LUCY BURDETTE: You've heard that John and I were in France for 10 days at the end of May. In Paris, we had the amazing opportunity to meet American, English, and Australian people who have moved from their home countries to France. This fascinates me! After I tell you about some of them, I would love to hear whether you would have either the urge or the nerve to move somewhere unfamiliar.
First, we had a glass of wine with a group of people who follow Heather Stimmler’s Secrets of Paris blog and newsletter. Heather is an American who moved to Paris in the 1990s. She started giving tours and now has a paying blog with exactly as the name says, secrets of Paris: places to go, how to get into a popular museum, meetups for those interested in socializing. At our table were two couples who have sold everything in the US and now rent apartments in Paris. We were interested to hear about their experience with medical care (good!), Learning the language (so hard!), making French friends (not easy.) One of the men is a musician who spends a lot of time playing with others and also listening to music so he’s met people that way. Another of the women knits and has joined knitting groups. John interviewed one of the men from our cocktail group and I know you will enjoy reading that article.
We also took a tour with an English man who moved to Paris with his wife in the 90s. He’s built a business giving tours and doing podcasts through his website, the Earful Tower. His introduction into the world of Parisian people came through playing basketball.
The real Emily in Paris, whom you’ve heard me speak of, came to Paris from London (she is Australian by birth) and then met and married a Parisian man. They now live in Paris with their two small children and his daughter from a previous marriage. She says her in to Parisian life is through her kids and also other expats in the city. She feels she will never be accepted totally as a French person.
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| The Real Emily in Paris |
Jane Bertch, who we've featured twice on the blog here, is also an American who first moved to London, and then to Paris in the banking world. She got the idea to found la cuisine Paris, and has written a memoir about the transition called the French Ingredient. She seems so comfortable in her new life! You can also read the cookbooks and newsletters of Dorie Greenspan and David Lebovitz, Americans who have mostly transplanted themselves to Paris and feel very much at home, while at the same time are aware of not being French.
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| Lucy with Dorie and Jane |
My takeaways from meeting these folks? A big move like this is really hard! It’s important to love the city that you are joining and be patient with yourself. Parisians are not famous for easily accepting people. The truth is, much as I love that city, and would love to know it more thoroughly, I have a deep tap root that connects me to the US. Along with friends and relatives that I would miss dearly. Plus a husband who wouldn’t go. So alas, I can’t see myself joining the ex-pats. I will have to do this through my fiction.
What about you, Reds? Can you see yourself moving to another country? If you’re tempted, where would it be and what draws you there?
I can't see myself doing this, Lucy . . . more than anything, I'd miss my family far too much . . . .
ReplyDeleteI am a solo retiree without any family left in Canada, but I haven't found another country where I would want to be an expat (yet).
ReplyDeleteBut becoming a snowbird to escape an Ottawa winter does sound tempting. So far, I have only left home for 2.5 weeks for SE or Eastern Asia (Singapore, Taiwan) where temperatures ranged in the low 30C/mid 80s/95F.
My husband would adore it if I were so adventurous! He has traveled all over the world and would move to anywhere in the Alps in a heartbeat. Me, not so much. Due to his work, in the 1990s we lived in the D.C. area for three years, then the Bay Area for another three years. This span "away" taught me that I can adapt eventually to other places but I will always be a New England Yankee at heart. (The northern Adirondacks are not all that different from northern Vermont.) He has the soul of an explorer. I'm afraid I have the soul of a farmer -- or a barnacle. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteVisiting, yes, but moving to another country, no as I would miss my family and friends.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are in the process of doing this. We are approaching the end of 6 weeks in France. The first week was in Nice, where we signed a year’s lease on a flat. We don’t know if Nice is where we will end up (it feels very much like Long Beach - a large city on the water, but with even more tourists). Since at this time we are planning to split time, I think we are leaning more towards a smaller village so we can enjoy the quiet and nature. But Nice is a very practical first step - international airport, good train connections, lots of ex-pats, so English is widely spoken, which is helpful as we work on improving our French. If we don’t decide to stay here long-term, it is still a good base of operations.
ReplyDeleteWe are in Carcassonne for the month of June (planned before the Nice rental) and I really love it here. The medieval City is very touristy, but the “new” town of Bastide St Louis is so convenient. The Tues-Thurs-Sat markets are only a couple blocks away, and the main square, ringed with cafés and restaurants, is around the corner. Pharmacies and boulangeries in all directions.
We love the feel of the Occitanie region (very similar to SoCal), but worry about heat and water availability. We’re in the midst of two weeks with highs in the 90s F (upper 30s C) and the old stone house is starting to heat up.
We also like the Dordogne region - lots of water, very green, but humid in the summer and gloomy in the winter.
We realize that it will take a lot of work to become part of a community. We are both introverted, which means we need to push ourselves to get out there, but is helpful because we are fine on our own. As retirees, we love the slower pace of life here and how we can have daily activities and interactions just by going to get bread or croissants or going to the market. We plan to start the process for a one-year visa when we are back in the US so we don’t have to arrange our visits to comply with the Schengen limits (90 days out of every 180).
I did it, and after two years I came home to Connecticut.
ReplyDeleteIt was the winter of 1975 and I was going to get tenure in my elementary school teaching position in a suburb of Hartford. It was a good job. Some of the teachers there had been in rheir classrooms for 20 to 30 years already. I was reading Mila 18 by Leon Uris. I knew a lot about the Holocaust already, but this story is about the Warsaw Ghetto and the uprising. At the end of the book, the heroine decides to go to Israel. I put down the book, picked up the phone and made plans to go. "If she could do it, I can do it."
I had already visited Israel for two weeks in the summer of 1968. My step sister had married an Israeli and was living in Jerusalem. Growing up, idealistically, I had thought about moving there some day. I made plans to study Hebrew at an Ulpan in Arad. From there, I moved to Tel Aviv where I got a teaching job and an apartment. I stayed for two years but in the end, I moved back to Connecticut.
It has been hard enough moving from Minnesota to Florida, so no I would not want to relocate to another country.
ReplyDeleteMy niece, who is very fluent in French, spent a year in France as an English teaching assistant. I think she had her fill of it.