The story of my life – Part 2

You can read The story of my life – Part 1 here.

A one-way ticket to England

I didn’t really take Ninni too seriously. On one hand I was like – “Me? In England? I can barely say hello, how am I supposed to move to another country if I won’t be able to communicate at all?” – But, on the other hand, I thought – “An interview has never killed anybody” -.

I knew the interview would have been in Italian as Ninni’s manager is Italian hence I wasn’t too concerned about it and I also didn’t have any expectation.

Ninni arranged me an interview with his manager the following day. I spent that morning staring at my laptop waiting for the Skype call when, finally, I received the call.

Racing pulse!

The interview

The first few minutes were the hardest as I was very nervous, but I was forcing myself to give this man, Alessandro, a good impression.

I spent the first 10/15 minutes talking about my life, work experiences and studies. He then told me everything about himself, why he moved to England and the successful pub that he had already managed for more than a year.

I think it was a 30 min interview, in Italian. He only asked me how my English was, – “Not bad” – I said. Lies, lies!! Well, I thought I would have found a way in case he had hired me.

He said at the end: “Well Irene, I like you. I will let you know the details between today and tomorrow if that’s ok for you”. “…Of course…” was my answer. I didn’t realize yet he had just hired me!!!

The details

He rang me the following morning, the 13^th of March 2015, on Skype and was very straightforward: “Hello Irene, hope you are ok. I would like to book you a flight for Thursday the 19^th of March, what do you think?”

Whaaaaaat??? In 6 days? But I’ve got stuff to do before I go, I have to say goodbye to everyone, I need to buy some new clothes as it’s always cold there… thousands of thoughts crossed my mind in a few seconds.

“Yes, perfect. I have a few things to do but I will sort myself out and be there the 19^th.”

The 19^th of March 2015

Those 6 days before THAT flight went so quick, you have no idea! I cried every night before going to sleep, doing a countdown – “3 more sleeps in my bed, 2 more sleeps in my bed, 1 more…”.

I don’t know how (well I know how, I have to thank my mum for helping me), but I managed to sort all of my stuff out to take that fight.

Palermo (Punta Raisi) to London (Gatwick) North Terminal

Depart at 21.40

Arrives at 23.40

I arrived at the airport at 19.00 with my mum, my uncle and my aunt. God only knows how much I cried that day! I felt like I was leaving a part of me there, a piece of my heart, my mum.

I remember I went to the loo to wash my face, I looked horrible! I kept staring at that sad face thinking – “what am I doing?”. And when I walked out of the toilet they were all there, for me, to say goodbye… Miriam, Ioana, Chiara, Manfredi… What an amazing surprise! I already managed to say goodbye because they said they couldn’t make it at the airport, but they were lying!! 😀

But it was time for me to go.

It was heart wrenching leaving my mum there, on her own. Yes, she has only me.

When I got on the plane I felt like I was leaving a piece of my heart in Palermo, I felt broken, I couldn’t stop crying but I knew I had to go if I wanted to try and get my life better.

The first few weeks

Oh my goodness, that was hard!

They started training me at work, it wasn’t hard polishing glasses or plates, tidying or cleaning… the problem was talking to the customers!

I spent the first few weeks running to the ladies because I wanted to cry. The feeling of not be able to communicate is very frustrating, I don’t know if you have ever been in this situation and know what I mean.

“Hello sweetie!! You are the new girl from Italy, aren’t you? How are you? How have you ended up here? So nice to see a new face!”

“Hello…” and I smiled, all the time. I couldn’t understand a word of what people were telling me.

Hello…

Conclusion

To cut the story short, I started taking English lessons and day by day, week by week my English improved and so my job skills. I still work in the same Pub and I am now the Assistant Manager. Awesome, isn’t it? J

I could write ten books about my life but it wouldn’t be that interesting 😀

I think I’ve told you enough about me, I just wanted you to know a bit about who you’re dealing with 😀 😀

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Would you be interested in having my posts both in English and Italian? Leave a comment here if you liked the post and to let me know.

See ya! 🙂

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