To kick off December, Al had an Italian job to do.
He jetted off to Milan and Turin – where The Italian Job was set, no less – to catch up with old friends and meet new partners for Babel Fish.
Our friends in Europe are the reason that Babel Fish exists.
And it feels like it’s never been more important to deepen and strengthen these relationships.
We don’t see our students as clients. When they enrol on one of our courses, they become part of Babel Fish.
They become our friends.
More on Michele Nardi (below, right) the surfer, surgeon, adventurer ex-student who is now Al’s coffee mate, hiking buddy and snow tour-guide on our Boxing Day blog…
Un milione in Milan
First port of call was Milan, Italy’s second most populous city after its capital, Rome. Al was somewhat blindsided by Milan’s busy streets when he landed last Friday – but soon realised why: Venerdì nero – Black Friday – drew hordes of shoppers into the city centre.
That he found refuge in the macabre San Bernadino alle Ossa speaks volumes about Al’s attitude to Christmas consumerism 😉
Luckily, his meeting with a potential new business partner, Marco, brought back his smile.
Marco Renne runs a business we can literally get on board with: Surf Language.
Sharing our school’s ethos, Marco believes that studying and surfing go hand in hand.
We’re excited to see how this relationship develops in 2020.
Meat and Greet
Turin’s less rambunctious streets were Al’s next stop: it didn’t take him long to track down some of Turin’s finest tartare
Meat masticated, it was then time to meet Dani and her business partner Nigel from The World and enjoy a meal out together with a couple of other members of the team, Stefi and David.
We’re looking forward to their group coming again next summer for their English and activity course.
Their appropriately named business has world-class ambitions: we’d love to see some new Italian adult students take up our English with Art and Culture course.
It’s connections with people like Marco and Dani that enliven our business.
These people and the students they send us, take us on exciting new adventures down unexpected roads – and make the vision of 2020 such a thrilling one for our school.
Check out what these guys are up to @surflanguage and @scuola.theworld