I think (and hope) that I am a fairly happy person and I like to try to be optimistic about things. I have family who live fairly near to me and I enjoy spending time with them.I enjoy cooking and I like trying out recipes from different countries.I enjoy traveling (though there's not much of that at the moment) and read quite a lot.I have just started to learn German on my own so I'm hoping that will go well and I speak some Italian - enough to get by on holiday.I am interested in the lives and cultures of other people which is why I've joined this site and hope to make some friends.