For a long time, I dreamt about the experience working abroad and improve my mastery of the Italian language. This year, Intraway gave me the opportunity. I was able to fulfill my lifelong dream: I moved to Italy, immersed myself in the Italian culture, all while I continued working.
Have you ever felt your work was routinary? Read our blog post and Commit and Evolve With an Entrepreneurial Spirit at work.
What To Take Into Account Before Making the Big Move?
When it comes to working from another country, things are not always easy. You have to take many options into account to be efficient and be able to cope with all your day-to-day tasks as you were at home.
In my case, the first challenge was to set up a successful time-management schedule. Intraway has a flexitime policy, which made it possible for me to attend my Italian courses. Nevertheless, the 5-hour time difference with the rest of the team forced me to work late hours. Moreover, I knew that emails and messages would be unanswered until early in the afternoon. I had to think carefully about how to manage my schedule to stay connected with Argentina and, at the same time, carry out my activities in Rome. I also knew I had to keep an eye on my cell phone at all times to be available if someone needed something out of the blue.
It is also essential to have a powerful computer and a charger with an international outlet. As I sometimes was at school during the working hours in Argentina, I always had my notebook with me, so I could solve any issue that arose. Don’t forget to have it always fully loaded and remind to take the charger everywhere. Also, make sure that wherever you choose to work has outlets available.
Last But Not Least…
Finally, something fundamental was the Internet connection. In between courses, I worked from different places, because it was not always comfortable to go back to the house. It’s always essential to know that the place you’re going, has a good connection.
In Italy, it is not very common for bars or cafes to have Wi-Fi. It was important to find out in advance which places offered that service to stick to the schedule. Verify that it is good enough to send files, download things or make video calls was also critical – I can’t count how many cafes I went in and out of seeking a good wi-fi connection!
Overall, the experience was totally satisfactory and worth every second. Even though at first it was difficult for me to adapt to the schedule, to get used to not having my colleagues around to coordinate the projects, and to depend on video calls, I was able to achieve a balance between living in another country, studying to improve my skills and complete all the tasks required for my position.
Have you ever felt your work was routinary? Read our blog post and Commit and Evolve With an Entrepreneurial Spirit at work.
