Meet Vittoria Bellia
We moved to the Dominican Republic when I was only 4,5 months old so I don’t consider myself Italian at all. I do share some Italian culture traits such as pasta, football (Juventus) and so on but mostly the Dominican Republic made me who I am today. However, the fact that I was raised in a hotel that happened to be Italian, made me experience both the Dominican and International lifestyles. From January until the beginning of June, I was living the Dominican life. I was studying at school and spent most of the time with my Dominican friends. From June to August I was living as an Italian. In the hotel, where I spent days and nights in the company of my Italian and international friends, I acquired European mentality. My Dominican best friend used to tell me “ Oh. I never see you. It seems that from June to August you just escape into another world.” For me life in the hotel was like traveling without actually having to go somewhere. However, when I came first to Europe I realized that European influence in me was not so strong. It is weird. When I am in the Dominican Republic, I feel slightly more European but when I am here in Europe, I seem very much like Dominican. It is a mess. I wish there was an island in the middle of the ocean for me where I would belong half-and-half.