Italy

Of all of the
countries of the world, Italy is by far my favorite for various
reasons. I have always been really interested in the country, the
language, and the culture.  I have taken about six years worth
of school Italian
and have been there once for a field trip in high school. My plan now
is to graduate next  May and move in to one of the apartments
in Umbria that I have been looking at.  Of all of
the specific regions of Italy, if I had to choose just one to live in
it would be Umbria.  I am not much of a beach person so that
goes to chow why I chose one of the few landlocked states on the
peninsula.  I am also not much for large cities either so I
would like to work in Rome but live in some Umbria
villas.  The population of the whole region is
relatively small in comparison to the quite large sprawl of Rome and
other areas where tourists tend to go.  I have been
researching various jobs in the food industry within the city of Assisi
and speaking to a company called apartments
Umbria.  Through these two channels I have been
getting a pretty clear picture of what I will probably be doing this
time next year.  It is becoming more my dream now to work for
a while as a chef and then go one to buy and sell luxury
Umbria villas to make enough money to start my own
restaurant.  I know that it seems pretty bold for an American
to think that Italians would be interested in buying a blend of
Italian, Thai, and American foods, but I feel quite confident that I
blend my recipes in a way that is sure to please any Italian socialite
with a taste only for local dishes.  It will be quite an
exciting experience to walk out and pick from the olive branches or to
help make specialty olive oil.  I don't do much work with
grapes here in the states for various reasons, but when I move to
Umbria it will be my next addition to my palette of flavors to choose
from.