Vacanza, Finalmente!

Well, folks, I survived. The sleep regression/ wonder week is still going on, but it's very slowly improving. It turned out that I had the flu, so that's why I just couldn't deal with it all. So now that that miserable week is over, on to better things!

We are leaving tomorrow for our big summer vacation-a month in Italy! How are we swinging that, you ask? I'm on maternity leave, Paolo has two months of parental leave, and he's taking one in September, and AJ's new school is not starting until October. So what better to do than escape to Italy for a bit? We'll spend a couple weeks at my in-laws beach house in Jesolo, with a couple weeks in between in Puglia (in various cities). It'll be my first time to travel south of Rome, so I'm pretty excited. We're traveling by car, so hopefully we won't find too much traffic this time of year (post vacation season). 

I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but I've applied for Italian citizenship. First of all, this is a dual citizenship; no, I am not giving up my American citizenship. Secondly, what are the benefits of this? I currently have to keep a residence permit, which is tied to my marriage to an EU citizen, in order to stay and work here in Germany. With EU citizenship, I will be granted the same rights as anyone else here (minus the right to vote, although I can then vote in Italy). Why Italian and not German citizenship, you may ask? In a nutshell, it's easier. For German citizenship, I must stay here another 4 years, and renounce my American citizenship. So that is a no go for me as I'm not willing/interested in doing that (although the double taxation on expats is pretty dumb). I can claim Italian citizenship through Paolo while living abroad after 3 years of marriage, which is halved once you have a kid. Then I just had to turn in some documents (officialized, with apostille and translations), and I have a date in November to swear these are true and then a waiting period of up to 2 years to receive my confirmation. Long process, but easy. And at the end, I will be an Italian American! 

It still sounds funny to me to even say, but hey, why not? Maybe then I will finally get around to changing my last name to fit in a little better with the other Italians (Powers somehow does not scream Italy). I suppose I could even run for political office there. Those guys have been voting in Trumps for years, may as well vote for an Alabama girl. Maybe my slogan will be, "Make the Romans great again" (patent pending). 

For now, I'm off to finish packing. Trying to fit all we need for a whole month is no easy feat, thanks to the stroller, car seats, etc. 

Ciao for now, 

Kathleen