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The Russian poet Anna Akmatova once said,

Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.

For British-born Meredith Kircher, this rang true from a young age.

Meredith first visited Italy on a family holiday when she was just 18 months old and again at

the age of 8.

She loved the way the weight staff at restaurants treated her and

her three siblings like young adults rather than children, handing them the menus before

anyone else. In her childish eyes, everything just seemed so sophisticated.

So fond were these early memories that in year nine of high school, Meredith began studying

Italian. Her teacher noticed she had a natural

flare for the language which was bolstered further by a two-week exchange program to southern Italy

later that year.

The experience was transformative and Meredith became enamored with Italian culture.

On the last day of the trip, as her classmates wept with sadness over having to say goodbye,

their teacher noticed that Meredith was the only one who was smiling.

I'm not sad because someday when I'm older

I know that I'm going to live here, Meredith remarked.

...