# British family moving from Dubai to Italy



## gecko2dan

Hello,

Being a expat already I'm used to being away from home, after 12 years in Dubai its time to move on, as we are currently renovating a place in Cuneo we thought why not live there!!
The house will be finished in november and we plan to move into it lock stock 3 kids 2 dogs and barrel.
I will be homeschooling the kids 10,7,18months as the international school is too far to get too.
Our house which we have owned for 4 years is in a tiny village 15 mins from Cortemillia and 40 mins from Alba.
With limited Italian there are certainly going to be trials and testing times but generally the whole family is excited to get out of the Sandpit and enjoy the italian way of life.

Any advice greatly appreciated or any expats in the local area want to meet up when we get there, I'm spending 2 months there this summer as i have done for the past 4 years.


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## Mozella

Why not send your kids to Italian school? They'll pick up Italian in no time and your social life is likely to improve based on the contacts they make at school. You can partially home school them at first while they're building their language skills so that they won't fall behind. I know several English speaking school kids who dove right into the Italian school system without significant problems.

Plus, you will have plenty of time consuming tasks associated with setting up your nest here in Italy and having someone else tend to your kids during school hours will be very valuable to you.


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## gecko2dan

Wanted to spend more time with the kids hence the home schooling, but its a good idea to maybe start home schooling and see if we can part time them at a local school.
I haven't heard the best things about italian schools but i would like to hear of a first hand experience of how children have managed with no italian


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## stacey812000

Italian schools are good, there's nothing wrong with them! It will also be very good for their Italian and also making new friends you don't want to keep yourselves locked away!


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## pudd 2

stacey812000 said:


> Italian schools are good, there's nothing wrong with them! It will also be very good for their Italian and also making new friends you don't want to keep yourselves locked away!


a very good and true post , you and your children need to mix in as soon as possible , it will make yours aqnd your childrens life easy and iam sure as it happens here the Italians will like to exchance lingos :welcome::welcome::welcome:


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## apecheronza

Buongiorno e benvenuta in Italia!
I was looking for some information for a friend of mine moving from the UK to here, and I was really surprised to see your post... we are almost neighbours! I couldn't help registering!!
I live in San Benedetto Belbo, 40 minutes from Alba and 15 from Cortemilia, so... I guess you can't be really far!
Anyway I don't have children, so I am afraid I cannot really help you with the school issue, just wanted to tell you "benvenuta vicina"!
I moved here 4 years ago, from a "city life", (business, hectic timing, stress etc.) to a "farmer life", producing food, bee keeping, growing chickens and much more. 
I haven't changed country, but it feels like I did, maybe this is the reason why I feel so close to people willing to move here.
I don't have much time to spend online, but if you need any help or advice, just ask!
ciao ciao,


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## gecko2dan

apecheronza said:


> Buongiorno e benvenuta in Italia!
> I was looking for some information for a friend of mine moving from the UK to here, and I was really surprised to see your post... we are almost neighbours! I couldn't help registering!!
> I live in San Benedetto Belbo, 40 minutes from Alba and 15 from Cortemilia, so... I guess you can't be really far!
> Anyway I don't have children, so I am afraid I cannot really help you with the school issue, just wanted to tell you "benvenuta vicina"!
> I moved here 4 years ago, from a "city life", (business, hectic timing, stress etc.) to a "farmer life", producing food, bee keeping, growing chickens and much more.
> I haven't changed country, but it feels like I did, maybe this is the reason why I feel so close to people willing to move here.
> I don't have much time to spend online, but if you need any help or advice, just ask!
> ciao ciao,


Wow apecheronza how great that you found me, especially as we want to start growing our vegetables and keep chickens as well! and Bee keeping that sounds so interesting!
Our village is called Gorzengno 
Would love to chat more and ask your advice on things
you are very kind to welcome me so nicely thank you. 
A lot of family and friends think I'm crazy to move to somewhere remote with 3 children especially after living in Dubai with all the money and consumerism

Ciao Ciao


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## apecheronza

gecko2dan said:


> Wow apecheronza how great that you found me, especially as we want to start growing our vegetables and keep chickens as well! and Bee keeping that sounds so interesting!
> Our village is called Gorzengno
> Would love to chat more and ask your advice on things
> you are very kind to welcome me so nicely thank you.
> A lot of family and friends think I'm crazy to move to somewhere remote with 3 children especially after living in Dubai with all the money and consumerism
> 
> Ciao Ciao


Buongiorno gecko2dan!
Gorzegno is just 10 minutes from here, I guessed we could not be too far!
I fully understand how you feel about eveybody telling you you are crazy, all of my friends and family were not really enthusiastic when I told them about my decision, but I also have to tell you that this "new life" has brought me emotions, thoughts, awareness and happiness as I would never have imagined. 
I'd be glad to chat more too, but I am not sure this is the right place, as we would probably be off-topic... is there a way I can send you my email address or a place where we can chat?

For now, have a very nice day! ( buona giornata!)
ciao ciao


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## gecko2dan

apecheronza said:


> Buongiorno gecko2dan!
> Gorzegno is just 10 minutes from here, I guessed we could not be too far!
> I fully understand how you feel about eveybody telling you you are crazy, all of my friends and family were not really enthusiastic when I told them about my decision, but I also have to tell you that this "new life" has brought me emotions, thoughts, awareness and happiness as I would never have imagined.
> I'd be glad to chat more too, but I am not sure this is the right place, as we would probably be off-topic... is there a way I can send you my email address or a place where we can chat?
> 
> For now, have a very nice day! ( buona giornata!)
> ciao ciao


Would love to chat via Email but i need to post twice more before i am allowed to put my email address down.

I think we must pass your village when we visit friends that live near Ceva.
Ciao Ciao


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## xabiaxica

gecko2dan said:


> Would love to chat via Email but i need to post twice more before i am allowed to put my email address down.
> 
> I think we must pass your village when we visit friends that live near Ceva.
> Ciao Ciao


please don't post your e-mail address - see forum rules, especially rule 4

when you have 5 good posts you will be able to use the Private Message facility


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## gecko2dan

xabiachica said:


> please don't post your e-mail address - see forum rules, especially rule 4
> 
> when you have 5 good posts you will be able to use the Private Message facility


Thank you, didn't realise


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## gecko2dan

stacey812000 said:


> Italian schools are good, there's nothing wrong with them! It will also be very good for their Italian and also making new friends you don't want to keep yourselves locked away!


I do really appreciate the useful advice given but I'm going to homeschool the children, its a personal choice and one that I'm very happy with.
And its a common misconception that homeschooled children are "locked away" if you knew my children you would know thats not even a option


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## apecheronza

xabiachica said:


> please don't post your e-mail address - see forum rules, especially rule 4
> 
> when you have 5 good posts you will be able to use the Private Message facility



Thanks everybody for the clarification.

For gecko2dan, and coming back to the topic issue, I think Italian schools are not too bad. I've heard of wonderful stories and bad stories, and also my personal experience tells me that it all depends on the teachers you find.
On the whole, I think the structures are good and the study programmes adequate, and in some cases really outstanding, but what I feel is not really working well here is the selection of teachers.
Most of them are skilled and passionate teachers, but you may find exceptions, and when you do find and exception it is really hard to get rid of an unqualified teacker.
Anyway I read about your decision to homeschool them, and I do agree with you that this does not mean to "lock them away".
It is true that school life is a good mixing place, but you will see that the chances to mix here are so many, I am sure homeschooling won't prevent them from mixing!


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## Poolajet

I'm so envious of those of you who are already there, or who are soon to be in Italy! I hope this forum is active - it's so much fun for me to read your posts.


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## Lorna Martin

Hello, 

we have also bought a place in Gorzegno! We currently live in London and need to find builders etc to work on it. I have to say this is the most daunting part for us, not the moving as we have lived in Switzerland before and so know that it's do-able but difficult!

We have the same aspirations, getting away from the city, growing food, chickens etc. we had all that in walthamstow before we went to Switzerland but want to do it on a larger scale, somewhere beautiful with less sirens.

We're hopefully coming in July to camp at the house (gives you some idea of the state of it) and would love to meet up to hear about your experiences with doing your place up? We will be bringing our dog too (no kids yet).


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