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C.O.S.I

cosi-crazy-observations-by-stranieri-in-italy

Hello Guys! Welcome to C.O.S.I, the expat mafia! I come together once or twice per month with these badasses to write about one topic to gather different viewpoints for all of you out there who are kind enough to support our blogging/wine habit. Members of our group are residing all over Italy from Piedmonte to Sicily and we’re originally from all over the world from Australia, to England. We use humor to approach the beauty and bullshit of living abroad. We band together to brag, to cry, and offer support in times when our in-laws move into our homes with their donkey, Ted. Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like living between the cheap wine, magic chest-hair, the romantic winding streets, and the pigeon shit? You’ve come to the right place. Is there something you’d like us to write about? Leave it in the comments below!

Are you an expat living in Italy? Want to join C.O.S.I? Leave a comment below with the name of your blog (just the name, not a link) and we’ll get back with you shortly. Want to join in on the fun? Use #COSI

 

minitaly

Maria is a 30-something (something low) American Texpat, living and working in her husband’s tiny hometown in the province of Reggio Emilia. Her blog, Married to Italy, is home to her rants and raves and serves as her therapeutic search for hilarity amongst the chaos.

 

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Rick Zullo of Rick’s Rome – an American expat living in Rome. Born in Chicago and raised in Florida, he came to the Caput Mundi in 2010 and forgot to go back. When he’s not exploring his adoptive hometown or writing for his blog, he spends his time teaching the world English, one Roman at a time. Rick is also the author of the silly little eBook, “Live Like an Italian,” available on Amazon.

 

georgette-jupe

Georgette is an American social media strategist, copywriter, blogger and a certifiable ‘Tuscan Texan’ living and breathing all things Florence. Social inside and out, she lives in the moment and eats way too much pasta. She blogs about life in Italy, travel around Europe {and the world}.  Check out her blog, Girl in Florence.

 

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Gina is 26 year old California native whose unhealthy love of cheese, wine and gossip has made her a perfect transplant to Italy. She blogs about life in Florence, tour guiding for college students abroad, traveling and her dog Gorgonzola. When she’s not busy writing down all the crazy stuff that happens to her, she’s listening to Snoop Dog and trying to figure out how to open an In-N-Out Burger in Italy. Here is her blog: The Florence Diaries

 

Rochelle Del Borrello

 

 

 

 

Rochelle Del Borrello – a writer, translator, blogger and journalist from Perth, Western Australia. She has a complex relationship with her adopted island home of Sicily and still has much love for her native antipodean land, even if it is too far away from everywhere. She blogs about all things ‘expat’ at Unwilling Expat and contributes regularly to the Times of Sicily which brings Sicily to the world.  Read her article here.

 

Englishman in Italy

‘Pecora Nera’ of Englishman in Italy. Pecora Nera (Black sheep) lives in Piedmonte, Italy with his wife (Mrs Sensible) and his trusted Italian – English dictionary. Mrs Sensible emigrated to Great Britain to escape the chaos of Italy, while she was there she married Pecora Nera and against her better judgement, she allowed Pecora Nera to persuade her that they should live in Italy. Pecora Nera writes about life in Italy, from the trials and tribulations of obtaining an Italian driving licence to being detained at Gatwick Airport because his Sicilian mother in law decided to go through the airport security with a rather large pen knife in her handbag.

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Andrea Timonere Of Sex, Lies, And Nutella
Andrea is an Italian-American living the dream (and occasional nightmare) in Rome.  On an incessant search for all things dolce in la vita, she recounts the travels, reflections, observations, and frustrations that make up her own special blend of life in the Bel Paese.  She also isn’t half as scandalous as her title suggests.

 

26 comments

cbriantx July 20, 2014 at 8:06 pm

Hey, I just want to say hello and that I’m really enjoying the COSI posts. It’s really neat to get the perspective of a bunch of different people on the same topic. I started reading Rick’s posts a long time ago when I started trying to learn about Italy and the Italian culture to learn more about the Italian side of my family. I know I’ll never live in Italy so it’s fun to live vicariously through y’alls experiences.

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M.E. Evans July 30, 2014 at 2:13 pm

Thank you! We’re all glad that you’re enjoying our crazy posts about expat life. Our goal was to give multiple angles to a variety of subjects so I’m glad that you’re getting that out of it. The point of blogging for most of us is to connect with people and have fun. I love that people can vicariously live through these posts (it totally saves you the expensive plane ticket, too) until they can hop on over themselves. Nice to “meet” you! Hope to see you around more often. 😉 Also, if you have anything you’d like us to write about in the future, drop an idea or two below!

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sexliesandnutella August 4, 2014 at 2:13 pm

Ciao, C.O.S.I! Could you help me fulfill my dream of joining the (expat) mafia? I started my blog, “Sex, Lies, and Nutella,” a few years after my transition to Rome, once I had a chance to process the “transition” and find the words to express my experience. Now, it’s all flowing out of me like the Tiber, and I’m eager to share more. My page has been picking up steam, my Italian colleagues love it, and my mom thinks it’s GREAT (my suocera, not so much). Hope you’ll take a look. Grazie mille!

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sexliesandnutella August 4, 2014 at 2:16 pm

Ciao, C.O.S.I! Could you help me fulfill my dream of joining the (expat) mafia? I started my blog, “Sex, Lies, and Nutella” a few years after my transition to Rome, once I had a chance to properly process the “transition” and find the words to express my experience. Now, it’s all flowing out of me like the Tiber, and I’m eager to share more. My page has been picking up steam, my Italian colleagues love it, and my mom thinks it’s GREAT (my suocera, not so much). Hope you’ll take a look. Grazie mille!

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M.E. Evans August 12, 2014 at 9:37 am

Hey! We are all on vacation for August but in September we’ll be back and taking new members. The first week of September when everyone is back we’ll start the “voting” process. We have had so many requests that we decided to do a vote to let knew bloggers in. What we look for is honest writing, dedication to your blog (we don’t want to pick up people who drop off of the planet the following month), and from a region that isn’t already over-saturated with COSI (right now, that’s mostly just Florence). Can’t wait to read your blog. I’m heading there now.

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sexliesandnutella August 12, 2014 at 10:32 am

Thanks for the consideration, sounds like a great group. As any good Italian, I’ll be on my way to Puglia next week for vacation, so no worries. I recently migrated my blog from Tumblr to WordPress, so am hoping to gain some traction on the site. Almost 1500 total followers across platforms, and just recently started being more active on Twitter as well. Blogging has become a great passion of mine (as well as quite therapeutic!) these last couple years, and although I juggle a career, family life, and an 18-month-old, I’m committed to continuing to share my experience, from a humorously unique perspective. Just pressed a post you would probably find amusing: “Count the Putans.” Ciao, e buone vacanze a tutti!

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Robert Rabbin August 5, 2014 at 6:05 pm

Big hugs and kisses to everyone in the expat mafia! I spent six years of my childhood in Italy (Milano and Torino) and have always felt I had Italian blood in me, though a DNA test would show it as Jewish. Never mind. I LOVE reading your posts as they are always insightful, entertaining, revealing. Smart and sassy, each of you. Please know that your labours are met with great respect and love and appreciation.

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M.E. Evans August 12, 2014 at 9:33 am

Thank you so so much! A huge bacio and high-five from us to you! Let us know if there is anything in particular you’d like us to address in September when we all get back from our breaks. 😉

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Alec Singletary ♡ (@akSingletary7) September 24, 2014 at 8:01 am

I love reading all your posts and have been visiting all the blogs of the expat mafia! I would love to be a part of this badass group as I am a native Texan who is currently residing in Ravenna, Italy for my husbands job. “Life as we know it” is fairly new and I am steadily trying to improve and grown it as I go! Thanks!

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M.E. Evans April 6, 2015 at 8:24 pm

Hello! That sounds great! Right now we’re getting things organized to make it easier for our members. Until then, you can join us for posts and use the hashtag #COSItaly. We announce our topics on our Facebook page! COME HANG OUT!

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electralight October 5, 2014 at 3:55 am

I love your blog!! I’ve been living in Florence for 6 weeks now and I can definitely relate to the craziness of living here. It is the perfect combo of amazing and wtf moments on a daily basis. One of my biggest struggles so far is I feel like most people don’t get my humor. It’s refreshing to find someone with a sense of humor I can relate to amongst this beautifully crazy place! 🙂

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M.E. Evans October 14, 2014 at 11:28 pm

Welcome to Italy! I struggled with that too. I’ve found that humor definitely differs from culture to culture. Keep making yourself laugh! Eventually someone will get it! If not, share your humor here. We will all appreciate you. 😉

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Flirty Foodie February 10, 2015 at 1:52 pm

Hi C.O.S.I, I too would love to join your Italian mafia too! I’ve dropped on your blogs a few times, and think it’s great that you all have gotten together. My blog is called Flirty Foodie. It’s about love and food. I’m kind of a hopeless romantic with moments of “ira”. I’ve been living in Italy off and on for about OMG 10+ years now. Married to an Italian. M.E. I can totally relate to a lot of your in law stories, though fortunately most of them involve my ex. Looking forward to hearing from you all.

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M.E. Evans April 6, 2015 at 8:24 pm

Hello! That sounds great! Right now we’re getting things organized to make it easier for our members. Until then, you can join us for posts and use the hashtag #COSItaly. We announce our topics on our Facebook page! COME HANG OUT!

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loafmane April 12, 2016 at 1:43 pm

Hi C.O.S.I. group! My name is Lisa Vejcik from Anno a Milano, a blog about my experiences as an expat living in Milan. I am in the thick of preparing to move there (two-week countdown commences), and focus on how to connect with Italy and the surrounding neighboring countries through food, drink and local culture. In addition to that, I want to document the craziness that comes from being an expat abroad. I’d love to connect with some/all of you and see how I can help contribute to COSI from my new city! Hope to hear from you soon!

Lisa

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stef7saStef November 5, 2016 at 12:49 pm

hi

Wow am I glad I found you guys! At first I did not understand the meaning of COSI but now that I have it seems this is just what I was looking for! Surviving Italy with a smile.

I am about to publish my book “Living in Italy: the Real Deal – How to survive the Good Life”. The book contains sixty short stories about my
adventures as a Dutch expat who moved to Italy in 2008 to start a bed
and breakfast. It is the translation of the Dutch original that met
with considerable success.

In 2008 I emigrated to Italy, bringing husband and dog along,
to start Bed & Breakfast Villa I Due Padroni. But a lot of hurdles had
to be taken before the first guests could be accommodated. In 2014
I wrote about my adventures in buying and reconstructing the
house, obtaining a tax number and a bank account, registering at the
commune and at the national health service, importing their car and a
range of other things that lead to a myriad of bureaucratic troubles.
These problems were always resolved in a truly Italian fashion,
leading to raised Dutch eyebrows and hilarious scenes. As a reader you
will encounter a range of characteristic Italians, from sympathetic to
villainous, from moving to shameless. Real Italians of flesh and
blood, sometimes cliché, somtimes surprisingly original. But always
worth encountering.

Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32572055-living-in-italy
Have a look at my presentation page as well with fragments and a sneak
preview if you like:
http://italiaanse-toestanden.duepadroni.it/index-UK.html
I could send you the epub or pdf if you want to.

I think my stories bear resemblance to the ones of your group. Have a look.
Hope to hear from you
Cari saluti
Stef

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