I’m about to embark on my own journey as an expat. I’ll be living in Paris with my EU husband.
I speak good French and having lived in France twice before for 9-mo stints each, I am familiar enough with French culture to empathize with the negative and positive critiques that people share on this subreddit. In other words, I know what to expect.
Nonetheless I am still nervous about the move; fitting in, finding a community, finding my tribe. I’m nervous about feeling like I’ve made a colossal mistake to sell everything and move here.
The truth is is that reading this subreddit does not make me féel very optimistic. I read posts lamenting the move abroad, the regrets you have, the challenge adapting, and none of which are unwarranted! I get it Expat life is difficult!
……But my question is…is there anyone here who is happy with their decision to have moved abroad?
I’m generally very happy with my decision. I’ve had a lot of great experiences. I think a lot of the difficulties I complain about here are the same ones I could have if I still lived in the US – for example difficulties with friends, difficulties with coworkers, annoyance with my job. I think I’ve had much better job opportunities where I live now, I get more respect from local people than I would back home, and worries about gun violence or street harassment are almost nonexistent here.