November Recap & What's to Come

An exhausting, admin-y month but now that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I'm glad we got it all done to (hopefully) enjoy a relaxing December.

I actually had to look at my calendar to see what even happened in November. Turns out: nothing but also everything.

It was a rare month where we didn’t travel anywhere new, even around Trieste. We stayed close to home but have both felt exhausted this entire month.

Some big things happened that kept us in “go” mode and not until the very end of the month did we finally feel like all of our hardwork fell into place.

A little glimse into November

Remember last month when I mentioned we were looking at places to buy in Belluno? Well, we found one! We put an offer on the apartment just a few days after looking at it and while the owners came back pretty quickly with a “si,” that’s meant diving right into the paperwork and steps it actually takes to buy a house in Italian. And saying bye to a good chunk of change that definitely made me second guess everything.

Is it crazy to buy an apartment after just spending 40 minutes inside of it? Probably!

We won’t get the keys until the end of April so now that the initial process is rolling along, we’re feeling good that we’ll have some time to sort out whatever pops up next.

A few other things that kept me feeling frazzled throughout the month:

• A back and forth on renegotiating Raf’s permanent work contract here (something that is definitely needed for a mortgage). Contract is in hand now - such a relief.

• Reinjuring my ankle, one that bothered me for years until finally getting surgery on it about 7 years ago. It’s been pretty disheartening but I’m slowly recovering and am at least able to walk normally again.

• Our petsitter cancelling on us. She was meant to watch our cat and dog over both Christmas and New Years - a tough time to find a last minute replacement but luckily through friends here we were able to sort something out.

This isn’t meant to bitch and moan, it’s just meant to say that sometimes things aren’t so fun. Even when you live in Italy and life on paper is pretty bella, days, weeks, and months of dealing with typical adult things still find you.

Creative outlets have been helping loads. I’ve been painting and teaching myself to knit - something I’ve wanted to learn for years but moving to the mountains + being immobile has given me the perfect time to start.

Now, we both feel a lot lighter than we did around the middle of month and can finally look forward to our December plans.

New on the site

But first, here are all the articles that were published on the site in November for your 2026 planning:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Living in Nice, France

• A Beginner’s Guide to Living in Jaén, Spain

• A Beginner’s Guide to Living in Johannesburg, South Africa

• Buying Property in The UK as a Foreigner in 2026

What’s to Come in December

December will be a short month for me work-wise. Raf and I are jetting off mid-month to spend a week in Curacao with my family then a week with his in Colombia.

For the first time in a long time, I’ve already decided to leave my computer behind to force myself not to just “hop on really quickly.”

I’m working overtime in my regular job to get this together and have been spending time queuing the few articles I’ll publish earlier in the month before I head away for a much needed break.

This is just to let you know that if I’m slow to respond or seriously don’t reply until January, it’s not you, it’s me. I’ll get to it when I get back but do plan to fully disconnect while away.

I’ll still be around the next few weeks and have some good articles to share before the break officially begins on December 18th.

xx,
Kat