You know when you see someone for the first time and your first thought is just “Yes.”, that was me the other day in the grocery store. I saw this mom with her man and son walking the aisles and I literally said to myself “YES, she knows who she is”.
Being creative, different, alternative and edgy in Italy isn’t easy. Italy doesn’t have the same strong counter-cultural tendencies that I’m used to in Toronto and usually “different” people are not celebrated. Which means that someone that stands out is doubly cool because it is obvious that expressing their own style is way more important than “fitting in”.
Her name is Patrizia and she is the owner of a salon in Modena, Patrizia Hair Style, and something tells me that if you are looking for the latest cut this is where you go!
I met her at the grocery store, and have to admit I followed her for at least 5 minutes before I had the courage to ask for permission to take her picture. She was so NICE! Patrizia loves UK culture, and has been traveling back and forth from the UK for the past 20 years. Her shoes were bought in London and she takes a lot of her street style inspiration from London alternative style.
Oh and her little guy….isn’t he SO CUTE? I love Patrizia’s hair, her pattern combos and her subtle but also special make up!
Do you speak English?
One of the first things people notice about me (obviously) is my strong accent. They also notice that it isn’t the “typical” British English accent, and our conversation goes like this:
Them: “Ma, Lei è Inglese?”
Me: “Sì, Canadese”
Them: “Ah….Can Ah De Se….allora parla in Americano”
Translated:
Them: “Are you English?”
Me: “Yes, Canadian”
Them: “Ahhhh Can A Di AN…..so that means you speak American”
Living in Canada I never really thought about how different British English was from Canadian English…or English in North America in general. But now that I’m raising my son to be bilingual I think about it all the time. There are a few English (British) cartoons on the t.v. and I think “Oh no, what if he develops some sort of weird half British, half Canadian accent”.
Just yesterday at the park I met another North American! She’s from Michigan and has been living in Modena for a few months. She’s living here because like every other English woman I have met, her husband is an engineer who was offered a three year contract for Maserati (could have easily been Ferrari!)
She mentioned that in her kid’s private English school, all of the teachers are from the UK and refer to the eraser as a “rubber”, and she calmly told her kids that when they are back in the U.S. they have to call it an “eraser”. She left out the part that “rubber” in the U.S. refers to a condom! Needless to say there are a few differences between North American and British English, and I realize that even though Canada is culturally connected to Britain, linguistically we are more inclined to say “y’all” as opposed to “life” or “best mate” or “flat”!
English Club
Speaking of the British Invasion and people living in Modena because their partners are engineers for Ferrari….meet Michelle! Michelle is a teacher at an English school she’s also from Britain and 5 months ago had her most adorable little guy Max!
I met her at our weekly swim class and we’ve become friends! A while back she even came over with another friend (also British, also living in Modena with kids!!) and we had our first English playgroup! It was so nice for my son to PLAY with other kids in English, and even though he and Max have a few year’s of age difference I hope they become friends!
One of the thing’s I really like about Michelle is how much she’s embraced Italian culture, she’s lived in Italy a few more year’s than me and I’ve really enjoyed having her to talk to, not to mention her cute style!
If you are fascinated with UK life, living and cultureyou should check out the Our London link-up, where London bloggers linkup posts about their favourite undiscovered and off the beaten path spots. So far I’ve been using this linkup to plan a vacation for 2015!!
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Fashion link-ups!
Every week I try to link-up my style posts with these fashionable ladies. Visit their sites for some inspiration & to discover new bloggers!
Momma in Flip Flop’s Real Mom Style, Mama and More and Mother.Wife.Me’s #AllAboutYou, Style Elixir’s Style Sessions, and her Fab Favorites, The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday, My Girlish Whims’ Your Whims Wednesday, Because Shana Said So’s Random Wednesday, Get Your Pretty On’s I Feel Pretty, Perfectly Coutured’s Three-fer Thursday, Her & Nicole’s Lovely Thursdays, The Life of The Party’s Fashion Informant, The Penniless Socialite’s Look What I Got, Rachel The Hat’s Passion 4 Fashion, Mummy’s Got Style’s Fashion Friday, Musings of a Housewife’s Fashion Friday and Vodka Infused Lemonade’s Tres Chic Thursday.