Liz's Nonni

Season 1, Episode 8: Liz's Nonni
Guest: Liz Sumner

Liz is the creator of I Always Wanted To, a podcast where she interviews people doing things others long to do. You can follow Liz on Twitter at @LizSumner or @alwayswantedpod.

This episode written, sound designed, produced, and hosted by Lori Mortimer.

Follow the show @MementosPodcast on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mementospodcast
Follow Lori at @mortaymortay on Twitter and Instagram.

www.MementosPodcast.com

Music Credits:

"Palermo" by Trabant 33, licensed from Epidemic Sound

"Lovers At Dusk" licensed from Soundstripe

"Riviera Walk" licensed from Fesliyan Studios ASCAP IPI 792929876, 792929974

"Cold Days Ahead" by Rune Dale, licensed from Epidemic Sound

"A Way to Tell" by Rune Dale, licensed from Epidemic Sound

"Sage the Hunter" by Blue Dot Sessions

"La Bottega Dei Sapori" by Medite, licensed from Epidemic Sound

Mementos audio logo by Martin Austwick

Sound FX credits:

486410__martineerok__wagon-cart-on-gravel, Freesound.org

Ziegen Bidone field recording

549882__guynoland__horses-pavement-then-cobblestone, Freesound.org

486410__martineerok__wagon-cart-on-gravel, Freesound.org

244292__ravelite__little-goat-bells, Freesound.org

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TRANSCRIPT

Mementos Season 1, Episode 8: Liz's Nonni

[00:00:00] Lori: Mementos. Sometimes what you really keep is on the inside.

[00:00:13] Liz: All the time or thinking about living in Italy, I pictured this gorgeous little Medieval town Cortona. And I imagined, okay, so we'll buy an old run-down villa and we'll rebuild it. And I got this belief in my head that because we didn't have Italian heritage that we would never belong, that it was pointless to try to think about moving to Italy, because since we didn't have family, we would never really be a part of the community.

[00:00:55] That was really behind it was that nobody would help us because we, we weren't connected.

[00:01:10] Lori: Welcome to Mementos. I'm Lori Mortimer, the host and producer of the show. On today's episode, my guest Liz is gonna tell us about how she and her husband moved to Italy and the memento that they found there that helped her overcome her worries about feeling like they would never belong.

[00:01:33] Liz: My name is Liz Sumner, and I currently have a very boutique coaching practice. Uh, it's gotten small because I really like podcasting. And so now I consider myself a full-time podcaster. My podcast is called I Always Wanted To, and I interview people who are doing things that others long to do.

[00:01:59] I didn't always want to live in, in Europe, but Michael, on the other hand, my husband, had lived in the south of France when he was in his twenties and he had done a lot of traveling. So it was more his original desire that we would move to Europe at some point.

[00:02:20] Lori: In the early 2000s, Michael suggested Italy as a potential new home for them.

[00:02:25] So the first step was for them to take a two-week vacation in 2002. On that trip, they did all the usual touristy stuff in the Italian capital cities.

[00:02:36] Liz: At that point, we just could speak only, "Do you have a room?" and "I'm sorry, I don't eat tomatoes," and things like that. We didn't ever connect with anybody on that trip.

[00:02:49] Lori: Liz was intrigued by the idea of moving to Italy. But at that point, she developed those major concerns about not ever feeling like they'd belong. But they kept researching on what it would take and what it would cost for such a move.

[00:03:04] In 2005, they went on another trip. The plan this time was to be more intentional about connecting with local residents. They spent the entire first week in a tiny bed and breakfast in Orvieto.

[00:03:19] Liz: And the people who ran it were so sweet. They also owned a restaurant. They kept inviting us to meals and bringing food home from the restaurant for us.

[00:03:31] And I remember at one point Michael, trying to explain the electoral college system to them in, in our limited Italian. It was like the opposite of what I had felt, that, that, that we wouldn't connect with people. And we were so embraced by this couple.

[00:03:55] Lori: On the next leg of the trip, they went full immersion.

[00:03:59] Liz: [00:04:00] For 18 days, we did not see a single person who spoke English. But we managed, and it was really exciting and helped us -- helped me, certainly -- fal...