Interviewer: [00:00:00] How did you find the job in Grasmere?
Andrea: [00:00:03] When I was at home, I, I found this, I don’t know, it was a group of people who were just meeting and talking about how to get jobs in Italy or elsewhere, like how to prepare for an interview – them then kind of things. And er, they, I told them that I would like to find a job away, in England or New Zealand, an English speaking country. So they, they gave me this website that is called Work Away, where you can go to, to live with someone and they give you a job but is not paid. They just, you can live with them. They give you food, food and accommodation, everything. But you just live with them so you learn about the culture and everything. You can go everywhere in the world.
And, and I found this hotel in Grasmere. They were doing this thing. So, I actually found one in Keswick first, but they couldn’t… I don’t know, they were busy in that time. So I decided to go to Grasmere. So I went there, and then from Grasmere I found this one in Keswick. So when I came back in December, I came to Keswick. It’s, it’s a bed and breakfast down near the lake and I stay, I stayed there for, the plan was to stay a couple of months and I stayed six months because I didn’t want to go. [laughs] And while I was there and living here with Sheila, because it was, it came together, the accommodation was actually that room here in Sheila’s house. But I didn’t earn any money cause I was just, it was a volunteer thing and I made friends. I was playing football for Penrith. I needed to go there by the car and everything.
So I needed money. And I found a job in Casa Bella, the restaurant, er, being Italian, they said that because I’m Italian, they gave me the job. So that’s the only reason. So that’s good because I’m the only Italian actually in there. So I make it authentic [laughs] and that’s what they say. So yeah, found a job. So I was working the day in the bed and breakfast and night in the restaurant for a couple of months. And then I said to the, the the owner of the bed and breakfast, “I can’t do this anymore.” But Sheila said, you can stay here with me, how long, forever if you want to stay here forever, it’s fine. So I’m just, I just moved here, here paying the rent to Sheila and just having a job and having a normal life, like normal work and a job and everything.