My name is Jessica, and I was born in Spokane, Washington in 1983. I lived in Spokane for 18 years and upon graduating from East Valley High School in 2002 I packed up everything I could fit into my Honda CRX, quit my long time job at the donut shop and drove to Seattle. I lived in the basement of a friend while I enrolled in a Massage Therapy school. In 2003 I received my license and began practicing in my own shop. Less than a year later I burned out on touching sometimes iffy people and decided it was time to go to ‘real’ school. I got my AA at North Seattle Community College and began working for a engineering company in Bothell, WA. At the company Christmas party in 2005 I won the grand prize in the raffle. What did I get? Two round trip tickets to anywhere in Europe.

Around this time, due to my job, the only thing I really did for fun was watch TV. I was obsessed with the HBO series on Rome and decided that was the destination I was going to use the tickets for. I talked my roommate into coming with me and that May we were off to our two week adventure in Rome.

The trip changed my life in many ways, not only did I fall in love with Rome, seeing a different country and a different culture made me realize how lame my life was. I used to think I was cool for moving to Seattle, a few hours away from home, but I needed more.

Upon return of my Roman Holiday, I moved out of my apartment and gave notice to my job. I also put off transferring to a university so I could get out there and live. With a few thousand bucks and the promise of CouchSurfing, I flew to London. There I met amazing people, saw more new things and reassured myself I did the right thing. Next up was Rome again, I wanted to see the things I had missed and instead of staying in a hostel, I could be hosted by a real Italian person. That’s when I met Daniele

He was my couch host and we became fast friends. Every time I thought about moving on I just couldn’t. He even told me to stay till Christmas if I wanted.The attraction grew more and more and my money less and less. As much I didn’t want to leave after a few months I knew I had to get back home (my dream of magically finding a job that would allow me to stay forever faded very fast). It was heart wrenching because I really felt I was leaving someone great in Rome.

After I went home, BROKE, I ended up staying with my mom and even got my old job back at the donut shop to help me get back on my feet while I was really job hunting. I felt 16 again, but at least I had taken risks and even let myself love again

I missed Daniele terribly and come to find out, he missed me too.

After a few months he just came out and asked me to come live there. Without dwelling on the hows and what ifs, I did it again. I quit my job and sold my car and bought a one way ticket to Daniele.
We got married in a small, civil ceremony on April 20^th, 2007 and had our huge American-Italian wedding in October 2007. So much has changed, but all for the better. If you put your heart out there and take risks, happiness will find you.

These days I am finishing up my Bachelors Degree with the distance learning program at my University. Daniele and I have moved to Verona. D was offered a position with NATO and I am looking forward to experiencing a new Italian city. This is my Italian life…version 2.0…