Ciao y'all NaturallyKenya here and welcome back to my channel in this video I wanted to
update all of you new subscribers on why I moved to Italy and how exactly I chose Rome
last time I discussed this topic was back in October of 2016. so it's been
almost four and a half years since that upload and a lot has changed since then
so if you're new here make sure to subscribe to my channel
hit that notification bell so you get notified every time I upload let's get into the video
On why exactly i chose this path and because there are some new subscribers here i wanted
to basically let you guys know exactly why i chose italy so if you're new here my name is kenya yes
like the country and i'm an american girl documenting my experiences while living
life abroad in rome italy from food to travel to tips to help you make your stay abroad that much
more comfortable this is everything you'll find on my channel so a bit of a back story on why
i found this love for italy and just to make it quick and just to make it quick you know
using our time efficiently when i was about nine years old i heard this beautiful language on tv
and i was wondering what is this language i have no idea what it is and it turned out to be
italian and ever since that day i started to immerse myself in the language from the books
i was literally checking the billboard top 100 charts in italy which sounds ridiculous but that's
what i had back then you know the billboard hot 100 charts and i would check to see who are the
new up and coming artists and it was like tiziano ferro laura pausini and zero assoluto people like
this and this all influenced my number one language skills for italian the need to know
the language the desire to learn the language as well as trying to understand a bit of the culture
as well so basically after hearing this language on tv that's when my obsession began from that
point i would carry all of my italian books to school it's funny because i wasn't even taking
italian class we didn't even have that offered in any of my schooling we had like spanish and german
and i think french but italian was not an option so i was like i will learn italian by myself from
these books i didn't have a tutor or anything it was just something that i wanted to do in
my free time so between classes sometimes during class oops sorry teachers i would actually take
out the books and study i would study italian even though i had no exam to take and that's really how
my passion for italy kind of was ignited by that small burning flame in the back of my mind that
one day i would make it to italy so although i was obsessed with italian i was also obsessed
with legos and that's why i actually decided to study engineering when i went to university
so if you don't know that is technically my background i do have a background in engineering
and that is what i studied in the us and after gathering many many years of work experience in
that sector and interacting with all of my bosses the upper management i noticed that
many of them had master's degrees focused in a specific area of engineering that i felt like
i would get the best exposure to in europe now that being said i'm a person that really does
plan out every aspect of my life really as much as possible as much as i can and so i knew
that no matter what there's no way i could move to italy without a plan and my plan was to actually
continue my studies because i believe that would make the easiest transition for me at the time to
not only live my italian life that you know i had in my dreams but also to ensure that i was doing
something else for my education and my career prospects and just my overall personal development
so i basically put my italian dream together with my passion to continue my studies and that is how
i ended up in italy now moving on to the next question is how exactly did i choose rome so
it seems simple really but no i actually think it is simple i was going to say something else no i
actually think it is pretty simple so when i was orchestrating this plan to move abroad to italy
back in 2015 and saving all of my internship coins the first step of course is sending
applications to see what the universities say will they accept you into their master's degree program
so at that point i had decided to apply to universities in both milan and rome obviously
to keep my options open i received an acceptance letter within probably two days two or three days
to both of the programs which i was shocked about because i've never seen an acceptance sent so fast
so i don't know if i was just a wonderful student that's what i like to think but it was really
shocking and also really exciting at the same time to get those acceptance letters so quickly because
it felt like i was on the right path to italy so with both of those acceptance letters in hand i
actually got in contact with my italian consulate in the US to kind of ask around like how does a
study visa work what are the required documents i need to submit there was a very particular line
in that email that kind of shocked me at the time and let me read it to you word for word quote the
formal application for pre-admission can only be presented for one university like what like what i
didn't know that so i was like oh my gosh i have to choose whether i want to go to rome or milan
this is really overwhelming i did my research for a few days i was like what am i going to do i
don't know which university should i choose should i go to rome or milan and that is a huge debate
even in italy with the italians which one's better Rome or Milan north versus south all these things
it's a very complex discussion that is a rabbit hole of oh my gosh don't go down that rabbit hole
so i spent the next few days crunching the numbers trying to see exactly how my student budget would
work in both cities so at the end of the day i did choose rome and that was predominantly because
of the language skills required for the master's degree program in rome the program was entirely in
english whereas in milan the program was both in english and italian and i knew that i did not have
the time to learn italian to an intermediate level before actually arriving in italy
therefore i chose rome anyway i'm not going to go into the debate with milan versus rome at least
not in this video we are not opening that can of worms but i do want to mention overall that milan
is less touristy than rome and it is more of the business capital of italy whereas you go to rome
for more of a taste of the italian culture you know dive into the architecture as rome
kind of functions as the administrative center of italy so they really do have two different
vibes so if you're into the more modern luxurious lifestyle and fashion you do want to choose milan
but i did like the idea of going to rome and just embracing many of the traditional elements of the
italian culture and the italian experience during my first trip to italy i did travel to many places
in the north and i felt like i was ready to experience something a bit different so that's
another reason why i chose rome so why exactly italy well i did work for many years in the u.s
and although i do expect a bit of pushback on this comment potentially but this work-life balance in
the u.s sometimes can be really abysmal it can even be difficult to see your family after work
because you're exhausted or maybe you went to the gym and there's just not enough hours in the day
and i just felt like i would like to see another aspect of things before locking myself down
into the u.s way of doing things so i wanted to really expand my horizons and understand how other
cultures live so that work-life balance made me kind of struggle to see my life in the u.s and i
wanted to take some time while doing my master's degree in italy to kind of evaluate how i wanted
to proceed with my career knowing that portion of things there is a work-life balance here as
well in italy but it's just a bit different now that's not saying that some people don't work
all day all night and on the weekends they do but i just feel like there is more of a value on
living your life freely having happy hour in the sun enjoying your friends and your relationships
things that i feel like we put under such a time crunch sometimes in the us speaking generally of
course but that's how i felt i felt like i didn't know if i wanted to lock myself into that system
at the time of not exactly enjoying every second and every day of my life even for
two hours a day now that's not without saying that my move to italy wasn't difficult at times
there were many nights where i shed a tear in my first year of moving to italy just because
it was really overwhelming sometimes and yeah you see it all on instagram everything looks perfect
but my first year was really a struggle not only with the language understanding the culture
understanding exactly how the exams are taken in italy it's a completely different process than
in the us it was really overwhelming at times now looking back on it four and a half years later was
it worth it absolutely it really opened my eyes to understanding how another culture can live
prioritizing what is really important in life and also increasing a lot of my personal development
and my technical skills in engineering that i didn't know that i'll be able to acquire
while living in the us but i really do think that it paid off and i really am enjoying my time here
in italy and i don't know what the future holds but i definitely say that i enjoy every day while
living here in rome is such a beautiful city sometimes i really have to pinch myself that i
cannot believe i made it here you know and i feel like that's something that a lot of us have to do
maybe we just go along living life so long without actually analyzing how far we've came since the
beginning of our journeys and i also think that it's important to you know sometimes stop and
evaluate like hey i did that because i don't think we give ourselves enough credit i feel like it's
something i kind of overlook on a daily basis just because it seems like such a routine in my life
now but it really is amazing to have that moment of gratitude where you're like wow i actually
did this you know like we should all do that so that's my homework for all of you guys tonight
go home or wherever you are and just think wow what am i grateful for what have i done today
that was really great what have i accomplished so far in the last year and i'm just saying
you never know where your life will take you and if you are thinking about moving abroad
maybe i can offer a bit of motivation in that aspect to you from this video from outlining
exactly why i chose italy why i chose rome and how i ended up here so that's all i have in this video
for you guys if you haven't already make sure to subscribe to my channel hit the notification
bell so you get notified every time i upload and i will see you guys on the next one ciao y'all