RN wants to move abroad

[babydeern]

My dream in life has always been to live in Italy. What I want more than anything in the world is to spend a year living in Florence. I've been looking into nursing opportunities there, but since I don't speak the language (I want to move there to learn), I highly doubt I will be able to find a job that's nursing related.

I have been a nurse for a little over a year now. I'm planning on moving in about a year, that way I will have 2 solid years of nursing experience. I would like to come back in a year and go back to nursing. My concern is, how hard will it be to get a job? I know that even when I'm off work for 5 days or so, it's always a little harder to get back into the swing of things. Will I jeopardize my career by taking this "gap year"?

Any thoughts/relevant experience would be appreciated! Thank you!

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Best check out the International forum found under the region tab above however obtaining a work permit if you do not have a passport from a country within the EU may be hard. You would probably be expected to be fluent in the language of the country both written and oral and may have to pass a language exam as proof

[BonnieSc]

Well, it wouldn't be EASY to find a job afterward, but it wouldn't be impossible. Think about how many women take a year or two off to raise children... it isn't that crazy! Of course, that takes less explaining to future employers.

On the other hand, I know an experienced nurse who spent two years abroad NURSING with Mercy Ships, and she's having trouble finding a job now that she's back in the states. But then, she thought she would be able to walk into a position--now she's being less picky.

So if you're open to the idea of being extremely flexible when you get back, including as to location in the US, I say go for it.

You may know a lot about this already, but just in case you don't: Italy, and especially Florence, is EXTREMELY expensive. Language schools cost a lot and in my opinion it's hard to learn good Italian in Italy without going to school (or having a tutor, which costs even more). (I spent nine months studying in Florence.) So make sure you save a toooon of money and don't count on making a cent while you're there.

Anyway you would consider revising your dream a little? There are other countries that are much cheaper and would give you a language more useful to a nurse... Spanish, French, Chinese...

[Circejane]

I lived for four years in Bologna, Italy (was married to a native Italian). My advice to anyone in love with Italy is to visit often, but don't live there. Living there is a completely different experience than visiting. Spend a month. Rent a villa. Take a sabbatical from work, then come back. Living in Italy has its perks, but many downsides. It is NOT like the movies.

[Circejane]

To address your question about getting a non-nursing job there, it's going to be very difficult, for several reasons. Not speaking Italian fluently is huge. If you're already fluent in Spanish or French you have a bit of a leg up, but otherwise it takes six months to a year to reach a level of fluency where you can work. It's possible that you can get some private part-time gigs as an English tutor, but that takes connections. You won't even be able to babysit. What if the child hurts himself, and you can't speak enough Italian to tell the emergency services what has happened?

Second, Italy still has many, many socialist labor laws on the books. It is virtually impossible to be fired in Italy, and as a result, it is very difficult to get hired. You might pick up part-time work, but nothing legal. If you're not there on a work visa (or married to a national, as I was), you are not going to be able to work legally. Also, Italy's economy is in no better shape than the US. THere are no spare jobs to go around.

As someone else mentioned, the cost of living is very, very high there. I had many tourists ask me if the prices were jacked up to take advantage of tourists. They weren't. It's bloody expensive there, from food to rent to toiletries.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I worry that you're setting yourself up for a rude shock if you're planning to support yourself for a year while taking language classes. My suggestion would be to to go for four to eight weeks to an intensive language program, one that offers housing. You'll be able to see the city, possibly other areas of the country, get some good language training, and not bankrupt yourself in the process.

One school that I can personally recommend is Cultura Italiana. They have a variety of programs, and I believe that they can arrange for housing. They offer courses in Bologna (I went there) and Arezzo, which is in Tuscany and 45 minutes from Florence by train. They also offer extracurricular activities, and classes on wine and Italian cooking. I was the only student there who actually LIVED in Italy, everyone else was from another country, coming to learn the language and experience the culture.

Here's their website:

http://www.culturaitaliana.eu/

Best of luck to you!