To Be Italian

I applied back in October 2010 for my Italian citizenship. It's easier to get jobs if I have EU citizenship and renewing my "permission to stay" every couple years is a real pain in the butt. It wasn't an easy process as Italian bureaucracy has a well-deserved reputation for being difficult. I had to collect all the necessary documents from the US and have them translated and certified at the Italian embassy in DC, then I had to collect all the necessary documents from here in Italy and bring everything to Cuneo for my application. We were immediately met with a dismissal and told that I can't possibly get Italian citizenship because my US passport says I was born in Maryland and my birth certificate says I was born in Montgomery County, Maryland. Full stop. Thankfully I brought Fabri because you have to have an Italian with you to navigate the sea of red tape and they eventually accepted the application.

I have such nice finger nails! :)

Two years & two months later and I'm Italian!! This is me at my swearing in with the mayor of Saluzzo. I promised to abide by the Constitution of Italy.

And today I voted in Italy for the first time. Pretty exciting stuff. I liked how they do it here. No worry of computer hackers, no hanging chads, you just write an X with a pencil over the box you want and then hand back the ballot where the election worker puts it into a big cardboard box. Then she stamps your voter card and says "Mr. So&So has voted." Only for me she said "Mrs. I Cannot Pronounce Her Name has voted." Italians....