Lately, I have been more busy than usual, as I have been preparing for a significant change in my life.
Until some months ago I was still a mere student willing to graduate soon, and I was living with my girlfriend in L’Aquila, not far from my family. Today instead I am a full-time worker and live in Bergen, Norway, more than 3000 km far from my loved ones.
Why such a radical change? After getting my Master degree, I started receiving some job proposals, among which a PhD research fellow position at my university (without guarantee of a scholarship), as well as some positions as a software engineer in Rome or Milan. Unfortunately, accepting these offers would have meant becoming overworked and underpaid, at least for a few years. Friends and colleagues kept telling me that it was normal, that they all went through this. I had no wish to accept such perspective.
Fortunately, I received a job proposal from Norway, which is much more rewarding than the others I received from Italy. And the end I made my choice: not completely conscious about the future I decided to come back to the city which had already hosted me for one year.
How long will I stay here? Who knows… I would like to travel the world, so it is not sure that Norway will be the country where I will settle, but at the moment I stay here, and I take the best it is offered to me. I will miss many things from Italy: girlfriend, family, friends, weather, sun, sea, cuisine, motorcycle. 😉 But otherwise, I think I made the right choice. Here I have a lot to gain and little to lose.
Goodbye Italy, you lost a brain and gained a tourist.
3 August 2007 at 21:50
It’s nice to see you back in Bergen again Alessandro!
You’ve taken a big step in your life by coming to Bergen to work. I’m sure it has not been easy for you to make this decision which may be regarded as one of the big changes in your life I think. What this will eventually mean to you only time will tell, but I’ll hold my fingers crossed that it was a smart move for you to make.
I’m sure you’ll miss many things about Italy while here, and that Bergen sometimes will be far away from home. You’ll have the opportunity to experience both happiness and joy here, as well as disappointment and regret. Being young and ambitious I expect you’ll gain a lot of experience from your time here and grow as a person, and hopefully see that the time invested here will contain both quality and results that if not immediately then eventually will be cherished by you, and seen as time well spent.
Some tips btw… the weather can be unpredictable so dress like an onion… the sun can sometimes hide quite long, so cherish it with every opportunity… Also when there is a laptop in front of you 😉 Even though winters here a preferable spent inside, remember that in summer you can read the newspaper outside almost as long as you want. And to be honest (I’m totally biased) there are few things as pretty as Bergen with all its colors when the sun finally decides to appear 🙂
I guess I’m in part to blame you ended up in Bergen for this phase of your life. I wish you all the best of luck, and I’m really looking forward having you as a coworker here.
Velkommen tilbake til Norge!
1 August 2007 at 11:49
Alex!
hai operato la scelta piu’ difficile da fare ma la piu’ redditizia dal punto di vista socio-economico.
per capirci…solo chi ha le palle quadrate e’ capace di far una scelta del genere!
tra qualche mese quando verro’ a bergen ne parleremo…
ti invidio!
un abbraccio da hull!
ah…spulciavo sul tuo sito per vedere come avevi impostato il CV dato che tra un po ho un colloquio di lavoro in un ristorante e per fare bella figura ho pensato bene di prendere spunto dalla tua impostazione.
ciao bello!