In this article, I will be interviewing Simone Z. (1ICE), who will share her experience living in and travelling to multiple countries. This interview will share her life in these countries, her adaptions, her opinion and a few interesting stories about her time there.
I have lived in France, Israel, and The United States, I then travelled in Central and South America (including Mexico, Columbia, Brazil and Ecuador) for a while and finally, Italy.
I was born in Paris and stayed there for 7 years. I then moved to Israel, living there for around 2 years. I eventually moved to New Jersey in the US and lived there for only about 7-8 months. After that, my family and I parted on a year-and-a-half-long trip to Central and South America before finally settling in Italy. I have been living here for almost 4 years now.
Moving from Paris to Israel was exceptionally easy since I was still young. I had already known how to speak a good amount of the language, Hebrew, since my dad was Israeli and spoke to me in Hebrew. I also already had much in common with my school friends since we were children and shared similar interests like dancing and drawing.
After that I moved to New Jersey, it was a bit harder to adapt since the culture was very different. However, I still managed to make friends and am still in contact with them today.
Then, travelling in the Americas was not much of a need for adapting since we were moving all the time. I did not have much of a social life, which was fine. The only thing was probably having to learn some of the language, Spanish.
Finally, the move to Italy was probably the hardest. I was put straight into an Italian school without knowing a word of the language. However, I was able to make friends despite the language differences. Now, I am incredibly happy with my current situation in Italy; I have very good friends and am in an international school, which has been easier.
Italy and France are the most alike out of all of them, sharing many European similarities, such as later dinners, fashion and school systems. However, both do differ in other things, such as their food, and, in my opinion, Italians seem to be more friendly than French people.
Then, the US was an incredibly unique experience, especially after living in France and Israel. It has a vast range of cultures and ethnic groups, which was a very positive change for me since I was not very used to seeing so many diverse cultures.
South and Central America had particularly good food, giving me the opportunity to eat very well every day.
Lastly, Israel was quite different as well because of the diverse religions. However, it also had incredibly good food that I miss very much. Israel also has a very unique language with its own alphabet, which was something I had to get used to.
I enjoyed living in Israel the most. I had many good friends there, and I am still communicating with my closest ones. I also have a lot of my family there, and I miss seeing them so often, now I only see them about every one or two years. The food was also a big factor; my favourite dish was most probably falafel. Finally, I loved the people there, Israelis are extremely friendly and have a great sense of humour.
France: one time, when I was about 5 years old, my siblings and I were all getting ready for bed. Then my dad decided to take us on a drive while we were all in our pyjamas. He drove us past the Eiffel Tower so we could see the twinkling lights in the night.
Israel: my family and I were at a Bat Mitzvah (a Jewish celebration for when a girl turns 12 years old), and my dad was on Facebook and saw an ad for a puppy. The dog had been found on the side of the road. After the Bat Mitzvah, we went to take a look at the dog, with a pretty low chance of us adopting her. One day I came home from school and saw our new dog, Katie, running around our yard. She has now been part of our family for about 7 years.
U.S.A.: In the US, we were already aware that the celebration for Halloween was very big. However, we did not seem to be prepared enough. All the houses around us were decorated with hyper-realistic spiders, mummies, and all things of those sorts. We were also informed by the previous owners of our house that we should buy at least 5,000 pieces of candy for trick or treating! By the end of the night, almost all of the candy was gone, and my family and I were shocked by the extent that our neighbourhood took it for Halloween.
Central and South America: Papa's old nightclub, now a clothing store 20 years later. Shakira turndown. (Bogota, Columbia). In Bogota, Colombia, we visited what used to be our dad’s old nightclub. It was now a clothing store. However, our father was telling us about how one time, Shakira was almost denied access to the club since she was not as famous back then. Eventually after a bit of convincing, she was allowed in.