How to know if you made the right decision to leave your country.

Episode Description

What would you do if you had to leave everything behind and start fresh in a new place? Eugenio did just that – twice! Hear his story of how he moved abroad to study, the lessons he learned, and what life is really like living in a foreign country.
In this episode, Eugenio tells the story of how he left his beautiful life behind in pursuit of new adventures. He talks about the ups and downs of moving to a new country and offers advice for anyone considering doing the same.

Tips and key takeaways

Find a scholarship abroad

  1. Consider going to the country as a tourist before making the final decision
  2. Reach out to universities and schools directly. In-person if possible.
  3. Search for “scholarship and financial aid” section on the school website.
  4. Reach out to Scholarship and financial aid office in the school you want to attend.
  5. Ask your teachers if they know some students who moved abroad and reach out to them to learn how they did it.


Learn a new language

  1. Change your environment
  2. Change the language on your phone.
  3. Get content in the new language (TV, books, newspaper, etc.)
  4. Talk to people as much as possible.
  5. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
  6. Start by reading children’s books and watching cartoons.
  7. Use the features built-in your smartphone and kindle to look up for word’s meaning and pronunciation.

About

Eugenio

Eugenio was born in Naples (Italy) and grew up in a small town called Montesarchio, located in the Italian Campania region. He left his hometown at the age of 19 and relocated to New York to pursue his undergraduate studies and experience life abroad for the first time. After almost five years of life-changing personal and professional experiences, Eugenio moved to Paris (France), where he has lived for the last four years and developed his career working in corporate integrity and compliance. 

The next stop in Eugenio's life will be Zurich (Switzerland), where he will be joining his partner, whom he met during his studies in New York.


In July of 2021, Eugenio joined his brother (Emmanuele, currently living in the US) in a new adventure called “The Overseas Dream,” a small community where all those who identify themselves as immigrants/expat or anything else could share their individual and authentic experiences. Everyone has experienced living abroad in his/her/their way. “The Overseas Dream” wants to make sure that that person can share their story and indirectly help someone who might come from a similar background and who could benefit significantly from it.

Episode Transcript

Eugenio  0:03  
and home is an extra word about certain things such as grocery shopping or to doctor, you know everything you have your own ecosystem when when you leave abroad, that ecosystem disappears and you have to build it back up. And while he said you had, I don't know, 19 years in my case to build that ecosystem you have to build there in a week

Daniel De Biasi  0:29  
Hi, everyone, and welcome to episode number 62 of Amy grants live podcast, where we share stories of people who left the country to chase a better life. And through the stories you can find ideas, resources, a motivation to do the same. I am Daniel de biasI, and my guest this week left Italy to go and start in the US. Most people leave the country because they want a better life. But as you will hear in this episode, LJ new love this life in Italy. Still, he decided to move to New York to live a life that most will consider much more than what he had back home. Not for Virginia, though he was happy and feel with a new type of energy that he had never felt before. In this episode, JR shares how he found a scholarship and what you should do if you struggle to find and get one. He also shares the challenges rejection and failures along the way and how he overcomes them. A genuine lived in the US and France. And because he had to learn English and French, he came up with a very effective formula to master a new language, change your environment, make mistakes and learn like a baby. So if you're thinking of studying abroad, or learning a new language, this episode is for you. If not, you will still find your genius stories super inspiring and fascinating. So without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with my fellow Italian Junior. Daniel, thanks for being on the show.

Eugenio  1:50  
Hello, how are you?

Daniel De Biasi  1:51  
I'm awesome. I'm really good. I'm really good. And actually, I'm very excited to have you here the show because I think we were like really similar. We both come from a small town in Italy. And now we are on the same journey to try to help other people and doing the same thing, which is like moving abroad. But before we start talking about your business, the overseas dream, I want to actually hear your story. What was your life back in Italy? Well, what would you describe your life back in Italy.

Eugenio  2:15  
So if I had to describe that in one word, it was beautiful. It was an amazing life I had, I was surrounded by beautiful people that still surround me when they go back to Italy. And I grew up in a very small town, which is called Montes archaea. And it's located in between the heels of the Campania region, it's not far from Naples, the city of Naples. And growing up in such as Motown also made me aware that it is the village that raises you. And it is totally true. I had the chance to meet beautiful people and grew up with a lot of people at the same time. So we could could just spend every day together pretty much but apart from that, in Italy had a beautiful life, a family that took care of me every second every day and they gave me everything they could basically I had everything a kid could dream of. And I was the happiest person in my life. And I'm still very happy to have been raised in Montesano. And so I grew up there. And I also was in Italy until I finished high school.

Daniel De Biasi  3:25  
That's pretty interesting. Because like most people talk about like, what was your life? Like? There's always something wrong, there's always a reason to leave. But hearing you say like my life was beautiful, which I can totally resonate with you more reason than to leave Italy. Because one of the things I'd like to add is because I don't know your experience. But when I talk to people in Canada, even when I was in New Zealand, I was telling them I was from Italy, people's lack of supply, like what are you doing here? Like Italy is such a great country and all their things? Why did you suddenly why you're leaving here like you're crazy. What was your like experience? Do you have the same thing and what was your reason for you to leave Italy?

Eugenio  4:02  
I get people telling me that it has happened on a lot of occasions. And it is totally normal because it is true, right? Someone listening to this podcast may say this person is crazy. Why would you leave you say your life was beautiful there? Why would you actually live and while I love Montes, arco and Italy in general. I also have always been a person who wanted to explore to to know more about other people to also understand different cultures and also understand how I was different from others. How my culture was different than others. I wanted to understand that and that is always something that interests me, but there was something different that happened that pushed me to go away because despite I always thought of, of traveling and exploring I always thought of that from a touristic point of view. So I always thought I would have gone outside just visiting But on to the sort of age I really didn't have in mind to actually leave Italy. When I was 16, I decided to the tryouts for the Naval Academy. And I did the tryouts for the Naval Academy, the Air Force, the finance guard, which is specific to Italy, the army. And it was a one year process. It's a bit of it's known as kind of the West Point of Italy. And I get to the last step, it was a one year process done of different steps. And I got to the last step with the Naval Academy, it was a very tough process. And at very last, I did not pass. And but I started unprepared for that, since I was 1617, actually, so it was pretty hard to accept. And at the same time, I told myself, what do I do now. And that's when I decided that I wanted to leave, I decided I wanted to leave not because I was disappointed in Italy at all, it was me who did not pass the exam it yet, so I had nothing against Italy, I just wanted to leave, I just wanted to see if if it was me. Or if I could do more if I could try to do something different and, and just, you know, break those barriers that I was putting myself because after failing the Academy, I thought of myself as nothing, I felt that I failed. And so I told myself can actually do more than this. Let's see what I can really do. So I had my brother who was already living in the US, he was living in upstate New York in he was attending a community college there. And so I thought, why not the US? Right? Everyone says that it's great to us. Great. You have a lot of opportunities there. Why not try? I'm young, I was 19 at the time, just graduated from high school. So had a lot of thoughts about that. So and that's when I decided to go

Daniel De Biasi  6:51  
was the reason behind trying to get into the army in a way that was like a naval, you try other branches of the Army, like what was the reason behind was the reason because you want to try to move abroad through this organization or like through these opportunities?

Eugenio  7:06  
That's a very interesting question. And I also feel a bit shy to talk about it, but I will talk about it because it's important to say, the main reason why I wanted to join the academies was because I was attracted by the external image that I would have gained by becoming an officer, I was attracted more to the external image, but I was not aware of what he would have meant to join the Academy. And what would have been the kind of life that I would have had for the rest of my life. I wasn't aware of that. I was just looking at the image, right? You watched the movies, the gentlemen officer, you watch Top Gun, and you have this fantasize image of the academy. And so I was trying to see myself there. And in a very narcissistic way. And that, luckily enough, I realized that when failing. So I was kinda lucky and lucky. And that's when I really thought to myself going abroad is going to help me also discover myself, because I've realized that by having the influence of people around me and of thinking that the academy was the one choice, the right choice for anyone at that age, I thought that was the only chance that I had and also the only thing I could really do. And that's when I told myself, I really need to understand what I want for myself, I really need to know myself better. I've never asked myself that question until that point. So that's why I wanted to join the Academy. That's why at the end of the join in try again,

Daniel De Biasi  8:40  
how old were you when you like, Let's go failed the academy. 19. So you still pretty young, even when you just told me that you are trying to move abroad? What are you actually aware of like the reason behind you wanting to go to the army at that point, or that's something that came later in during time? No,

Eugenio  8:57  
I just started there. I understood it at that moment. When I was in the academy that week. That's when I understood it. I remember because during that week I I was calling my parents. We were just one day we were allowed to use our phones. He was on a Thursday. And I remember I told my parents was like, No, this is very nice. You know, I'm not suffering. It's just that. Yeah, I think I'm realizing what it really means.

Daniel De Biasi  9:25  
Honestly, the more I know you the more like totally relate with your story and your point of view. It took me a while to realize this. One of the main reasons I decided to leave Italy wasn't really for me leaving Italy was going to be like when I come back to Italy and see my friends like these guys lived abroad. It was like a romanticized idea. Like you're going to be the school guide and live abroad and all that and then go back to Italy. I was romanticizing that aspect of living abroad more than actually living abroad. What's going to be when I go back, the more likely it's going to be in my life abroad, and took me years to realize that I was not aware of it. Absolutely not aware of it. I took me like, yeah, good five years to realize that why looks like very similar like a super superficial thing to do, or to think about like, going, like my case was moving abroad UK is we're trying to join the Naval Academy. But I don't know if it's a normal thing when you're like young trying to like a show off or being cool or whatever, like

Eugenio  10:22  
very normal reading, especially with social media, right? We all want to be the center of attention. So I think it's normal.

Daniel De Biasi  10:30  
And so you decided to move to the US and probably join your brother because your brother was already there. And so what was the process for you to move to the US,

Eugenio  10:39  
it was a bit of a tough process, because I had to figure out a bit the immigration part. So I wasn't really aware what it meant to move to the US from an administrative point of view. And so I had to learn a lot about how the immigration law applied there. And also what kind of documents you needed, what you could do what you cannot do, there was a lot of that involved. So you really start learning to take care of yourself, because you need to be aware of so many things, right, and the one mistaking costs during immigration papers. So it's very important. And also, I basically get in touch with people who are new from Italy, that was were already living there. And also based on my brother experience. And I was lucky enough to be hosted in Brooklyn for some time by a person who came from my same village and own the restaurant in Brooklyn. And so I was very lucky. I had people who helped me. And then as soon as I arrived, I made a lot of friends, I met a lot, a lot of friends who helped me in assisting me and I was extremely lucky. But I always reached out for help. Always reached out, you never do it by yourself? Never.

Daniel De Biasi  11:53  
Did you do a mediation process on yourself. You are a professional to do it.

Eugenio  11:57  
No. That would have been expensive. I didn't even check because I know he would have been expensive. And I mean, it was not rocket science, of course. But that moment, it didn't look like rocket science for a moment. So throughout the immigration process, I asked so many questions, I involved so many people. I asked anybody also people who are already living there, and also Americans themselves who were not even aware of that process, of course, because they are citizens, right. But I reached out a lot. I asked questions, and probably my browser had like 1000 tabs open trying to figure out something a question, learning a bit the the words that were used. So there were a lot of things I had to learn. And the integration process was the most painful one of the most painful one, anybody who moved to the, to a country outside of Europe, I think, realize that. But

Daniel De Biasi  12:49  
even the process to go to Europe, from people from outside of Europe is not easy, either. Like country. There's always I think there must be a reason behind like, why the EU, like these kind of barriers are like a loop. So you have to jump through, there must be a reason. But there's no country, that is easy. But first of all, like what was your way to move to the US? What was your like idea of how to get to the US.

Eugenio  13:14  
So my idea of how to get to the US was definitely first go there as a tourist, just understand just be sense the territory, right? Understand a bit how, what it means to really be there, you know, I say we did with this person was to me there. And also I was just trying to understand, basically, if I could really hold that, right, if I could really do that. So I stayed for three months as tourists in the beginning. And also that allowed me to get in touch with universities and basically do my whole understanding of how the system worked. And then, you know, come back to Italy that you go again. So it was a lot of back and forth. Until I got my visa. I got my visa after a couple of months after I found a university who would basically give me a high 20, which is a document that you need in order to get a student visa. And so the process entailed a lot of basically trying to understand how the process worked, and especially living there by living there. I really understood if I could do it or not. And the fun fact is, when I finished my first month in the US, I said I'm not ready for this. And the moment I went back to Italy, I said I'm ready for this. It was I really cannot explain why this is the fact is fact. But yeah, I remember taking off from New York after my tourist visa was expired. And I said, okay, I'm good. I'm gone. And then the moment I landed, I was like I'm coming back. It was I didn't even get off the plane. So I really could not explain that. It was just I don't know. It's crazy.

Daniel De Biasi  14:59  
And what was the First impression when you land in the US because I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the audience look up to Americans, we grew up thinking that Americans are so much ahead of us, our future and everything is great. And I don't know we watching the movies. And we're like, with just clear like this image of America and what America would look like we call the American dream and go into America. There's like, so many, like a different way in Italian culture to say like, like, it's so good that you find something great. What was your idea? When you let in that the US expectation were like matching your idea? Or what was it like,

Eugenio  15:35  
The expedition was definitely mentioned my dad from New York, I always wanted to live the big city life, it is something that always like I wanted to do because I was a bit. It was romanticized, also via the Hollywood culture that we lived as kids in Italy, right? Like we had television and stuff like that. But apart from that, a pretty high expectation of New York as a city, from a technological point of view. And especially from the cultural point of view, I was expecting to meet any culture in the world, because New York for me was the real melting pot. So it was something that was my first expectation. When I landed there, I was extremely scared, for many reasons. And one of them was, because I was asked, I kept asking myself, Am I doing the right thing? Because I could have tried again, with the Academy. And I felt in that moment, a bit of a weight on my shoulders. And that way it was because I told myself, if you make a mistake, this is going to last for a long time forever, pretty much. If you're making the wrong choice, you pay the consequences for it. And I know I was 19. Right? So it's not something that the person that that it should ask him or herself. But at the same time, I told myself, I need to make the right choice. Am I making the right choice, right. And also, I kept seeing on social media that the people that I tried to Academy with, they all got in, right. So I saw that they posted pictures and things and talk about it. So as always, am I even doing the right thing? So I was I was a bit scared. I was scared and I will not. You know, I will also say that I cried some times admitted beginning because I was really scared of doing the wrong thing. But then the moment I got out of the subway, remember I was with my brother, I got out of the subway, first time in Manhattan. I just felt like I had energy. All of a sudden, I just felt like added motivation had something. I didn't know what it was. But I felt that there was something pushing me. There was something motivating me the moment that I got out of the of the subway stairs, I felt that I was ready for the challenge, even though I didn't know what the challenge was going to be.

Daniel De Biasi  17:51  
And when you're talking about the fear of not making the right choice, you were thinking maybe I have to try again, to get into the Naval Academy.

Eugenio  18:00  
Yeah, I told myself, Yes, I did that because of you know, the the romanticized idea of the academy at the same time, is probably the best thing I can do. Right? Because I get to the last step. So I told myself, I can do this second time I can do it. So I told myself, Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing the right thing. But then the moment I was there, the more I spent time, the more I told myself, this is where I want to be. And it's still today, right? I live in a different city. And if I had a chance, I will go tomorrow to New York, I will go back tomorrow to New York. Without a doubt,

Daniel De Biasi  18:37  
when he decided to leave Italy was your idea to leave Italy permanently or just like going have an experience. And then going back to italy at some point.

Eugenio  18:47  
The first first time when I went as a tourist, I wasn't really sure. I knew I wanted to live, but I wasn't sure New York was going to be the place. Second time when I got my visa. I was entrepreneur Central New York was going to be the place

Daniel De Biasi  19:01  
to you're not like thinking going back to Italy, like I want to live in. I want to live in the US 100% And last time we spoke before the interview, you were telling me that the process of getting the scholarship to go to the US wasn't easy. Even then you have a failed few obligation there as well right now, like I like to ask you because I want to try to help the listeners that are on the same situation. They're like trying to go and starting abroad. Were you looking for a scholarship? There's a website, there's like I have to go through the school to find scholarships. How does that work?

Eugenio  19:33  
It depends on the school you're attending. So in my case, the school that I really wanted to go to identity and had luck to attend. After many, many rejections it was a public institution, a public college, and so like every university that is scholarship and Financial Aid section in every website of every any college in the US, and that's where you they give a lot of suggestions to another parter was also by reaching out to the scholarship and financial aid office of every college right? Talking to the person might seem useless, especially if the person is telling you, you can just check on the website. But what I did also showed up there is show up, show up without an invitation, because nobody is going to invite you, especially when it comes to money. I showed up. And I basically I needed the information. And that's what happens, people will start remembering your name. And that's when you will get responses when people will remember your name. Because you were there you were there, you were insistent, because you need it. Sometimes what happens, especially when we are in accounts that we don't know where we are in the environment that we don't feel we know, the moment that somebody tells us no, we're like, okay, I'll step back. I tried to list right, you need to try even 10 times sometimes,

Daniel De Biasi  20:51  
sometime we will like reaching out with English is not the first language or the language you're going to is not your first language. Even reaching out to people is scary, because like you're going to a university, and they don't know you. But when I started learning English, when I moved to New Zealand, I felt stupid, because I couldn't communicate properly. And that's for me, living a normal life. I can't even imagine what it means to go to university, I need to look smart. How do you do that when you're not even able to speak the language properly.

Eugenio  21:20  
So the one thing I did at the time was I printed out my because I did TOEFL. It was a horrible score. I mean, horrible. I mean, it was okay score, it was an 82. So I couldn't really get into any Ivy League. Of course, I didn't have the money for that. So what I did, I printed out my TOEFL just as a justification that I spoke English. Because sometimes I realized that people like to look at certificates. And I just went, I went to different ones, different colleges. And I went as even as north as New Rochelle, which is then the first college to me. But that's how you do it. You just have to show up. And the moment you start thinking what the other person is thinking you get lost? Because then you remember, what do you have to say? Yeah, that's what that's the first thing that happens, right? When you're learning a language, you start thinking, Oh, she thinks, oh, he thinks I'm stupid, right? The moment we are talking, and I'm, I'm Kena language, and I have a huge accent, you can hear it from one kilometer away, or even more, the first thing you're saying is, oh, my god, like this person actually thinks I'm stupid. And if you go ahead with that thinking, you will get nowhere. Nobody here is thinking anything you cannot read anybody's mind. Right? You just have to go like, you just have to say what you want to say. It will come to a point where you really need it. And what I told myself, many times motivated because I also consider myself to be a bit shy as a person, depending on the situation. So I don't know if there is a category for that when you have to check boxes. But ever in between is not an introvert not an extrovert, but in between, that did feel terrorized sometimes even go because I felt as I was bothering them almost because I didn't speak the language. So why am I even going right? But then I told myself, if I don't try, I really risk that I did all of this for nothing. I'm wasting my time. Do I really want it? I don't, I don't want to waste my time. When you move to another country, you don't have enough money, almost no money, and you really need to find a solution. You need to act you need to make those mistakes. And it has happened to me that they told me I even sure that you speak English, but you need to get a better score. It has happened to me a lot. And I remember the school that rejected me on my second rejection, I went to the CUNY universities University of New York. And I remember they had an office on 42nd Street. And I went there so many times. And there you do a huge line because they manage the admissions for all CUNY colleges, which a lot a lot of colleges. And so I went there. And I remember this admission person even screaming at me, saying I've seen you so many times, I don't even know what to tell you anymore. And the only problem was at the end, that they could not confirm that my high school grades were good enough to get into college. And that's because there was an error in the translation and mistaken translation. That's as simple as that. But if you don't go there, you don't talk, you will never understand I still got my second rejection because they managed to understand my grades, right? But then they realized that my grades were good.

Daniel De Biasi  24:15  
So that the two times they got rejected was just a problem with the translation of the document,

Eugenio  24:20  
not justly. And so the first time was because I didn't even understand in English that I submitted my application late was as bad as that second time translation. And third time it was just because they actually got an admitted with condition. And they told me that I had to do a math test, although I graduated from a scientific High School in Italy, and I had a very good grade in math, so I didn't really actually need to do that. They just misread my grades. They just didn't understand it. So they just put me into into some conditional acceptance. And I never got the letter because they sent it to Italy and never got the letter or where it said when I had to take the test. And when I called them, they didn't understand me, I didn't understand them. So it was a whole mess. So at the end, they got into another college in the beginning. You know, I also had do a lot of talking to the mission office for my grades to let them understand that my grades were actually good and everything. And then I got in with a good scholarship. And I started there. And I told myself, I can still trust her because my goal was to actually go to John Jay College, which is where I graduated from a DA right. And that was part of the City University of New York was a very good system. I loved it, and the professors were amazing. You have district attorneys that came out from there. It was amazing to me. And so yes, I wanted to go there. But I told myself I couldn't get in. Because it was so difficult. It's a public university, that is too many people. The admission office doesn't even know how to deal with the people from the US. I'll let you measure people outside of the US at the time, at least, that they improved a lot. So yeah, I went to morrow College, and then I transferred, I got a good GPA, the grade point average. And so once I got good grades, I could transfer directly. I didn't need to explain anymore. My Italian grades and everything worked out. It took some time.

Daniel De Biasi  26:15  
Yeah, actually. Okay, a couple of questions here. First of all, just to understand, like, how did you find these colleges, we pretty much he knew where you wanted to go in the US and just like search for a university around, he went to their website and trying to find a scholarship on their own websites, right. Is that what you did?

Eugenio  26:31  
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And you reach out to the office. Okay. So there's

Daniel De Biasi  26:35  
not like a platform that you can find like a scholarship in the US. And there's like a shows up on you do

Eugenio  26:40  
have platforms, right? There are platforms and the everchanging, there is a lot, a lot of platforms, I cannot even name them at the moment, because there is so many, but it is the best option is to go with the school. Why? Because many times the school is, at least is the entity responsible for assigning the scholarship most of the times. And because for instance, the scholarship comes from funding that has been provided by alumni. So in that case, is the school that administers the money and which means that selects the people does the interviews are needed. And so in that case, I always suggest to go straight to the source, which is the school ID website says For instance, this scholarship comes from our alumni, John Jay College, which was my college, I go straight to John Jay College, I don't go to the website, right, because they will take two screenings. So I go straight to the source. And that's why I suggest to go to the school because the school usually is the source where the money comes from, at least is the the entity managing the money, the funds, depending on the scholarship,

Daniel De Biasi  27:41  
in your experience, maybe I don't know, because maybe you're studying in like a small town and maybe if you go to a different school is different. But is there any way that maybe the school you're attaining in your country already has some connection with university abroad where you have like, a fast path to get to the scholarship or not really.

Eugenio  28:00  
So at the time, my school I remember didn't really have anything, not even in Europe, it was not an option, at least as far as I knew. There might have been something and I've never heard of it. I know there are some schools that do that in bigger city as well. But what I will do, especially nowadays, right, we are in an age where a lot of people emigrated. A lot of people our age, a lot of millennials especially emigrated, right. So if today, I will be on my fourth year of high school, I will reach out to the alumni of my school, I will Google them, teenagers nowadays, they know how to use Google even better than us than what we used to do. It takes nothing to just Google people to ask professors, right professors, many times they know what the alumnus did, right? So and that's what my uncle actually did after some time. I remember that to promote the high school, they did a video with all the people who left Oh, people who did amazing careers, right, and why to choose this school. So talking to your professors also understand, you know, anybody of your former students who left the country and went to this university, they will know most of the time, they will know most of the time, and if not, they will give you some leads. So the key here, as I was also saying before, is to ask questions to ask, don't just keep them to yourself. And if you don't want to ask question to a person as that on Google, just type that down. But make sure to reach out, because somebody might have to respond, send your professors and also, if by is searching on Google, for instance, you put the name of your ice school and then you put on LinkedIn, you see if somebody put it indicating their profile, and you see that it's the person coming from your own town, you get a lead there, and you can learn from it.

Daniel De Biasi  29:49  
Awesome. That's a great advice. And now the question then I was going to ask you before, so you failed the Naval Academy once and you give up By you failed as a publication like three or four times you still didn't like, give up you still like what like you were like at that point, like you were saying, like, that's where I wanted to go. Yeah. And all these failures, I guess came after you come back from the US, right? Or was before he went to the US.

Eugenio  30:16  
So first time I applied is as soon as I went to the US, I just applied and I didn't know what I was doing. And so that's when I got rejected. Second time, it's towards the end of my Stay, and play it again, and I got rejected. And then the third time was, I remember a couple of months after when I was basically because I got the conditional acceptance, but I could not ask for the visa. So it was a whole mess. And I told myself, I cannot just wait for that. So I just went with another school, which is the one that accepted me. But yes, it pushed me to, I felt motivated, because I knew there was something that because of the language, I really could not understand it that grace I could solve, I knew that I was not the issue. I was convinced. 100%, although the circumstances really showed, if somebody will look at the circumstances, right, and what happened objectively, they will say, this guy's useless. This guy is just cannot make it. But I will sure, myself, I was confident enough. And I told myself, I'm gonna make it. I was extremely depressed, especially when talking to my friends back home, I told myself I can, you know, I've been rejected, again, I've problems with my visa, it was something that I shared a lot. And that's where the support system came out that I realized that a strong support system of my friends back home, and also the friends that I made in the US who were looking forward to me there with them. So it was a lot and it takes a lot of confidence. And, and also like you have to be convinced about what you want, and what you know, is good for you. If you don't know that you lost

Daniel De Biasi  31:53  
the baby, then how do you know that? If it's good for you? Because yeah, as you say yourself, like when you were in the US, you weren't even sure like you actually you change your mind. Like, I don't think I want to do this anymore. They change your mind when you went back to Italy. Yeah. Like how do you know if you're sure what do you know? But what fascinates me the fact that you kept going even to failures, three failures, were not enough for you to change your mind, compared to the Naval Academy that you fail once. And you try something else here like it was fascinates me like, he didn't give up. But like, there's so many reasons for you to say like, you know what, this is not working out. Maybe the US is not updated. Maybe I can try something else. But you didn't. That's what fascinates me.

Eugenio  32:32  
I think the one thing that unconsciously motivated me was New York, as I was saying before, that city gave me the energy to fight the challenge that I still didn't know existed. That's the weirdest thing ever. I could say, but it's true. I really cannot explain how I just felt that there was something I could do. I felt that I could overcome the challenge. In the Academy, I knew that I failed, right? I knew that I had to do again, the same thing. And that's where the difference was, while he said there. I said, Okay, I failed. But why did I fail? It's because part of me doesn't know what I'm doing. When I filled out the papers, I didn't really know what I was doing. And I knew that I was aware of it. So it was a bit also of like, throwing an arrow, you know, like, I'm trying to find for luck. But in reality, I really didn't know what I was doing. But at the same time I told myself, I'm trying, right, and I'm learning. And there I felt I was in an environment where my willingness to learn was being fostered was being nurtured. Right I was, I was the right place the right time. And you know that I've talked to so many people who have had very similar experiences. And the one thing that, you know, makes us all closer on this is that we all felt that we were in a place at a moment where we were extremely motivated to go ahead with it and to continue fighting for it. So main difference summed up is that when I fail with Academy, I knew I didn't want to do this again. And I knew I failed. And I knew that I didn't have another chance really well. He said they're in New York, I felt like I had 1000 chances. I felt like I was a lion. I felt I felt like I had all the opportunities I wanted. I felt that the city was really pushing me to go for it. People will might listen to this might say this guy is crazy. It's like,

Daniel De Biasi  34:22  
No, I don't think you are and actually I think it's something that I heard from other people that I interviewed the fact even for myself, like the fact when you leave your own country, you will go into a new environment. It feels like the freedom of being whoever you want. You're not constrained by default of the picture the other people around you made of you. Like you're not this guy that failed to go to the Naval Academy. You're in this new country where you can do anything you want. You can pursue any career you want. You got the freedom to be whoever you wanted. I think that's for many people. It changes the beauty of stuff fresh in your country.

Eugenio  35:03  
That's true. That's a very good point. I totally agree with that.

Daniel De Biasi  35:07  
So why, what career did you pursue? When you went to the US? When you go to school? What kind of did you put your mind into something else? Like, that's what I want to do?

Eugenio  35:16  
Yes, I had a big dream is becoming an attorney. So I, I want to become an attorney. And that's why I chose to specialize in criminal law in the US. And it's something that has always fascinated me, and I still love today, unfortunately, didn't get to become an attorney, the end for many reasons that we can talk about. But that was the big dream for me becoming an attorney in the US.

Daniel De Biasi  35:43  
Was that a dream coming from watching movies as well? Actually, no, no. Okay, that's

Eugenio  35:47  
the one thing I have to say, because I asked myself the question, but not,

Daniel De Biasi  35:52  
it was not an hour long did you stay in the US

Eugenio  35:55  
almost five years. It was it was a big journey. And it was the most beautiful time of my life. It was the most beautiful time of my life. I met amazing people, especially going to a public university, I met people who came from every possible background, and who really struggled, who really tried to, you know, they worked every day, they really were, they had something that pushed them, even though they didn't have the means to do and to go for it, they still tried. And that's what pushed me also, there were many things that made New York the best place in the world for me, and especially the fact as I was sending you before that, I felt motivated, even for a challenge that I didn't know existed, it was the best time of my life.

Daniel De Biasi  36:44  
So this is a second time that you live your life beautiful life behind and move to another country, because now you don't live in the US anymore. Now you live in Paris in France. The second choice a second time you make the decision to live this beautiful life in country, wills coming from you or was coming from an external factor that you couldn't stay in the US any longer.

Eugenio  37:05  
There are many factors, many factors that play to my decision of moving to France, and specifically to Paris. So one of them is when I was about to graduate from college in the US, I got a scholarship to prepare for the LSAT. Do you know what the LSAT is? No, so is the Law School Admission Test. And to become an attorney in the US, you have to first go to law school after you graduate from college. So once you earn your undergraduate degree, your bachelor's, you go to law school, it was three years of law school in order to get into law school, you have to pass the LSAT, which is a very difficult exam, especially if you're not a native speaker. And then after three years of law school, you have to pass the bar exam. And so I got this scholarship with Kaplan, to prepare for the outset. And I was ready to take the exam. But then I started asking myself so many questions. One of them was, what if I don't get the visa, once admitted into law school, there was a big batch. And my visa was about to expire actually expired the day after I graduated from college, so I had to I left right away after graduating. And so there could have been a chance that my visa would have not been renewed. And I would have been admitted to law school. So in that case, I would, I would have lost acceptance. Okay, so

Daniel De Biasi  38:36  
that's not automatic. It's not that if you get accepted, not automatically or the candidate, the school helps you to get a visa.

Eugenio  38:43  
So basically, the way this is formalized is that the school provides you what is called as an i 20. The i 20 is a document that formalizes the requests of the school for you to get a visa. And this is something that you submit, you provide to the embassy, for instance, in Italy, and you ask them to give you a visa to study in the US on the basis of the information that is provided on the i 20. And so I Any school can give you an advantage. As long as basically you get accepted, you have the means to pay for it, sometimes scholarships, and also the show where you leave and everything. But that doesn't mean that the I 20 is not a confirmation that you're going to get a visa, especially because I already had five years of visa. I already had a visa for five years as a student for bachelor's and when you go to the US, and you get a non immigrant visa, so the student visa, the expectation is that after you complete your studies, you leave the US this is why it's called a non immigrant visa. And so that's why I told myself there is a pretty big risk that I'm going to go back to Italy to renew my visa. I don't get it renewed and then I could have not had access the US because then you cannot ask again for the same visa for some time. So it's it would have been a pretty big risk that I was going to take, you know, I already lost one year and a half when I had to apply for college. So I didn't want to run the risk again, right time is of the essence and times. And there were other factors. I said, also looking for the programs, especially in Europe, because there as a European passport older, I had access to a lot of scholarships, and I saw a master's program in Paris in the international public management. It was a pretty good Master's. And I had a pretty good scholarship option that I could access to access to. So I told myself, why not try. And I tried to three schools for graduate programs in one in Berlin, one in Geneva, and one in Paris, and I got it to Berlin, in Paris with very good funding options. And also, the other option was that I told myself, okay, I want to become an attorney. But what is that you would like to do as an attorney, right? And the one focus of my goal was corruption. Corruption is something that has always fascinated me, I've overstocked about it. And it's always something on which I focus my studies. That's where I told myself can I work in the field, even by not becoming attorney in the US, at least for now? Yes, you can. And that's where I decided to go for International Property Management in Paris. And then the last factor was also because I met a lady in the in the US, and she moved to Geneva, we met at the same university in New York. And then once you move to Geneva, I also decided to go back to Europe because I felt that I wanted to be with her. And, in fact, today, we live together in pairs. And we've been together for five years.

Daniel De Biasi  41:36  
So I guess the last factor was the the last drop. Oh, there was like, there were many. But that was probably the main factor. I guess, at that point.

Eugenio  41:45  
Yeah, it was definitely a big factor. Definitely be excited, but to do one thing, and that's also one of the reasons why I love her is because she supports in everything that I always want to do. And same thing I do for her. So there is this mutual understanding that we are ready to follow our dreams. But we're still there for the other. And that was a big factor for me. So I definitely didn't feel pushed to come back to Europe. I didn't feel any pressure. I was just, I knew I was making the right decision. And I know I did.

Daniel De Biasi  42:19  
I guess your parents were happy to see me getting up closer, I guess.

Eugenio  42:23  
Yeah, they were they were the one thing about my parents is that they've always been happy. Regardless, right? Even though both of me and my brother left very early, they were always happy to just see that we were happy. And that's the one thing that I admire a lot about them. I don't know if as a parent, I could do the same thing. I really don't know. And I will discover, I guess, I don't know. But they've always been supportive. Even if they we didn't really tell them what we were doing. Or we didn't we weren't very clear about what our plans were. They always said, as long as you're happy, we're fine. And that's the one thing that also made me very confident about the decisions I made.

Daniel De Biasi  43:03  
Yeah, I mean, having the support of your family that's a big part of their like, leaving, like, emotional

Eugenio  43:09  
psychological support. It's, it's key. It's just amazingly key.

Daniel De Biasi  43:14  
So now that you live in Paris, I guess you speak two languages speak French now.

Eugenio  43:19  
Yeah, I work in French as well. Yeah.

Daniel De Biasi  43:21  
So your English is pretty good. So it's a pretty good English level. And now French, I guess you pretty good in French as well, like, Are you like a language kind of guy? Or do you have a like a technique? So what I have to learn these languages, so Well,

Eugenio  43:34  
the one thing I do when I learn a language is that I make sure that my environment, the environment around me, also helps me do that fosters a learning environment, right? So it's, I changed the language on my phone, I watch TV in the language. I read the newspaper in the language, and I really read the newspapers, I read books, and I fallen asleep so many times I live in count. I've been to the movies and slept so many times, I've had the best sleep of my life in movie theaters. And also talking to people trying and making the mistake of actually saying something wrong. That's where I learned the most as well. The time that you you want to order the pizza, and you're scared of even ordering it by the phone, just do it. That's the times when you learn, right when people speak fast to you where you can really hear them on the phone. Those are the situations where you really have to learn the language. Try to make friends that don't necessarily reflect your background. Because those are the friends will push you to learn the language. Don't just go into the environment where you feel comfortable because everybody speaks Italian everybody speaks English or your language, whatever it might be, not just going to the environment where you feel uncomfortable. You have to feel uncomfortable if you want to learn something, regardless of what it is. It's just not about languages. It's about everything. You have to go and try you have to try and try and that's what helped me the most But definitely the big factories, changing your environment, adapting it. Basically, I consider myself when I start learning a language as a baby, like you have to start small and you know, and slowly get higher and higher level because, for instance, in France, this book is called a pity, Nicola, and it's a children book. But I'm telling you, it's the best book ever. I mean, I loved it. And that's also because that's the first thing I could ever read. When I arrived in Paris, I worked in a French startup. And so this friend of mine gave me this book and said, This is the first book you have to read in France. And that's what I read. And from there, then I went on to veto Ruko, and you name it, but that's where you start, right? You start small and start watching cartoons, right? When it came to English, I learned with The Simpsons in the beginning, especially because it was American English, The Simpsons and other series for French, I learned with children book, and then go into cartoons. And then I go into serious and then movies, and then books, and newspapers, especially with smartphones, what I do a lot, I have the app of the newspaper I read, for instance, if you have an iPhone or any phone, you have if you click on the word, it gives you the translation of the word, the meaning of it, it puts it into sentence for you, in the beginning is going to be a painful process, because he has to really work through it, you have to have the patience to look the word and everything, but then it gets better. Also, another suggestion, I know that it's cool to have the physical book, but I'm telling you having a Kindle helps you also learn a language because Kindle when you have connection, it also translates the word for you. Like you can click on the word and he gives you actually doesn't even translate it, he actually gives you a explains the meaning of the word in the language that you're reading it and that's amazing. So I was learning French and the explaining the word in French by using other words. And that's the best thing ever. One thing I really don't suggest you just start writing down all the words because you're going to get bored, you're going to get super bored. I tried a lot of times, I had a little notebook on the side and I wrote the words I didn't know I translated them, I took a dictionary, he takes time, you need to facilitate the process for yourself. Make sure you're comfortable if you're comfortable taking notes in a notebook. So be it but I suggest to facilitate the process. Make sure that you're comfortable reading the language you enjoy the process because it's a beautiful process. I don't even know how many suggestions I gave him one. But I guess that the main thing is change your environment. And be uncomfortable.

Daniel De Biasi  47:30  
Absolutely agree with everything you just said especially I can be uncomfortable. I think that's for me, it's always been the magic spot. Like when you feel uncomfortable. When you're outside your comfort zone, that thing where the magic always happens. So I absolutely agree with you. And also I like what you said the progression guy starting from a children's book to cartoons, and then TV shows and and more was just the progression because I remember when I started like learning English, of okay, I need to read in English. So I got like a book that I want to read in Italian, I got the same version in English. And it was like translating every single other word like it's this is like it's not enjoyable. Like, I don't even enjoy this. If you don't enjoy doing it, we won't do it. It's like you can force yourself a couple of times, but you can't repeat the same kind of love your approach like Star Trek is super easy with a children's book. Because that's the thing got higher these like a multiple times when you learn a language we are like a children's. Another thing that like to add from you say like about the Kindle, on iPhone or iPad, I probably enjoy this and will be the same thing. When you highlight a word to even like speak to if you don't know the pronunciation, that helps me a lot. Because sometimes you can't do exactly like you did that you don't find the translation. Unless the meaning does make any sense sometimes, like I read the meaning like I don't understand, I understand but I'm really like account associated like how to use this word. And then I use the translation to see what's the translation in Italian. And also sometimes electronics is really Yeah, I love that. But yeah, and like even the spec, like if sometimes we don't even know how to pronounce the word like to make sure they just can speak you can select it. And the radio the the word

Eugenio  49:10  
probably I never did that because I was always in the train when I was reading. So it was always Yeah, I never listened but it's a pretty good suggestion and actually I need to start doing that.

Daniel De Biasi  49:20  
Because at the time we're like eons ago I like a smartwatch was an Apple watch I think was a pebble at the time was one of the first like Apple watches. And it was like these app it was kind of like flashcards. So when I didn't know award, and I was like sometime like there's words like release and like multiple times and still like I don't remember I can maybe if I hear it, I know the meaning. But if I have to use it doesn't come to my mind. So I was just like this flashcard was adding to my phone like this flashcard this was that I didn't know the meaning or I wanted to improve. And I think it could be like a deification every hour or whatever you said. You could just look at notification and see the card and you press like and you see in your mind like it was the mania okay and then You can flip the card. Now for me it was like super helpful just because you don't have to take the phone out all the time was on on your watch and just doing things like ArtSuite you carry on the orders of the equivalent right now. I see if I can find it and add it to the show notes for the people because I found it like a super useful another thing super cool. Yeah, yeah, it's radical. Yeah. Instead of having a notebook that you have to go through all the time, or just and then you can mark it like, Okay, I learned that Okay, that's it. Okay. Don't show me that anymore. Done.

Eugenio  50:26  
Call me lazy, but not notebook. Yeah, I tried.

Daniel De Biasi  50:30  
Alright, let's move to the question. And I always ask all the listeners, like, Do you have any regrets about leaving Italy?

Eugenio  50:36  
Not at all, no regrets, commitment choice. And not because I hate Italy. I actually love Italy, and love going back as much as I can. It's just I have no regrets. I'm just happy. And you will know when you're happy, you're happy. And the one thing is that I can not have regrets about extending the kinds of experiences I can have. By doing more experiences by meeting new people, I just, I have no regrets whatsoever. No regrets.

Daniel De Biasi  51:05  
And what's the main thing was the biggest upside about moving abroad, the biggest

Eugenio  51:10  
side, there was definitely the language and meeting people with stories that I've never heard of. Right, I'm sure that I could find the same interesting people also in Italy. And also people with very interesting backgrounds and stories in my entourage, of course, but I just loved to meet people who had a totally different background, the mind just trying to understand how the life was, where they grew, what kind of language to support, and just how their life was so much different than mine, I was like, This is amazing. I would have never found out about this right also, because, of course, you can find that out on the internet. But it's not the same thing. To me, the one thing of actually meeting people with different life stories and talking to them exchanging with them, and also learning from them. It's just something that is amazing to me. And I think that that was one of the big things. And also the kinds of opportunities that you open to your stuff and the network that you make, and the friends that you make once once you leave your country because you extend your life to so many, so much more possibilities. Your limit is becomes the world 100% Even someone who still lives in Italy. Their limit is the world is not it is the world. You can go anywhere you want. Of course, somebody can register it.

Daniel De Biasi  52:29  
Yeah, I mean, sooner or later, we're like, we're gonna tell him he won't even be the word. Because we're gonna go to different war different planets. I think the limit is we mean, the limits that you put on yourself. I think that's, yeah, I don't know you. But I know so many people back in my own town, they even like moving to the next town, it's a challenge. Like, they will never do that. Like, it's, they can't even leave their own town, like going five minutes away down the road. Even as a child.

Eugenio  52:54  
You know, that's fine. You know, I know also people who feel okay, but just, you know, being in their hometown, probably traveling sometimes or not even, but it's fine. You know, like, I still, you know, respect that decision. It's a decision, right. And I guess it's based also on what you love in life, what you want from life, and what you feel is good for you in life. You know, for me, it's different for them. I also understand that I've had the chance of talking to people who actually made that decision, and I get 100% why they do that? I wouldn't do the same thing myself. But that's because I'm, you know, I have a different way of thinking, and that's fine. We're all different. And that's the beautiful thing of it.

Daniel De Biasi  53:32  
Absolutely. Like a morning abroad is not for everybody, not everybody wants to move abroad, you know,

Eugenio  53:37  
and it's not the best decision for everyone. Because you can have a very bad experience. And I wouldn't wish that at 21.

Daniel De Biasi  53:43  
I agree. And speaking of bad situation and bad circumstances like was the main challenge that you have to face in your experience abroad

Eugenio  53:53  
is the daily challenges the small things, right, dealing with a problem when you don't know anybody. And when you don't know what to do, of course, the most undesirable thing is going to the hospital. And it's also the most difficult you have to explain your symptoms, you have to explain what you have, you have to go through the destructive part of it because as we know, for instance, in the United States is not the same health system. Totally different, right? And so, it's the small things even go grocery shopping, right? Let's say that you have some problem eating you need specific eating or you have a toothaches right in the beginning when I was there because it was too cold and my tooth could not handle it so I know what to do. And you're just lost and so that is many bad experiences I've had in the US extremely bad experiences. But the one thing that consistent was the daily challenges going to the laundromat and having to take the even the subway sometimes so the bus to go to do my laundry had to leave home with a suitcase with my clothes inside. Just take a bus to go to the laundry while instead of home. macaroni just started like, at home, right? Sometimes I've had, I remember someone who just took my clothes out of the lunchroom, put it on the ground, because that person needed the thing. And I was too late to go pick it up. So it was so many things, right? Also like buying groceries, finding a doctor, going to the post office to send a letter, I send so many happy birthday letters to people I know, in Italy, they never got them. So it's the small things, I think, right LC in France here, you know, we had an issue with the door, we paid so much money to fix the door, and it could have cost us so much less. But it's because we didn't really speak the language. And we had so many issues, understanding that, you know, you don't call it a certain time because you don't know something else. Right? So it's the daily challenges that make living abroad difficulties, not the big traumatizing issues, right, because those are one shot one of moments, right, is the small challenges. It's what makes your everyday life easier when you're back home. Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, right? Everyone has his own his or her own life. But it's the small things at home, for instance, is enough to worry about certain things such as grocery shopping, or to doctor, you know, everything you have your own ecosystem, when when you leave abroad, that ecosystem disappears, and you have to build it back up. And while you said you had, I don't know, 19 years, in my case, to build that ecosystem. You have to build it in a week. Especially when you have a health problem, right? Yeah. That was the challenge that go find a doctor in New York City. Oh, my God, right? Oh, go find, I don't know like that specific thing you need. I had, for instance, one this experience that I had this landlord who wanted me to clean the floor with a specific product, I didn't even understand what she was talking about. And so I had to go find this thing in a supermarket, which was huge, like American supermarket, I could not find it. So I was desperate. For what for detergent, but that's the thing. It's the small things you will get so demotivated sometimes over small things, but that's what makes it challenging. In my opinion.

Daniel De Biasi  57:08  
It's actually it's pretty interesting because hearing your story, your life in Italy was beautiful, was great. You were surrounded by friends, everything was great. And then you move to the US you have to carry your your like laundry into like a suitcase to get on the bus just to do the laundry, were in Italy, back in Italy, probably your mom will do the laundry for you just as easier just to go to the washing machine and just do your washing. If you tell this thing to people, they haven't move abroad like, what are you doing? Like? How can you say that this life is better than what you had? It's hard to explain why that is better. Right?

Eugenio  57:43  
But that's why when, when you ask me the question, and I know already what I'm going to answer because you know, I think about the answer. And I think in that specific moment, whoever was going to listen to this is going to think that what I'm saying makes no sense. And that's because you will only understand that once you make that step. So in my case, one is sounded crazy. And while in that moment when I was going into this bus with a lot of people, I had no scenario for myself and pilot you get for the luggage. I knew that I was there for visa, right I was via was doing the why was willing to do that, why I was willing to carry my laundry in a luggage and take a bus to go to the laundry for two hours, right. And sometimes even that to align for it as because I was in a city that motivated me to do that. Because I knew that there was part of this more things that I had to pile up in order to get my goal. And that's what was pushing me. But this is something you cannot understand. If you don't try right. Now, let's say that I would have stayed in Italy, right? And somebody would have told me you have to go do your laundry. I don't know. Like, thank you. I'm just from home. Right and you have to take a bus I don't think I would have done it simply because why would I even do that, to me was the environment that was really motivated me to push myself and to to not like to accept any of the circumstances that came with you ready to accept whatever comes with it. He might be you know, dinner's made on microwave. I've had the best days of my life. Men are a microwave by the way. And you know that and also doing your laundry doing a line and it's crazy things right? I cannot even list them all. Well, the craziest stuff that has happened to me when just leaving the daily life in New York City, but the one thing I can say is that you know, you're doing this for a reason. And that's what pushes you.

Daniel De Biasi  59:41  
Yeah, I absolutely agree with you. And do you have any particular advice you'd like to give it to the listeners that either want to move to the US or want to study abroad or they want to move abroad?

Eugenio  59:51  
I will give two suggestions. One of them is don't be afraid to ask questions and to reach out first because If you don't reach out, you will never know. If somebody has information, you need to talk to that person, you need to ask the question and nobody's going to think that you're stupid. And if the person thinks has to be only that person, so summed up, as always the question, always ask for information and look for it. Act like that's your treasure, because it's really the key to your next step. If you really want to move abroad, you'll be willing to do that unconsciously, you don't control that, if you're not willing to do to move abroad, you will unconsciously also feel like not doing that. It's just not part of what you you feel like doing because you don't feel like you need it. And another one that I want to say is also that you're going to spend a lot of time by yourself. So learn to be alone. As I've said, in other occasions, learn to be alone, because it's key, to also learn to accept your individuality, and to understand who you are and what you want. Many times as also, you were saying before, when you're surrounded in your pre built ecosystem back at home, you act also based on the influence and the expectations that people have of yourself. And so you don't really understand what you want until you're by yourself. And you look into the mirror and you ask yourself, what do you want? Who are you? And why are you there? The moment you will start really spending some time with yourself and thinking about what you're doing what you want to do. That's when you really learn to appreciate your individuality. And yourself.

Daniel De Biasi  1:01:36  
Yeah, and there's nothing that I can I can add there. Because it'd be say like, beautifully, I absolutely agree with you. And now like speaking of helping other people and moving abroad, do you want to tell the listeners was the overseas dream is and what's your goal?

Eugenio  1:01:51  
Yeah. So the overseas dream is just a page at the moment is just simply page is not a business. It's not a company is a page that my brother started in the beginning. And then I joined, he asked me to join him in this beautiful adventure. And so our aim is to build a community of expats, immigrants, you name them, however you identify yourself when you're moving abroad from necessity or anything. And also to basically provide resources and information to people who are thinking contemplating or just vote like one day to move abroad. And the idea behind the overseas dream is that we all have our own overseas training, but we all experience it in a different way. And that's why it is important for us to share the stories of people that have lived their own overseas dream, and also to show the specificity and individuality of Despereaux story. Because the one thing is that I cannot tell you how it is to live in a specific city. And tell you you will live the same exact experience as me your experience is shaped and is formed as a result of your background of the way you are, who you are, and many other things. And so I think that many times it is better. If I've not just tell people look, you're going to love New York, right? I cannot tell them, I cannot say that just because everyone has his own or her own experience. So we are trying to share people's stories, and also tips about moving abroad and what it means. And we're doing that, especially via the Spotlight Series. The spotlight is a way to spotlight someone's experience abroad by moving abroad and your bottles of this. So it's one way basically, of showing the other Daniel, back in Italy, who comes from the same hometown, what it means to really move to Vancouver, for instance, right? It's just basically a collection of information provided by people for different backgrounds, and just making sure that people have access to that information there. It's very similar to what you're doing with your podcasts. So we are trying to provide information to people and we're basically just there to share the information we don't own many of the information we share, and also be encouraged people to reach out to us so that we can share the experience if this can be helpful to other people coming from their own hometown from the same hometown as the person being included in the spotlight, or just for the people in general coming from the same country.

Daniel De Biasi  1:04:35  
I absolutely love the work you guys doing. And that's how we connected over Instagram your page on Instagram. That's what I said at the beginning. We're like in such a similar path here to help the people in a very similar way if it's not the same way. As you say beautifully the like every experience, it will be different. Every person experience is different even if it comes from the same country among to the same country. The experience individually will be different moved from Italy to the US as an Italian, if you are coming from an Asian country or some other country, that experience couldn't be more different than that. Right? So pulling back sharing the story for your spotlight for our podcast, just to tell people, This is what it's like. This what my experience is, like, that's what your experience is like. And hopefully you can get the information you need to like we spoke with you today about moving abroad using a scholarship, or could be like, what it's like to be like leaving Italy and go to the US was this like to these kind of things on a personal level. So we can people can find what they need, find the idea they need the motivation they need, because sometimes that's all you needed. They just push just like, I want to do it. But I don't know if I want like, just sometimes just need that extra push to tell people, you can do this, like I've done this, we all done this. It's not easy. It's not going to be easy, is not meant to be easy. But it's gonna be beautiful. So as

Eugenio  1:05:58  
as sort of a show where he withdrew. And also it's it's crazy how, when we do the spotlights, we ask the same question, not all the same question, right? Because we usually ask a couple of questions. And one of them it's it tends to be different for everyone. But there is one specific question we tend to ask to everyone, which is What's your suggestion for someone who's contemplating to move abroad? And you'll be amazed to see how many different responses we get. And that's the beautiful part of it. Right? And that connects with what you just said. You can have 3000, you can I have a million different experiences. If you ask a million people, how was your experience moving to New York, you can have 1000, or a million different tips about moving abroad. And that's the beautiful part of it.

Daniel De Biasi  1:06:43  
Absolutely. So where people can find you and the work you're doing.

Eugenio  1:06:47  
So you can definitely find the overseas dream on Instagram, on Twitter, on tick tock. And on Facebook, we are very active on Instagram, where we post every day either found fact even in real sometimes just to make jokes about the difficulties of living abroad, one is going to go live tonight. And also spotlights, you can just message us on the overseas dream. And we'll make sure to respond to your message, we respond and read all our messages. So we make sure to always take any requests that we receive. And also you can reach out directly to me, I'll be happy to provide my email. And so feel free to reach out and in any way we can help as the overseas dream. We'll be happy to do so

Daniel De Biasi  1:07:31  
sweet. And as usual, all the links and everything the way to reach out to you. It's going to be in the show notes. Thank you so much. Oh, genial to share your story. I really had a such a wonderful time. And I don't know how many times already said like I can resonate so much with your story and your experience. And I really enjoyed doing this. Thank you.

Eugenio  1:07:47  
It was my pleasure.

Daniel De Biasi  1:07:48  
Thank you so much. Bye bye.

Eugenio  1:07:50  
Thank you. Bye bye.

Daniel De Biasi  1:07:55  
Thank you so much for tuning in this week, and stick until the end. This episode was packed with tips and things you should know when thinking or moving abroad for a scholarship. If you enjoyed it and know someone who wants to study abroad, please feel free to share this episode with them. Our goal is to help as many people as possible on the journey abroad. If you want to support the show and the work we do, you can leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. It only takes a few minutes, but it makes a huge difference. And your review will be posted on our website. You can follow us on social media. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok at immigrants life in Facebook at immigrants life podcast. Thanks again for listening. Dope doing our next one. She out