Allison's Wonderland

I kept telling the girls that with all the drama that went on this year at Prato Nevoso, we could have our own MTV Reality show called, "The Nannies of Prato". I think it really could have been a hit. Maybe.

The weather in Prato was seriously unpredictable this season. To say the least, it was pretty bad. We didn't get our first real snow fall till about January 31st. February was a decent ski/snowboarding month and then everything melted. Really kinda gross. Throughout the season we experienced some ups, downs and just nutsyness, but I wouldn't trade any of the times we had for all the money in the world. It's interesting how when you throw six women from all different parts of the globe onto one tiny tiny ski resort, the strange results that come out of it. People you might not necessarily be friends with back at home, become some of your best friends because they speak ENGLISH! English is definitely hard to come by in Piemonte, Italia.


We had our official last weekend together as a group of Nannies on April 7th. The lifts were closed and there was no snow to be found. We were suppose to have Spring Splash the day after Easter where you go down on skis/snowboard over a big pool of water and see if you can last without falling in. That got canceled, because like I said no snow. All of us Nannies have been leaving at different times throughout the year due to different events. Like I said...there's been drama, we could have our own TV show. :)

When I arrived, there were only three of us. Me, Jess G, The Canadian, and Amy the Australian. My first night out in Prato with these two girls proved to be very interesting. It was a nice "welcome to Prato" kind of present. Both were use to Prato as they had been Nannies the year before. I was just a green, naive little Noobie. Around Christmas time we added J. Berg who is also a fellow American from Vermont. She was off gallivanting around Colombia, by herself mind you, for about a month. This girl has been everywhere! Colombia, Thailand, Norway, and backpacking Europe, all by herself. She's crazy, but in a good way and I strive to be more like her. All three of these girls worked at Prato last year, so they were all friends before and like I said, I was the "new girl". It was difficult to get use to at first because they would swap stories about last year's adventures and I just had to sit there in silence, as I had absolutely nothing to add to the conversation.

Then came Anne. Little South African Anne. She had been in Prato for the whole month of January before she found the four of us. Poor thing. Anne was my saving grace while I was in Villanova. During the ski season the family and I would stay in Villanova from Tuesday to Friday and then go to Prato on the weekends. During the week Mattia would be at school, so that left me with 8 hours in a town of 6,000 people with no car and nothing to do. Anne had to take the girl she watched to school, so in the morning her and I would do daily shopping trips to Mondovicino. Anne was good company, but definitely not good for my wallet.

Lastly, we added Megan to the group. Megan was an Au Pair of one of Simona's friends and we ended up getting in contact over text messaging. The first weekend Megan was in Prato she was literally swept off her feet by one of the snowboard instructors. We were suppose to meet at this place called Sporting and then once she got there, she tells me this story about how this guy Ivan, picked her up and snowboarded with her down the slope on the way to Sporting. Needless to say, they're still dating.

So that's all the Nannies. I've had a stinkin blast with all of them and like I said, I wouldn't trade the experiences of this ski season for anything. My favorite night would probably have to be the night that J. Berg, Me and Amy went to Cuneo and danced the night away. It was super fun, and something I won't be forgetting anytime soon!


Jess G was the first one to leave. She left in mid-March and it was sad to see her go. I wasn't able see her off as the girls went to the sea for the weekend and I had to stay and watch Mattia. Anne was the second to leave. She was suppose to stay longer, but her family really didn't need her anymore, and paid to have her flight moved up. Then we had to say goodbye to Amy. The Hotel she was staying at closed early due to the fact there wasn't any snow and she was kind of stranded for a week. She worked it out though and now she's safely home in Auz. So that leaves just the three little Americans left, although we're strewn all over Italy. I got to see Jess last weekend, and hopefully I'll see Megan next week. So it's not a total goodbye yet. It has been a good season in spite of no snow and I'm looking forward to the day where I might go to Australia, South Africa, and Canada to meet up with my fellow Au Pairs again!