They say in Naples that it takes almost 2 months when going through the military system to find and receive the keys to your new home. Most people see 15-20 houses before they choose. Not me! I found my place on the first day, signed all the paperwork and had the keys within 14 days and I am SOO excited!

I’ll be living in Arco Felice Which in Italian means Arc Happy or Happy Arc. I work out of Naples which was originally established by the Greeks. Naples or Napoli stands for Na “New” and Poli meaning “Town” New Town.

Roberto was my housing agent and he is GREAT at his job! He helped me out, took everything I said into consideration, and on his first try to see if he got it right, he did. As soon as I saw this house I knew that it would be perfect for my youngest sister and I to live in. That’s right, while Linnie is in Japan doing her thing, Emmeline is going to come live in Italy with me after graduation, so when I found the house I wanted to make sure it could accommodate us both.

I don’t think my new job will be nearly as stressful and as long of hours as the last one (as Linnie can attest to my bad demeanor after a long stressful day at work) but I still wanted to have enough room to live comfortably and have guests over. Which means I was aiming for a 3 bedroom place.

And I found it! Or to be precise, Roberto did. It is a 2 story condominium in a Parko, which in Italy means a gated community because let’s face it, this country is full of thieves and security is very serious here.

The house itself has 3 bedrooms in which 2 of them have balconies, 2 bathrooms, a fireplace! (which is extremely exciting to me) and a very nice size back yard that is all cobblestone and will be perfect for dinner parties. I still absolutely love my Japanese house, but I think I’ll come to love the Italian house too.

The archway above the house is typical of an Italian house and to me seems very inviting and welcoming.

One of my favorite things about the house is the working fireplace. I come from the Country, I love fireplaces and the smell of a good fire. I can’t wait to utilize the fireplace in the winter and I’m probably going to get a fire pit for out back in the summers.  It’s very exciting.

In Italy, for some reason, kitchens aren’t a stable thing from house to house. Apparently when an Italian moves homes they take the entire kitchen with them cabinets and all?! So its hard to find a kitchen that doesn’t move like this one above. A selling point for me was the dishwasher. I’m coming from Japan where there really weren’t dishwashers so I’m pretty excited about that. I was also very excited that you can open the french doors from the kitchen and walk out back and there’s also another window. This might be just what I need to get motivated in the kitchen.

Walking out back was the next exciting thing. I think I can get a cabana and a nice table and chairs with a hammock and fire pit, maybe even a string of lights. I plan on big things for the outside. It will be a place to come home to and relax.

There’s even a small awning in case of a rainy day!

Now the only thing to do is worry about getting my house hold goods, apparently they are stuck in Germany at the moment. Once the house hold goods are inside and unpacked, “Be My Guest, Be My Guest, Put My Service to the Test”, I’m anxiously awaiting!

This article appeared first on Dynamic Soarer