Martha Miller is a former retail marketing executive turned freelance writer and essayist. Her work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, Wanted in Rome, LifeinItaly.com, GoNomad.com, Go World Travel, International Living, Family Circle, Parents, The Christian Science Monitor and The Writer. Her personal essays and syndicated columns, Living Greenly and Living Online, have been published in regional publications across the United States.
Your book said there would be photos of your Italy apartment here, but I can’t find them. Loved the book, would love to see the apartment.
Hi Theresa,
I’m so sorry I didn’t reply to you! Please use this link and let me know if it doesn’t work.
Martha
Scroll down to see the apartment pictures.
Ciao Martha. I came across your book and I never buy anything online but I read the title and without realizing it I had already entered my credit card. On December 2019 i finally graduated from university. Pharmacist,top of my class. As a present my parents emptied their short term savings and sent me off to Milan, where a friend was living at the moment. From the moment i stepped foot in Milan I fell in love with the city, nothing compared with the pintoresque Rome, Venezia, Florence or Napoli, but there is something about Milan that made me fell in love. I encountered so many people. At the time I didn’t speak any italian nor did I cared because everyone I met spoke english (which isn’t either my first language; spanish is). As days went by i fell more and more in love with the city, in every passing day there would be a moment of the “giornata” where I would just cry and pray to God “please let me stay here. I feel myself here. I found my place, i found what i was missing”… first Christmas without my family but I had my friend and we had our own improvised Christmas dinner in an appartment we had been lucky enough to have to ourselves because our roommates had to fly back to their countries days before I first arrived. Then this new year, and that freezing feeling you had in your terrace, I had at piazza del Duomo. And when the clock striked 12.00 I couldn’t do anything but cry. I had only 4 more days in Milan to what had been the perfect month and a half. The first place that has ever felt like home to me …and I had to leave it. I don’t even remember the flight back home, it was too painful to bear; all I remember is waking up in my bed thinking “Young, in debt, broke, just graduated, unemployed…I might as well be like this in Milan, at least I was happier” I applied to a master’s degree full paid scholarship to study in Novara, near Milan, but i was denied. That saturday was the saddest day of my life. I felt that my only chance at going back had been taken away from me…a few weeks went by my rejection and the pandemic exploted worldwide. I have been dedicating myself to study italian by myself and I practice (thank God for technology) by chatting and making brief calls with friends I left in Milan. Like you, I feel I’ll never get the hang of it. It is just too much, tho I imagine it must have been more difficult to you…in the end spanish and italian have latin roots so our grammar and vocab meet halfway. This past few days I have been going over and over in my mind looking for the answer on how to move to Milan. Then I came across your book…of course I cannot do the same as you given my finncial situation and having around 20 euros in my bank account and not being able to work right now because I never really got my physical degree due to the fact the university closed and remains closed for a few more weeks (yes, even for administrative issues), paying my way to milan isn’t viable. But reading your book felt like a sign that I’ll make it. I’ll find a way to move and live in italy and even though I don’t intend on “diventare” an all italian ragazza, I want to live there and be as Italian as I can be. Their culture just felt right to me. The excitment with which you talk in your book is a familiar feeling to me. The frustration of not fully being able to talk italian, I am currently experiencing it and the little alleys of which you talked, I walked in aswell (on my visit to Rome). Thank you for that reading experience, while I know I cannot do the same as you did, I am now filled with a bit more hope. Your book was this ray of sunshine, a sign from God if you will…something telling me “you’ll do it, you’ll make it, just keep looking” and I won’t stop until I make it. I hope my degree, my knowledge in medicine, my will to work and my newly adquired italian skills will be enough to take me there to start my life…plus my endless love for Italy. Such a lovely book!
Cara Alexia,
Thank you SO much for writing such a beautiful, heartfelt letter. Your passion for Italy and Milan shines through in every sentence. You will make your dream come true – I am certain of it! It makes me over-the-top happy that my book “felt like a sign.” It makes me smile to know it brought back good memories and the will to live in your beloved Milan again. I feel the same way about Rome; it feels more like home than anywhere I’ve ever been. Please keep me posted on your plans. This pandemic will end one day and we’ll all be able to go there again! Andiamo! Grazie mille, Martha
Dear Martha, I am just now seeing this. Thank you for your reply, I’ll keep you posted, in the meantime, my love for that city grows more and more everyday. Ever since I wrote you I have learned a lot more italian and I can have a proper conversation now. And I understand you so much in that aspect of Rome feeling more like a home than anywhere. When I make it there you are more than welcome at my house, your book really transports me to my happiest days. Un abbracio, ciao!, Grazie a Lei- Alexia
Hi Martha, it’s Steve emailed you not long ago, who ran into the princess in Rome 🙂 Just finished your book unfortunately, I hated to see it end, I was actually very sad to see you leave Italy, you should have stayed and kept writing 🙂 I loved every page, the book was fantastic! Thank you!
Ciao Steve,
Grazie mille! I would have loved to have stayed in Rome and continued to write, but that wasn’t an option then. Stay tuned – another adventure awaits!
Abracci,
Martha
Hi Martha – I would love to see your photos. Where can I find these?
Ciao Lisa,
Thank you for asking! Here’s a link directly to the pics: https://www.timesnewromanbook.com/appartamento/
Sorry it was difficult to find. Will be adding more pics soon and will make it easier to access.
Grazie mille!
Martha
Finally purchased your book and am loving the journey! Can’t wait to see you again sometime to get my copy autographed, haha 🙂
Hope all is well with you and your family,
Kyle Robison
Hi Kyle!
So happy to hear you’re enjoying our adventure. Let me know if it inspires one of your own!
Grazie mille! Martha
GREAT BOOK!! I really enjoyed it.
You have a very good writing style.
I had to laugh when I read at the end of the book that you now live in San Antonio, Texas. So do I!
I hope you write another book about your travel adventures.
Thank you, Elizabeth! I think we have another adventure in us and hopefully, another book. Stay tuned!
Great storytelling! Having spent about two months in Italy as both serviceman and tourist, I was transported back to Rome and the Italian countryside by the vividness of Martha’s storytelling. I cannot think of a better way to spend a few evenings than with this charming story.
Thank you so much! I love knowing that my story revived those wonderful memories for you.