Am moving to Naples this summer..

[daniel.wyckoff]

Kristy, I am assuming you are from the UK. I also assume you will be or your husband will be working at the NATO base in Bagnoli. If you got a tour of the base you would have seen the Brit stores there and the other shopping areas. The support site is also very new and modern for shopping etc.
Did they mention to you that NATO will be moving to Lago D Patria in the very near future? If you had a choice you should opt for a villa near there. I lived in Lago for 4 years and had a ball. One advantage of living in the Parco is security, chances are you won't have your apartment broken into.
A foreign assignment is what you make of it. Like someone said ,a lot of the military are forced to be stationed there and don't want anypart of it. Take advantage of the situation and fall in love with Bella Napoli, you won't be disappointed.

Dan

[Maralyn]

Kirsty, you will be coming to an interesting, varied and wonderful city and you can make as much of it and the rest of Italy as you want to.
My husband was in the RAF and we were posted to Denmark in 1986, to Viborg. The British forces community there was very tight knit and I was told in no uncertain terms that I may be living in Denmark but stick close to the Brits, enjoy their (meagre) facilities because "the Danes are different to us"!!! (Told to me by a Lt.Col's wife who had hardly lived abroad in her life.)
We promptly looked for accommodation out of Viborg - a house in the middle of the woods - away from the British community - 1k from our nearest neighbour - I went daily to a college to learn Danish, I got a job in a shoe shop and we integrated into the local Danish community absolutely fine and loved the posting. We rarely joined in with the Brit community but when we did we found most of them hardly knew they were living in another country and moaned that they missed certain British foods! How narrow minded can you be!!!!
But our love has always been Italy, (Ron was posted to Latina for 6 months in 1983 and that started his love of Italy) so 20 years later we bought a house near Cassino (about an hour north of Naples) and although we aren't there full time yet (am selling my business in the UK) we spend lots of time there. We are learning Italian, we have been accepted really well by our village (all 43 of us) and local town of Picinisco (1208 pop) and feel we are blessed in being in such a wonderful country. It will take us the rest of our lives to explore and even then that isn't long enough.
I know you have children which could make it more difficult for you but again I have lived in Belgium with mine when they were young and got to know local people and the real Belgium. And the Italian love of children, they will be door openers for you I am sure.
It is up to you what you want, it isn't easy but it is possible. PM me if you want.
Best of luck.
Marlayn

[Monique]

Originally Posted by KirstyM

Hi, I'm Kirsty. We moving to Naples this summer for 2 years with the forces. We have 5 children.

We did a quick reccy trip this week without the children & we were met with quite a bit of negative feedback from other forces families.

I am quite keen to get to there, but I am not coming Italy to buy Heinz baked beans or to bring the UK with me.

Can someone reassure me please that we will be able to integrate ourselves into the life there. I am really looking forward to my children making friends with local children & joining sports groups etc. And me to make local friends too.

What are my chances? Thanks

Good To add to the excellent advice you have received so far, I can only add that having lived on three continents and in four different countries, the best advice I can give you is to mix with the locals as soon as possible. ‘’Forget’’ ‘’home’’ while you are away. Arrive with an open mind and a willing spirit, embrace the culture, experience everything that Italy has to offer and most importantly enjoy the experience. I would imagine that the Forces ‘culture’ is probably a lot different than company transfers but the experience will be what you make it. Your efforts will be worth it. Our experiences of international schools were not positive. (Not referring to Italy). We moved our youngest son to a local high school after 12 months much to his annoyance. It was the best decision we made and thankfully he agrees now. To understand a culture you need to learn the language

and keep us posted on how you are getting on.