The last few months have been tough for me. My grandmother passed away unexpectedly in November. She was truly one of a kind. She was warm, loving and welcoming. She was really the embodiment of the stereotypical Italian nonna. She was a retired farmer and, as you can imagine, when you’ve spent all your money and life cultivating fields, they become everything to you. You could get her out of the fields—which was impossible anyway because she was as stubborn as a donkey—but you couldn’t get the fields out of her heart. Yes, my nonna had a strong will; when she set her mind to do something, there was no stopping her. The thing is that the fields she cared most about were hours away from her house, up in the mountains. Therefore, she always had to rely on her children to get her there. When I think of her, food is the first thing that comes to my mind. She made homemade pasta often, especially cavatelli, fusilli al ferretto and ravioli. I have many regrets, but I have to suck it up. Ciao nonna 🧡.

On a more positive note, I’m actively working on my German because I’m going to Vienna on holiday in March. I’ve been learning German on and off for three years, without putting much effort into it. Now I feel very motivated to improve my German. In case you’re wondering, I know that Austrian German is different from standard German.

I should also work on my English, which is pretty rusty.