If only it were a whole summer in Sardinia. One day perhaps!
Way back in the depths of lockdown, an email pinged onto my laptop with the subject: "job opportunity on a Sardinian campsite." I'd pretty much signed up before even reading the brief and have absolutely zero regrets. The job in short was to tutor two Italian girls in English with specific focus on improving the older one's confidence, since she's soon moving to the UK for a year of sixth form.
For just over a week this August, I had a little white cabin to myself on their stunning campsite in north Sardinia - https://www.campingbaiaparadiso.it - if you're interested. It was truly beautiful and quintessentially Mediterranean. Hydrangeas lined the network of stone paths, geckos scuttled across the lamplit walls at dusk and the sound of the sea was a constant background noise. The beach was just a short walk away through the dunes and, as per my hosts' advice, best visited in the morning when the shinkly turquoise water was far calmer than the windy afternoons.
Alongside three hours of very laid back 'tutoring' al fresco, I spent many happy hours chatting away with the family and their friends in an Italian-English hybrid language, in which we all grew fluent very quickly! We had every meal outside, in the shade of a beach umbrella. We ate epic salads, pasta dishes to die for and lots of amazing fish - barbecued sea bream, mussels in a delicious tomato sauce, calamari frittatas etc
I certainly got used to my Mediterranean lifestyle and returned with a fierce determination to learn Italian!
