Wild days, glorious sunsets and the privilege of meaningful work

I’ve been on the ground here in Italy for two weeks now and here onsite at Full On Italy for a week. Several days of exploring Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast whilst catching up with the Folks rounded off what had been a pretty diverse, exciting, draining and all round awesome month of travel and adventures.

As I boarded the train to Assisi from the bustling and chaotic Roma Termini there was a strange sense of familiarity and of going home. As the train rattled off towards the heart of Italy and cityscape gave way to rolling hills, olive groves and hillside towns presided over by castles and cathedrals, I came to realise two things.

Firstly that I was truly excited about arriving in Assisi and getting into the season ahead. And secondly, how exceptionally luck I am to be engaged in meaningful work. Where even after a fantastic month of travel I could be excited and eager to get stuck into work and the season ahead!

Not that it’s been all pizza, vino and lying in the sun. Since arriving we’ve had a fairly intense five days of setup, preparation and training. Followed by two days of programme with their fair share of challenges to overcome, including some wild weather, strong winds, scorching heat and the always possible and hard to read thunderstorms. All this has served to showcase the remarkable interdependent culture here in the crew.

Despite the hurdles it’s been a great start to the season with refreshing opportunities to watch the football (let’s not mention the recent results), drink Spitz in gardens bars, wander the winding streets of Assisi and smash large amounts of Pizza with the crew as the sunsets!