Well I'm not entirely sure what sparked all this off! I think it mainly had something to do with turning 40, a trip to Italy, a disastrous love affair, and sadly that hackneyed image of needing to 'find oneself'.
I have spent years never quite feeling that I fitted in; conscious that however hard i tried, i was never really going to end up as the demure self-controlled English rose i had been brought up to be. It wasn't for lack of trying!! I'm half-Italian you see; adopted at birth, and brought up in a quintessential English family. There is nothing wrong with that at all; I had a great upbringing, with lots of opportunities, but with one slight snag...... genetics will out!!! Perhaps that begins to explain why i was always in trouble for waving my hands around, people-watching, (I was being curious actually, not nosey!!), and crying, singing and laughing louder than anyone else.
Maybe though, that is just the myth I have to de-bunk about what it is to be Italian. Maybe I have to lose my romanticised view of Italia, and in doing so, gain a truer idea of myself. So that's what this blog is all about; my journey into speaking Italian, learning about my heritage, maybe even one day, living and working in Italy ..... a voyage of discovery and self-discovery, with all the ups and downs along the way. It's going to be a great ride.