Welcome to my blog. After spending a month trying to explain my experience of moving to Italy to all my friends I decided I had a lot to say and this would be the best way to do so. The friends I left behind in Arizona and our family all across America want to know what it is like living in Italy. Several of my friends who have spent time in Europe in the past want to live vicariously through my words and pictures. I thought this might be the best way for them to do so.

A little history about me. My name is Stacy. I served 4 years in the Army. In April 1999 I met my now husband while on a 3 month trip to Southern Italy in the area of Brindisi. We spent the following 9 years between Ft. Huachuca, AZ and Ft. Bragg, NC. I never dreamed we would have the chance to return to Italy. However, the opportunity arose and we took it. My husband will extend his career a little past the 20 year mark to complete this 3 year tour here in Italy, but that was a decision we were willing to make. We have 2 small children ages 2 & 5. I was most excited about this move because of the opportunity it afforded them. They have become very good as saying the word "Ciao".

Our experience getting to Italy was a nightmare. We were to leave the states on May 22nd. My parents drove our entire family along with 12 suitcases/bags, and 2 very large dogs to BWI airport in Baltimore. It was approximately a 2 hour drive. We had to be there at 10:30 at night for our military flight and arrived in adequate time. After unloading two cars onto 4 luggage carts, parking the cars, and caravanning into the airport they informed us we could not get onto the flight because my husband did not have the proper NATO military orders to get onto the flight. One of the biggest reasons we wanted on that flight was because it would only cost us $400 for both our dogs to fly. Flying on a commercial flight would cost us $800 for them to fly. So, late at night we drove 2 hours home to my Mom's house unsure when we would fly to Italy. Of course, no one planned for our extended stay so my parents returned to their normal lives and work. My husband and I spent the entire next day on the phones chewing some you know what over this mistake. They clearly knew what they had done back at Ft. Huachuca and fixed it immediately. However, now we had to try to book a civilian flight. After 10 phone calls I booked us and the dogs on a flight on May 26th. Thankfully my parents were able to arrange their schedules to return us to the airport. This time things went smoothly. However, no one asked us for those NATO orders that kept us from the previous flight. After a very long day we finally arrived in Italy. The military liason at the airport was a huge help and stayed with us every step of the way. The two soldiers who picked us up were really nice and a huge help. We finally got back to Caserme Ederle where we are stationed and checked into our hotel. The actual hotel is this really nice building, but since we had the dogs we were stuck several blocks away in an old apt. building they were leasing. We sooned realized this was an actual blessing. We had a 3 bedroom, 2 bath hotel room with a kitchen. Since we would live here for 30 days it sure beat trying to all stay in one room. Another blessing to the building was the people who also resided there. For the first week those staying in the building were mainly on their way out so we did not get to know them very well. However, soon the building was full of people new to Italy and a really fun group. We soon started having a Sat. night wine sampling for anyone to join. We have made some really close friends that we will stay in touch with our entire tour here and probably beyond.
It is 10:30 here now and I need to head to bed so we can enjoy a nice day touring Verona tomorrow. I have tons more to share so keep coming back to find out what living in Italy is really like from one Army wife's perspective (good and bad).