Seeking Aussies who have recently moved to Italy

[maleena]

Hi all,
Just want to know how everything went with the move and settling in to a new country.
Let me know who you are, what part of Australia you come from, if you have kids, are you teaching english or have another job etc....
Maleena

[LisaB]

Hi Maleena,

I am an aussie from Sydney with a 1yr old baby girl! I am living in Florence and have been here since Jan 09. Maybe we can swap email addresses. Hope you are getting along OK here. We are heading back home in May next year. Let me know if you are interested in exchanging contacts.
Regards, Lisa

[maleena]

Originally Posted by LisaB

Hi Maleena,

I am an aussie from Sydney with a 1yr old baby girl! I am living in Florence and have been here since Jan 09. Maybe we can swap email addresses. Hope you are getting along OK here. We are heading back home in May next year. Let me know if you are interested in exchanging contacts.
Regards, Lisa

Hi Lisa, Great to hear from another Australian. We actually haven't moved to Italy yet. We a getting ready to, but won't be able to until mid june/july 2010. I have to wait for my passports to come in and we need to save up enough to last us 3 months at least while we look for work.
My question to you is how did you find accomodation? Did you need to sign a 4 year contract for accomodation? or were you given accomodation (work, family etc..)?
How long have you been in Florence? And is it a nice place to live? Is it relatively easy to get work as an Australian in Florence?
I was told that I should do pretty well out of cleaning peoples houses in Italy (this is my job here in Australia). Do Italians have cleaners?
Sorry about all the questions. Just have alot of things I would like to know before we get there.
I have a husband and 2 boys aged 7 and 9, we will be putting them into an italian school (public).
another question now... we are interested in house sitting to cut costs. Do you know anyone there that goes away from Italy for winter and would like to have there house / pet looked after while they are away?
And also, are there many Aussies, English, Americans livingin Florence?
my email maleenaunderscorehathotmaildotcom
Any info you can give me will be great.
Especially about accomodation, house sitting and jobs.
Now about you:
When did you move to Florence and why?
Did you have you child there?
Are you Italian? Do you speak Italian? Have you got family there?
Do you enjoy living there?
You might think we are crazy but we are just going to pack the kids up and hopefully have somewhere to live for the first 3 months organised and turn up in Italy for a new experience. We have never been to Italy (but we are both very interested in immersing ourselves into a different culture). Did I mention we are from Brisbane (there is not really any culture here...LOL).
I am learning Italian, I have cds and books for my husband and kids to learn some italian before we leave. The kids are excited too. They should learn the language over there alot faster than we will.
Back to you: Do you live in central Florence? Do you enjoy it?
Is it easy to find a doctor, dentist, optometrist etc....?
Anyway that is enough for you at the moment I think. Thanks again. If I come up with any other questions for you I will let you know in a return email.
Maleena