Allison's Wonderland

What you may ask? I'm not getting married, I'm not pregnant, I'm not in a relationship with anyone...than what is it that's official?

I'M GOING TO THE UK FOR THE SUMMER!!!

I just got done booking my flight to fly out at the end of May! That means two weeks at home to visit family, hang with friends, and re-pack. I'm not exactly sure how I got at this decision, but it kind of just fell in my lap. Here's the story . . .


One of my best friends is getting married May 19th and she asked me to be in the wedding before Italy was even a thought. When I booked my flight here I was planning on being back for the wedding. At first I wanted to go to the wedding and then fly back to Italy after it was over, but after being here for about a month, and realizing the amount of money it would cost in order to come back, I had decided to stay in the States for the summer. So I started job hunting in January. One of my dreams is to work out west at a Dude Ranch. I applied to about 4 different places to be a children's counselor and heard back from 2. Drowsy Water Ranch close to Boulder, CO was really interested. We had a Skype interview which went really well. I got an email back saying it was between me and another candidate, and unfortunately they chose the other one. Although this was the case the lady informed me in an email that they would love to have me at the ranch and they have waitress and housekeeping jobs available. I said sure, I'd love to. Two days later, she replies and apologizes profusely saying, "There are three of us doing hiring and I did not realize, but the other two have filled the waitress and housekeeping positions. If anything comes up, you'll be the first person we contact." So great, that was out the window and I had to start back at square one. There is nothing more discouraging than thinking you have a job and then come to find out, you don't. HATE THAT!

Square one wasn't feeling too good. I gave up looking for about a week and just sat and pondered what I really wanted to do. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here as a nanny with Mattia and I thought, "Hey why not give this another go?" All the while I'm thinking Simona didn't need me this summer since she wouldn't be instructing and Mattia would be out of school. I got on my handy dandy website, reinstated my profile and put myself out there again. I originally wanted the UK or Italy again somewhere on the coast. I applied to several families. One which had two girls aged 10 and 12, lived 30 minutes outside of London and had two dogs, a Black Lab and Jack Russell (2 of my favorites). I knew it was a long shot as they had about 156 applicants already but I decided to try my chances. I had several bites, but mostly families I wasn't really interested in. I got discouraged again. I figured at this rate, I'd just try and get some teyible summer job in L~Burg. The thought of that though made me cringe. It was then that I got an email from Wendy. Wendy was the mother of the two 10 and 12 year old girls and I was so stoked that she had contacted me. We emailed back and forth regularly and I knew in my heart of hearts I would be perfect there! The night we were suppose to talk on Skype the internet kept going in and out and I was so nervous I wouldn't be able to talk to her! Thankfully Simona let me use her little USB Internet Key thing. After our talk I just felt right about the whole thing! I showed the pics and emails to my family and close friends and they were so supportive!

One of the reasons Wendy (isn't that so Peter Pan/British? Love it!) was reluctant to give me the job was because she was worried about my cleaning experience. I was like..."WHAT!?!? I can't not get this job because she doesn't think I clean!" Simona and Gian have a cleaning lady, but in between the time she comes this girl sweeps floors, vacuums, makes little Mattia's bed, cleans my bathroom and upstairs, does laundry, etc! Oh I got so scared! I emailed her back and assured her that I would be the cleanliest thing she ever did see! She emailed back and said, "When can you get here?" YES!!!!! I might have danced and squealed around my room a tad.

I'm just overjoyed to go! It's going to be an interesting summer. The Queen's 60th Jubilee is happening on June 1st, London 2012 (Summer Olympics), I want to at least see one show in the West End. The opportunities are endless! I'm also so excited to work with the girls and just play and be! Tea parties, jumping on the trampoline, and walking the dogs. I know there will be cleaning and ironing in the mix of it all, but sometimes I like to do that. Is that totally weird? Its going to be a completely different culture shock than Italy has been, but at least this time I'll know the language. :)