- Hi everyone, I'm Allie.
I'm teaching in Rome, Italy,
and I've been here since August.
Okay, I'm now out on my balcony which faces the courtyard,
which you can kinda see.
I like to come out here
when it's not too cold in the morning,
just kind of mentally prepare for the day.
So, I'm originally from the Chicago area,
but I had been living in Michigan for about five years
for university and work.
Sorry it's really loud.
So I decided to do the TEFL course online.
That was nice because it allows me a lot of flexibility
with work and everything, and it was a little bit cheaper,
which allowed me to save a little bit more
for the flight over and startup costs and everything.
I work at a private English school,
ironically called The British School.
I love it, I teach kids and adults of all ages.
Mostly private lessons, some small groups.
For now, I'm going to get ready for the day a little bit,
and then I'll show you my walk to work.
Okay, so now I'm walking to work.
I'm about five minutes from my house at Piazza San Pietro,
which is right outside the Vatican.
Got really lucky with my house, it's super central,
not too expensive.
Okay so like I said, I work at a private English school,
which I'm headed off to right now.
I also do private lessons on the side,
but I don't have any lined up for today however.
I'll be working at the school from like, I don't know,
it's like noon right now, 'til about seven,
not a super long day.
I got my job just from going door to door.
I emailed a bunch of places before I got here,
but if you're planning on working in Italy,
you pretty much just have to go door to door,
hand out your resume, they'll contact you from there,
right in September, at the beginning of the year.
So, I'm fortunate because I can walk to school,
it's about 25 minutes away.
Public transportation here is not always ideal,
just 'cause it's kind of disorganized.
So when I can walk, I walk.
Okay, so I've finished working for the day.
I usually get done later than this,
so it's nice seeing the sun.
I have my trusty little pizza
that I picked up on the way home.
Okay, so I freshly devoured that pizza.
In my opinion, the best pizza in Rome,
it's literally called pizza rustica,
which means rustic pizza, so they got pretty creative.
It's right by my work, so it's kinda dangerous.
But I wanna talk about why I chose Rome for a little bit.
So, I had studied abroad in Sienna, Italy,
which is in Tuscany.
It was about three years back,
and I knew I had to come back,
but it's such a small city that there's not a whole lot of
teaching opportunities for a first year teacher,
so I decided to choose Rome, which I also love.
It's crazy.
Let me finish that thought, crazy but also beautiful.
Very chaotic, but also such a unique and wonderful culture,
wonderful food, great people.
So I'd recommend it for anyone looking for something
totally different, even as a western culture.
It may not be the best option if
you're looking to save a bunch,
but you are really close to all these other cities
within Italy, and different countries throughout Europe,
so I think it kind of evens out, at least at this point.
So I would definitely say choose Italy, choose Rome.
So, I am so thankful that I got my certification,
and I would definitely recommend it
if you're kinda borderline,
just because you have so many opportunities.
I don't know if I'll be here forever,
but it's nice having the option to go
pretty much anywhere in the world and teach.
Well, I'm off to meet a friend right now,
but that was a typical day in the life of
a teacher like myself in Rome.
So if anyone has any further questions,
don't hesitate to reach out.
My Instagram is Allie.Merges, very original I know.
Thanks for joining me.
(electronic music)