A young woman who left New York City behind to live the good life in the Italian metropolis of Milan opened up about the vast improvements in her daily life.
Madalyn Monto, 25, grew up outside New York and had always planned to move there in her adult life, according to an essay about her trip in Business Insider.
After college in San Diego, it seemed like her plans were on track when she moved to the Big Apple to start a job in marketing.
But, as he quickly discovered, the lifestyle was not what he expected.
Growing up outside of New York City, 25-year-old Madalyn Monto never expected to settle in Italy.
But after the busy culture of New York sucked her soul, she decided to move to Milan with her Italian boyfriend.
“I had always imagined New York to be like, ‘work hard, play hard,'” he told the outlet. “I know people tend to be workaholics, but I thought there had to be a line somewhere.”
Instead, given her workplace’s hybrid schedule, she found that she could be “accessed at all hours of the day” and new work tasks came incessantly through her notifications.
“I could access my computer at all hours of the day and they could access me at all hours of the day,” he recalled.
As her stress increased along with her workload, she and her boyfriend Allesandro, who is from Italy, began discussing the possibility of making a change, in the form of moving to Milan.
“We had a long discussion, weighing the pros and cons of each location,” Madalyn explained, adding that her “decision” was ultimately based on the superior quality and cost of living in Milan.
Madalyn would soon discover for herself how much Italian culture supports work-life balance, starting with the interview process for a job in Milan.
In a viral TikTok, he narrated the pleasantly surprising interaction with his then-prospective employer.
“I just came back from a job interview where at the end they asked me if I had any upcoming trips planned or anything else they would need to know in case they were hired.”
While she always thought she would settle in New York City, she was disappointed in how little she could enjoy life with a full-time job in marketing.
In Milan, Madalyn was impressed by how cheap it was to go out to dinner
He then rattled off a series of days (and weeks-long trips) he had planned.
They then stopped her and explained that they only needed to know if she planned to be away from work for a month or more in the near future.
“Listen, we don’t care about trips that last a week or two weeks. We care about things that last like a month. Are you going to need a month off soon?” Madalyn remembered the conversation.
By contrast, Madalyn continued, asking for 30 minutes off work for a dentist appointment months in advance at her old workplace might still have been considered a “problem” by her employers in New York.
“And if it’s not a ‘problem’, you’ll probably have to work early that day, and maybe work late that day, and not have a lunch break,” he divulged.
At other stages in her interview process for a job in Milan, Madalyn recalled to BI revealing her planned vacation in advance: “I was really hesitant to the point of saying, ‘I don’t have to go if you don’t want me to go.’ I will say that I could not attend.”
Additionally, she was surprised by how much the culture emphasizes free time, even in the middle of the workday.
But he recalled that his interviewers told him: “No, no, go away, we don’t care. That’s not important. You’re going to take these trips. You’re going to enjoy them, you’re going to enjoy them.” Go to the school ones, you’re going to the vacation ones.”‘
And it seems that such values are reflected in the laws of each respective nation.
The United States does not legally require companies to offer vacation days to their employees (although, on average, workers get 11 days of paid vacation per year).
By contrast, Italian companies are required by law to give their full-time employees 20 days of vacation per year, not including holidays.
On top of that, Madalyn was pleasantly surprised to discover that she was able to regularly meet up with her boyfriend for long, quiet lunches during the work day.
In Italy, Madalyn also enjoys four weeks of paid annual leave, the minimum required by law in the country.
In New York, he always ate at his desk and asked himself, “How fast can I eat my food?”
While Milan is considered “hectic” in the context of Italy, it is still much more relaxed than the American business hub when it comes to enjoying free time.
Madalyn noticed that she frequently observed people enjoying wine during weekday lunch and that no one seemed to be in a hurry.
Waiters “don’t give you the bill in a restaurant if you don’t ask for it, because they want you to stay there and enjoy it as long as you want,” he reflects.
And the cheaper price means you can get much more out of it.
“I had a good job in New York and made a decent salary, but I didn’t do as much because I was always tired or because everything was so expensive,” Madalyn explained.
“Even for a happy hour, it would cost me a minimum of $25 to get a drink, a snack and a tip. Here, if I want to go out somewhere, I can go and have a glass of wine for €4.” – which is less than $4.50.
“Right now, it’s really nice to be able to enjoy our lives more,” Madalyn added.