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?
It will be 6 years since I moved from America to the UK in a little less that two weeks and it is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am happier, my husband is happier- it took time for me to make friendships but it has helped me really figure out who I am. I did lots of mini trips to near by towns/cities by myself to gain confidence when I first moved here. I love the life we have made here and I do not plan to ever move back to the states. Next year I plan to apply for citizenship and I can’t wait. We sold everything we owned before we moved here and it was quite freeing to get rid of it all.
It’s a big step but it can also be a FUN one!