Why I Gave Up My Old Life for Svalbard

So guys it's Julia here your Italian friend living on Svalbard. Today we're gonna do a lot of things together. I'm gonna take you on a day here with me. We're gonna do a lot of fun things as well but we're gonna start with something not so fun and that's why I have this dirty outfit and that's because we're gonna clean this car. It really needs some cleaning so stay here with me and I'll catch you in a bit. 2400 people, four months of complete darkness, temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees. Why would a 24 year old girl choose to move to one of the places some people call the most depressing islands in the world? Well this is my story. One of the most asked questions was why did you move to Svalbard? Why did you leave Italy such a beautiful country to move in the frozen lands of the Arctic of Svalbard? So I would like to take the chance of this video today and tell you why I made this decision that was probably the biggest decision of my life that changed my whole life completely and I had zero idea that all of this was gonna happen. It's time to start cleaning the car inside. I'm quite embarrassed to even show you what it's looking like inside right now but don't worry we're gonna fix that. It's easy to talk about this now because I already know how the story ends but back then I had no idea. I was making a decision that almost nobody around me agreed with and that made it difficult not to question myself. This is so satisfying. So first of all when did I move to Svalbard? It was November 2022 so yeah almost four years ago. In November it's gonna be four years and I was 24 years old and I still remember that day when I sent my CVs to all the hotels on Svalbard because I wanted to be a receptionist. I had never done that job so I wanted to try. By then I had been a waitress, I had been a secretary, I had been a language teacher, I had been a few things but I had never worked in a reception and I love languages. I mean I don't speak that many unfortunately. I love to talk to people and I love to be in a team so I thought that could be a perfect job. So of course the first step was to send the CVs to all the hotels in town. There are not many of course and I think I was very lucky that I got a reply within a week by two of them already. So my dream of going to Svalbard was getting closer and closer. It was actually becoming reality at that point. Turned out I was extremely lucky and I did get a job offer from one of these two hotels and they said yeah but you need to come here as soon as possible. So bear in mind that was late October and I started working on the 24th of November. I started my journey from Italy on the 22nd. It took two days to get there. Yeah so basically that's where everything started but you might wonder why in the first place did you want to do this big step? So I was coming out of a quite sad time just because I had broken my arm. So I was basically lying in bed for most of my time because I couldn't do so much stuff. It was also COVID time back then so you know it wasn't the happiest time of our lives as everyone else. So having this job offer for me was extremely relieving and at that point I had something to look forward to. I was so excited for a new adventure that I was like all right doesn't matter if you need me tomorrow I'll come. I was ready. I was ready to pack everything and go. But I wasn't ready to change my life completely. So when I had my job interview I basically told them the reality. I was ready to move there for four months. I wanted this to be a seasonal job for me just like I did before this in the Dolomites. I worked as a secretary in a ski school in the best place on earth. It's called La Cruz and it actually became very touristic that there was no apartment for workers left. So I had to leave and I had to find a new experience and new adventure. And so also that's part of why Svalbard came up. But the thing is that they said we don't need you for only four months. If you come here you get all the training and everything. For us it's worth if you stay at least one year. So things got really interesting there. And I was like okay give me just a couple of days to actually think this through. We have a meeting again and I told them what my decision was. And of course I decided okay I'm gonna give it a try and see how it goes. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to cope with you know the dark season. If I'm gonna fall into depression or if I'm gonna find any friends. I didn't know anything. I didn't know anything. I didn't know anyone here. So it was like jumping into a black hole for me. But the thing that scared me the most was all people's opinions. They were like are you sure you want to do this? It's actually very risky to fall into depression. It's very isolated. It's very remote. You don't know how you're gonna cope with it. But still that wasn't enough for me to stay and to you know not say okay I'm gonna try it at least. So I'm really glad I did back then. I'm really glad I didn't listen to anyone. Because even though I love my family. I love my friends. And I know they were saying this to protect me and to make sure I was gonna be okay. I'm glad I didn't listen at that time. I'm just saying sometimes it's good to follow your own heart and dreams. Because that might take you much further than you could think of. But today I will also finally show you one of the other cabins. Because we did buy a property that has five cabins. And one of them well is the main cabin. And the second one is the guest cabin where we host friends and family. So there is a friend coming tomorrow and I have to get the cabin ready for her. So yeah I'm excited for that. On the list today it's also throwing trash. We have a lot of garbage bins I would say. Just scattered around the town. And I want to show you what the bins look like here on Svalbard. Of course they're not regular bins. Like nothing is really regular up here. Let me show you. So this is what our garbage bins look like. And they are polar bear proof. They have handles. So of course they are very difficult for animals to manipulate and open. So here on Svalbard we have only a separated waste for cans, glass and paper. But we do not recycle plastic. And also all the waste is sorted here in the dump station on Svalbard. But then it's shipped away to the mainland where it's going to be taken care of. First before going home we need to tank Jimny. We are in the northernmost fuel station here. And as you can see fuel is 15 kroner and 80. And if you get diesel it's 17.96. Also it's plus five degrees which is amazing. I'm finally able to wear my summer jacket. But let's go and tank. I'm really curious to know how much you pay fuel in your home country. Whether you live in the states or Canada, Australia, whatever it is. I think it's quite cheap here. And that's because Svalbard is a tax-free area. So it's definitely cheaper than my home country Italy. So we are back at the cabin now. I got a start. So everything is already prepped. I want to do portobello stuffed mushrooms. I prepared tuna, parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, black olives, cream cheese and then I'm gonna put some melting cheese on top as well. I'm not sure if these ingredients got together to be honest. But I think we're just gonna try. We are gonna fire the grill outside. The little barbecue we have and we're gonna do this together. So I found a job as a receptionist as I said. So of course not knowing or speaking Norwegian. I could only find a job in hospitality because that's where you can just use English or any other language. But if you want to work like I don't know in a school or in offices usually you need to speak Norwegian. So you can aim at a lot of more jobs if you know the language, the local language. But since there are more than 52 nationalities living on Svalbard because you don't need any visa to work and live here. Let's say that English is the most spoken language on the island. So I had the dream to see Northern Lights back then and I never traveled to any country where this phenomenon could be seen. So Norway or Iceland or Canada, Alaska, I don't know, wherever. I've never been to these places. So for me it was something like unreachable kind of. And in that specific moment of my life I had just finished my studies at university. Let's say I was kind of in a standby moment. So basically at that point I had the whole world to choose from, you know. I could just spin the globe and say I want to go here. Which is a privilege let's say to be able to do so. Not financially speaking obviously because I did not have the money to support myself to just live here. I had to find a job obviously. Not only that but also because usually the companies where you find your job at, they will provide apartments. So of course they will provide it and find it for you and then you will pay rent. Which is very high here on Svalbard. Not only that but also groceries, life in general is very expensive. So I needed a job to move here. I had enough money to buy a one-way ticket to Svalbard. That's about it. So let's say Northern Lights was the main reason I wanted to see Svalbard. But then it wasn't the reason I stayed. I found so many more beautiful things here that I wasn't even aware of. The arctic desert, the snowmobiling trips, the glaciers. I was just not paying attention to all of this. I had a goal and my goal was to see Northern Lights. So the first time I came here I did see them but it was only through my phone. So my naked eye could not perceive the green of the Northern Lights but my phone did of course because it has a long exposure. So I was a bit disappointed the first time but then of course over three years of me being here I saw one of the most beautiful lights ever that you could possibly imagine. So don't get me wrong Northern Lights are amazing when you get the chance to see them very strong of course. But there is much more here that made me stay for this long even though it was not in my plans at all. What the f***? How do you learn? Mushrooms? Is it from here? Galaxy Shad I Don't stop yet I'm avoiding My best friend There's a little bit too much wind for the barbecue but I had this in my plans and I didn't want to give up on it so it's kind of working but it was a bit hard to get it started Anyway, so now we're just gonna wait maybe 20 minutes until the mushrooms are done and the cheese melts well So basically that's how I ended up here on Svalbard living hot and warm Italy for such a cold place However I do not intend to live on Svalbard for the rest of my life I know we did buy a cabin or a set of 5 cabins which guys I'm also gonna explain in a next video how much we paid for these cabins and what does 5 cabins actually mean because a lot of people think that I bought separate cabins while it's actually just one house but I'm gonna go into details about this in the next video that I'm just gonna talk about this Even though we did invest into this property we don't want to live here forever Actually nobody on Svalbard lives here forever as you might have seen in my latest video I told you that nobody can be buried here so that's reason number one but also I don't really want to grow old here on Svalbard because the hospital we have is really small if you have an emergency if you need like intense medical care or something like that here it's not possible so that's also one of the reasons why we don't have a lot of elderly people here you need to be able to sustain yourself in all ways so of course as soon as you get a bit older you're gonna need probably more healthcare and that is not possible here on Svalbard at least to a certain extent so basically the goal is probably to finish renovating all of the houses this is the guest house from the back side by the way we will have to renovate that cabin over there and the one in front there and then maybe in 10-15 years or maybe 5, it depends how life goes, we will just resell it and you know, make economy flow. But why did I say that Svalbard changed my life? First of all, this place made me a person that I did not expect to become it made me realize who I really am what I really want from life what are the things that are important to me so living in a bit of isolation in a remote island makes you understand more of yourself I've discovered so much about my person that I don't think would have been possible in a normal city or even just growing up in my hometown getting out of my comfort zone thinking out of the box kind of thing put me in so many situations I don't think I would have been able to handle years ago, like dealing with extreme cold temperatures dealing with the polar night for so many years one after the other meeting people from all over the world and going on adventures in the beginning everything looked scary to me, but I decided to trust people and to go and explore I decided to do things that did not belong to me at all, growing up in a city, being used to having all the comforts at any time clicking on a computer and having Amazon arrive to your house the day after. All of this is not possible here of course and I don't miss it and that's the good part of it and then I started documenting my life on Svalbard two years and a half ago on my Italian channel. I just love to share experiences here, the life we live here and probably one day also from other countries because my goal, my dream is also to travel and to experience other cultures, traditions, meet new people, but still having Svalbard as my base home. Coming here to relax and to rewind Smells really yummy I think it's ready, so now I'm gonna go enjoy these mushrooms and then we continue with the preparation of the guest house Welcome you guys to our guest house I'm gonna show you what it looks like inside. As soon as you enter we have a beautiful toilet entrance so this is called Cinderella and it's the same toilet system that we use in the main cabin. It incinerates everything that is released inside through this chimney and then here we have a manual sink, so we just refill this with water then there is a bucket and you can wash your hands with a lot of comfort right after using the toilet. Here we have a little bin, toilet paper that I need to change and you know the Cinderella bags of course that you need to poop in and for the privacy we have this amazing curtain I mean privacy from who? I don't know because it can fit one or two people max and usually it's a couple so don't need that much privacy but yeah, so let's continue Welcome! This is the main part. It's a little bit messy now. I'm gonna fix all of this and make it cozy and especially warm because it's only 6 degrees in here at the moment it's a bit chilly. I will have to turn this into a proper house for 4 days because one of my best friends is coming from Italy and she's gonna stay here for a few days but let me show you the master bedroom and this is the bedroom actually 3 people could fit here but you know it's not very comfortable. Here we have a beautiful view to the mountains and I don't know if you were expecting more but that's it. There's no more rooms in this house but it works just fine. It's quite cold here at the moment and it's summer. In winter when we had our family come over it was minus 10 inside here before of course turning the heaters on we only have 2 electric heaters on the walls. One in the living room and one here but the problem is that if you turn both heaters on plus using the Cinderella, so the toilet the fuses will blow up we had this happen once and it was when we had some friends staying over here and they had to sleep in 4 degrees for the whole night that was a bit of a bummer. But that was our first experience on this so we didn't know how much it could actually hold. Now we know and we can tell everyone how to make it work and to not sleep in freezing cold temperatures when I showed the guest cabin in the Italian channel I had so many people telling me that it's a shame that I'm hosting people in such poor conditions. But you need to understand that we are talking about a cabin in the Arctic so you cannot expect running water the fact that you have electricity here is already a plus. It's an extra because even the cabin we have just behind here doesn't have water, it doesn't have electricity and locals rent it every single weekend to have a getaway experience so this is actually something that people that come here enjoy. It's an experience that they look out for so yes, we do not have a sink, we just have a bucket but it's completely fine. We only have close family or close friends coming over so they can use our bathroom anytime we are gonna have dinners together so they will brush their teeth there they will even shower or go to the toilet there. It's absolutely not a problem and all the people that stayed here said that it was such a cozy experience and I believe them because it's actually very cool. Now these curtains are not blackout curtains so it doesn't get completely dark in here so it's a bit hard to sleep in the night but that's ok that's also one of the challenges of living here. I think I did this all wrong and here it is, the bedroom is ready. Now we are just gonna wait for tomorrow to show it to my friend and I'm gonna fix a little bit the living room So guys, I really hope you enjoyed this video thank you so much for staying with me until the very end. I hope you liked hearing my story and seeing a little bit of how life works here, what do we do and I mean it's pretty much whatever you would do anywhere else but the location makes it sometimes harder or just more unique I will obviously see you in the next videos from here on Svalbard but expect to see more from other countries as well but for now I'll send you big kisses and I'll see you in the next one