Emma Williams is a freelance Italian translator, and has been living in Italy for nine years.  As a result of studying Italian and French at University she was given the opportunity to visit Siena in Tuscany as part of her course.  Emma liked Italy so much, that when she graduated she decided to return to “the slow pace of Italian life” for “a bit of an adventure”, and has since met her boyfriend, who she now lives with in a tiny village on a hillside in Tuscany.

This is the first chapter of Emma’s diary about life as an expat living in Italy.

Finding happiness in the simplest things

In a world of economic crisis, war, famine, commuting, stress and worry it is sometimes hard to see the beauty in life.

Some days you just wake up exhausted and depressed and can’t shake the negative feelings off no matter how hard you try. You spend the day with your head down, battling the crowds, the weather or just your own bad vibes, without stopping to look up and see the shapes the grey thunder clouds make as they roll across the sky, or listening to the chatter of the birds as they fly about their day.

As I was driving home from Pisa airport the other day, having dropped off my parents after one of their regular visits, I started to really look at my surroundings.

The road that I have travelled so often suddenly seemed different, the fields that I passed seemed greener, and the birds louder. I noticed simple things that made me smile - the things that made me move to this part of Italy in the first place. A crooked old shepherdess walking through the fields, supported by her stick and her dog; a woman sitting on the grass embroidering in the sunshine; Bianca, the 96-year-old who lives across the street from me, sweeping her front doorstep and stopping to chat to passers-by; the way I was almost blinded by the sun reflecting off the river… all of this I take for granted and yet it is all so beautiful in its simplicity.

When you say you live in Tuscany people tend to have the same reaction. Without actually saying anything you can see the envy in their eyes and the general opinion that “it’s alright for some”. I am the “exotic” cousin that comes home for Easter with an early tan, or gives bottles of home-made olive oil as Christmas presents, while my stuck-in-England counterparts have to put up with drizzle and bad food. And when I try to explain that life here is as anywhere, that the search for happiness is the same for everyone, everywhere, I receive a variety of sarcastic “poor you” comments.

The fact that the post comes once a week (if you’re lucky), that getting anything bureaucratic done is akin to running a three-legged race up Mount Everest, and that sarcasm is sorely missed by the Italians (or rather the British expats that try it on them) doesn’t seem to raise anything other than a laugh; forget about sympathy.

Everyone in the world has a routine, the same things to do by the end of the day or the week, but without realising that routine is in itself something to be enjoyed. From London to New York the commute to work is an opportunity to make new acquaintances, chat with the woman who has been sitting next to you every morning for the past two years, or smile at the children on their way to playschool, or simply enjoy the morning air.

I’m not going to repeat the cliché that you should think of those less fortunate than you. We can’t always be so altruistic. It’s true, we all lead different lives, and some are maybe “luckier” than others.

Living in Tuscany it is perhaps easier to look on the bright side when the sun is so dazzling you can hardly see, but maybe that’s the point. We are all looking so hard for “happiness” that we don’t see the things that really make us happy.

Things like jumping in the car and driving to the latest art show in Florence; or going to explore Siena Cathedral’s crypt for the umpteenth time just to marvel at the colours of the centuries-old frescoes; picking wild asparagus or porcini mushrooms and enjoying the fresh air; enjoying the taste of the Italian language and wildly gesticulating even while just reading your shopping list. All these things (almost) make up for the negative sides of being an expat Brit in Tuscany - a condition that makes you feel constantly just on the edge, like you can’t quite “get” the Italians and their way of life.

The simple things can be found anywhere. Anytime. Whether you are reading this in the South of France, Tuscany, Finland, Africa or London. It doesn’t matter.

There are plenty of reasons to smile. Simple reasons. After all, as Albert Camus said: “But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?”