How to Italy

I feel like I'm a ping pong ball!

I need to have a routine check up at the doctor's but my 'tessera sanitaria', which entitles me to use the Italian sistema sanitaria nazionale, has run out and I need to renew it.

But it's not a simple task.

I'm not registered with a doctor in my town but in my boyfriend's town because everyone agreed that I should definitely be with the 'medico di famiglia' and not a doctor I had plucked at random from a long list of names and opening hours.

The only problem is that the two towns can't decide who should be renewing my 'tessera' and consequently I'm being ping-ponged between the two.

Since I don't know anyone who has a friend/friend of a friend/brother/cousin/dog who works in either office, I'm at the mercy of Italian bureaucracy.

Still, at least I'll be able to join in the communal moaning about the state Italy is in next time I'm standing in the queue at the 'posta'.

Emma Bird is the founder of www.howtoitaly.com

Just over a week ago, I raved about 'L', the 24-year-old American who had landed a plum job teaching English in Piedmont.

Sadly, the situation turned out too good to be true because the directors of the school she was going to be working for found out about stages in obtaining a visa and decided that completing the process was just too much hassle.

And, unfortunately, this is the situation that most non-EU passport holders find themselves in.

If you really are determined to move to Italy, be prepared to think outside the box. Setting up your own business in the bel paese is one way round the problem as less people apply for business rather than subordinate work visas. So that means there are more to go around. Tracy Roberts, from Santa Monica, California, set up www.englishyellowpages.it and Aimie Louie is the co-founder of www.easymilano.it. If they can do it, so can you.

In the meantime, 'L' has headed off to Tusinia to teach. But I'm prepared to bet a dinner in La Barrique that she'll be back.

Emma Bird is the founder of www.howtoitaly.com

Some clients from Italy came to visit us at the weekend. They'd been to Sardinia several times before so we knew we were going to have to pull out all the stops to make this visit really memorable.

Our first stop on Saturday night was for aperitives at Cagliari's famous Antico Caffè, the former haunt of Italian and British writers including DH Lawrence, Sibilla Aleramo and Nobel Prize winner Grazia Deledda.

Next we had an unforgettable meal at La Barrique (www.labarrique.com) hidden down narrow backstreet of the city.

It's not expensive but atmosphere is cosy, the staff are friendly, the food is great (especially the puddings) and the wine is even better. If you ever go there, tell them I sent you.

The next day we skipped breakfast and headed off to the coast to do some seaside househunting.

Even on a rainy November day, the sea was the colour of peacock feathers.

And as the views got better and better, our clients and got fussier and fussier - until they found their dream beach and their dream house. I have to say I agreeed with them. If I didn't already live a two-minute walk from the beach on the north coast, I would want to sell up and move right this minute.

I'll let you know how they get on.

Emma Bird is the founder of www.howtoitaly.com

Ooh, I'm smiling again - and it's because I've got a success story to report.

Yesterday, a man from Connecticut emailed me about his 24-year-old daughter who had just moved to Italy to find work as an English teacher. He was looking for advice about her visa situation.

I've been banned from mentioning her name because she "doesn't think she has done anything special" but her proud dad thinks she has.

And so do I.

'L' doesn't have an EU passport which means she's like thousands of others that dream of living the Dolce Vita.

The only difference is that 'L' has done it. She knew there was more chance of her winning the lottery than being offered a job while she stayed in the States so she did something about it - she bought a plane ticket to Italy and started her adventure.

It's not that 'L' is luckier than most. It's because she is a risk-taker - she has already spent two summers in France trading her farm labour for room and board - and is prepared to step outside her comfort zone.

'L' has found a great teching job in Piedmont. She has a good wage and free accomodation and lovely employers who are assisting her with her visa and work papers.

Needless to say she committed straight away.

'L's parents are coming over next year to see her and I'm looking forward to meeting up with them all.

Because I'm back in Cagliari for a few days, this morning I popped into the high school I taught English at for two years to say hi to some of the teachers and students.

But instead of spending the 20 minute break with the teachers, I ended up helping my stressed ex-students map out their futures once they graduate next June.

I got them to write down their ideal life starting from when they leave school, asking them to be utterly truthful to themselves and not to conform to what their parents and well-meaning teachers thought they should do.

The exercise clearly energised them as they were much more motivated after the break.

Of course, this quick task is as valid at any stage of life and especially good for the Live-in-Italy project as it helps focus the mind on what you really want.

It is much easier to commit to definite goals than ones that are vague and undefined - plus it gives you a starting point.

After all, as Goethe once wrote: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."

Ooops. It looks like that trip to Tuscany and Umbria has thrown me out a day. As I've been convinced it's only Tuesday.

I can't change those other blogs so they'll have to stay the same. But don't worry. I do know what day it is now.

Maybe I should take time out for a cappuccino and brioche to recharge my system.

Today is busy busy busy. I've definitely not got time to relax. I've got to finish writing copy for the new How to Italy website, work on the book, write two articles AND hold a consultation with a client in New York.

But I don't mind because I opened my mail box this morning to find some lovely emails - the kind that leave you smiling all day long.

One was to book a consultation in the next step of a South African's Move-to-Italy project.

Another was from Valerie Ryder, the current president of the Professional Women's Association in Milan, who has agreed to be profiled for Italy magazine.

But the best one was from a woman in Miami to thank me for my contagious energy and excitement, along with the name of an Italian photographer I had wanted to get in touch with.

We first met online six months ago when she wrote to tell me of her plans to move back to Italy after falling in love with Aquila when she spent a semester there. And she plans to move back to the country next year.

Moving to Italy is a huge challenge and it's certainly not easy. But by breaking the challenge into tiny micro-projects, the dream starts to come true.

Emma Bird is the founder of www.howtoitaly.com

I've just got back from a business trip to Tuscany and Umbria.

I'm so used to seeing the parched hills of Sardinia that the kaleidoscopic vibrancy of the red, orange and yellow leaves falling to the ground was an unexpected surprise.

And it was lovely to meet expats and Italians I had only ever networked with virtually - it's always good to put a face to a name.

But being back in Sardinia, I can't complain. It's November and it's still warm enough for me to sit outside as I tuck into a steaming bowl of pasta and enjoy a glass of Giogantinu, the wine that is produced just a few kilometres (yes, I've become European and gone metric) down the road from me.

In moving to Sardinia, I was definitely thrust out of my comfort zone and it took me more than six months to juggle the values I was used to with the values of this treasure island in the Med.

But as I write this on patio overlooking the sea, there's no place I'd rather be.

Emma Bird is the founder of www.howtoitaly.com