….
An EU Passport? Yes, please. (Becoming Italian: Part 1)
When my boyfriend Michael first proposed we go live in Europe for a while, he wanted to go for a year. “But there’s one thing stopping us from doing that,” he said. “What’s that?” I asked. “You like your family too much to be away from them for that long.” I looked at him incredulously. While this…
On Teaching and Learning
Taking A Leap Anatomy and Physiology was my favorite course in college. After spending a semester elbow deep in human cadavers, I returned the next semester as a lab assistant and began tutoring the subject to underclassmen. So ten years later, when my parents saw an ad in the local paper for an A&P instructor…
RenaissanceRebecca 