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When I set myself the challenge almost three years ago to publish a blog every single Monday, I realised that this could get quite challenging at times. Would I find the inspiration to write a piece every week? After one hundred and fifty blogs, I can say that one of my biggest lessons has been …
Weekly blog #151: How Italy dominated the international headlines Read More »
This coming Sunday, there will be elections in Italy. Now that fact in itself is not that unusual, as history shows that Italy’s prime ministers usually stay in office as long as Italian football coaches. One minor crisis is enough to force resignation almost immediately, although the official statement usually says that most resign ‘voluntarily’. …
Weekly blog #150: Elections in Italy and the ‘traditional family’ Read More »
It’s September, already the ninth month of the year, or in Italian: il nono mese. But what does this month look like in Italy? What is September usually like here? And what about this year? A month of beauty, bellezza, a breath of fresh air (literally) and new energy. In other words, a month of change… September is …
Do you recall the moment in which summer began? That one particular event, that first cold beer perhaps or that first time dining outside of which you now know: yes, that was exactly my first real moment of summer. I remember exactly where and when my summer started this year. It started with rain. A …
Weekly blog #148: Arrivederci, beautiful (Italian) summer Read More »
Last week, my time in the deep south of Italy came to an end. In last Monday’s blog, I told you how I had just arrived in Brindisi, the very last stage of my trip. I also described where exactly I had been the week before, as we had travelled through almost all of Puglia, …
Weekly blog #147: Puglia and Matera, a true experience Read More »
In my previous blog, I described how I, after arriving in Puglia in the deep south of Italy exactly a fortnight ago today, took a break from social media, the never-ending stream of text messages and even my email. A digital detox, so you could call it. And even though I shared the odd update …
For the first time in almost three (!) years of blogging every single Monday, I almost forgot about it today. Just simply forgot. Not realising that it was already Monday. I’m sure it has everything to do with the fact that I took a completely spontaneous digital break last week. I posted a video of us driving over the beautiful bridge into the city of …
Weekly blog #145: Ferragosto and a digital break Read More »
It may seem strange, but today, for the first time, I’m flying from Maastricht Airport, the airport closest to home. It’s one of the few airports around here (read: Eindhoven, Düsseldorf, Brussels…) with a direct flight to Bari in Puglia, and that’s exactly where I’m going this August. But before I leave and my blog and Instagram …
Weekly blog #144: Off to Puglia! But not before doing a little recap first… Read More »
It’s the first of August, I have not been in Italy for almost a month now, and the summer holidays are about to start for most Italians. In a fortnight, on the 15th of August, it will be Ferragosto and I don’t have to be in Rome to know that everywhere you go these days, signs …
This past weekend, me and my friends went to the world-famous Champagne region in Northern France for two days filled with – of course – champagne tastings, enjoying the French cuisine, beautiful sceneries, and lots of fun. You might think that this had all been arranged months in advance, but it wasn’t the case at …