I have been a waiter—an actual one—for a long time. 

I attended a tourism-oriented vocational high school, specializing as a waiter. Non-Europeans might wonder: What is a vocational high school? It is the lowest tier of the secondary education system and is not designed for university-bound students. In fact, until the early 2000s, vocational school graduates could not continue to university. More recently, the Italian education system was reformed—a change that clearly benefited me.

Thanks to this early training, I accumulated over ten years of experience as a waiter and bartender, working throughout Monferrato and in Bordighera, while completing both high school and university. The transition from vocational school to university was challenging, but when educational background falls short, determination can make up the difference.

Despite my unconventional secondary education, I thrived at university, earning top grades in both my undergraduate and graduate studies. Statistically, this is an almost unique case in Italy. Out of 47,000 students in my cohort (according to anagrafe.miur.it), only 11 obtained a bachelor's degree with honors after attending a vocational high school. Likewise, only 7 out of 19,000 in my cohort earned a graduate degree with honors from a similar background.

"Mens sana in corpore sano." 

I have been a "tapascione" for as long as I can remember. Just a few days after earning my PhD, I completed my first marathon in 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds (yes, I can and must say I did it in under four hours!).

I used to practice Krav Maga and karate, and when I visit my family in Italy, I ride my mountain bike across the beautiful Monferrato countryside with my brother. When I’m not running, I try to make time for other activities, such as basketball, swimming, weightlifting, inline skating, and road biking. 

I love leaning new languages. 

Besides Italian, English, and French, I have some proficiency in other languages. My German is currently basic, though I reached an intermediate level a few years ago, and my Spanish is also at a basic level. In the past, I studied Swedish and Japanese as well. Last but not least, I grew up hearing Piedmontese spoken around me. While not officially recognized in Italy or protected by the Constitution like other minority languages, Piedmont classifies it as a regional language, and UNESCO lists it as an endangered language. It also happens to be  Pope Francis' first language. To give you an idea, Piedmontese is an Occitan language with Germanic influences, sounding closer to French dialects like Provençal and Gascon than to Italian. 

Road trips and camping.

Italians don’t typically have a passion for road trips and camping, but I got mine from my wife. We drove from Irvine to Eureka via San Francisco, visiting every redwood park we could find and taking in the stunning Highway 101. Another trip took us from Irvine to Duluth, passing through the desert parks of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico—with a quick stop at Carlsbad Caverns and some Native American towns—before continuing through the Fort Worth rodeos in Texas, then Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa.

Our last adventure began with a flight from Minnesota to Billings. From there, we rented a car and followed the breathtaking route to Mount Rainier, Astoria, and Portland, before looping back through Yellowstone National Park. Here is the map! And, of course, all of it was done with 70s, 80s, and 90s rock music blasting in the background.