Turisti Per Sempre

I started reading this book with high expectations – maybe too high to be met. I had read many good reviews and I was told by some close friends that it was indeed a good book. Well, don’t take me wrong, it is. It is good in the same way a glass of moderately cheap wine can be enjoyed on a warm summer night when all you want to do is chill out and look at the stars. And maybe have some deep thoughts. Not too deep though.  A Little Life is rich of drama and misery. It touches upon many topics our society is having to deal with: homosexuality, child abuse, religion, money, etc. All packed in one book. Too many topics to be taken seriously. Too little nuance to be taken deeply. Jude, the main character, is the dramatic version of Mr Bean. Anything that could go wrong with his life, it actually does! Except for success and money. After all, aren’t we in NYC?! The book starts well, with the right premises and great anticipation of what could happen next. However, there is a point in e

I grew up in Italy, the eldest daughter of two full-time working young outgoing energetic parents. My parents were always very present in my life (sometimes too much). And so were my grandparents. Like many Italian children whose parents were working, I used to be looked after by my grandma and grandpa. In many ways, you could probably say that I had two sets of parents. And yet, I was able to walk to school by myself, to go to the beach with other people, to roam around in freedom until 11pm on hot summer Italian nights, playing in very dark places with my young friends. No phones, no means of being tracked down other than my dad shouting from the window: “Vanessa, time to come home!” when the clock had struck 11pm. I then used to beg for some extra time which was usually granted to me. I was only 10 or maybe younger. It wasn't in a green place. It was in a city (though on the coast), full of houses and apartment blocks and some sporadic poorly kept parks. Bad people used to

Thanks to modern studies, we are all more or less aware that body language plays a big part in our lives and our ability to communicate with other human beings. How much focus we put on refining our body language and understanding the one of others somehow varies from case to case, individual to individual and even job to job. I am not an expert on social behaviour but I am a keen fan of body language techniques and how we can use them to our advantage. I have been training my sixth sense since early age and I have always been more of a “feelings” person than a “facts” person. How many times have you been in a situation, at work or in a social context, whereby you meet a person for the first time and it’s an instant dislike? You can just feel it in your guts. Many would argue that we shouldn’t just stop at our first impression. It seems somehow superficial to limit our judgment to just one look or a short conversation. I have a different opinion. Beyond our cultural differences

It's been four months since I lost my job. Understandably, I went through an emotional roller coaster: first I felt really strong and detached; then when the reality of the situation sank in, I felt almost desperate as if the world had crumbled around me; then I felt angry; anger turned into sadness and sadness into resignation. A week later - yes, (not) so long it took me to come through the other end of the tunnel, I started feeling well again. My confidence and optimism were back in full swing. Now, I feel good. I really do.  Over the last four months I was able to go for a bunch of interviews, mainly thanks to my excellent recruiter and to my wide network of people. Most interviews have had either a positive or successful outcome. Months of networking and a relentless search for suitable jobs all over the planet have finally paid off. As a result, on Monday I will start a new job, a new exciting adventure.  So indeed, I have finally come out of the tunnel. And now,

This book is about how a young girl’s dream of travelling the world to escape the bleakness of her home life became her worst nightmare. A true story of how a strive for freedom became a sentence to captivity. Amanda Lindhout is a young woman from Calgary who works in trendy bars and restaurants during the Canadian winters to pay for her long trips  around the globe. She travels on tight budgets and prefers interesting destinations to the touristic ones. Places where only young, tenacious and resourceful people decide to adventure to. Her long-chased dream of being paid (even if not much) to do what she likes best - i.e. travelling, takes her to war-devastated zones such as Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and, eventually, Somalia. Within 2 days of being in Mogadishu (as she defines it: "one of the most dangerous places on earth"), she and freelance journalist and her former lover, Nigel Brennan, are kidnapped by a group of Muslim fighters and held in captivity