Sunday, 23 May 2004
Well, Someone Will Always Have Paris, I Guess
My good friend Valerie is going to move back to the U.S. Half-French and half-American, she had a long-term goal to live in France. Once here, she planned to stay for the rest of her life. So her news - while positive for her career - took me aback.
Well, maybe that's too strong of an expression. See, I need to express surprise without actually feeling surprise.
I have this longstanding theory: those who move to another country, and who have already decided on their length of stay, will leave the soonest. Those who come with no real expectations of how long they want to live there, end up staying for a long (if not very long) time.
Almost every single one of the expatriates I've met has backed this up through their personal "why I'm in France" story. And it's not error due to a small data sample: I've met many expats, being as I am a member of a club dedicated to them. Piles and piles of empirical proof, though of course I've never bothered quantifying any of it - effectively meaning that it could just be wild speculation. But I'll still trust my "gut analysis."
Valerie does plan to return to France, eventually. But no matter how I rationalize it, I never really expected her to leave in the first place. Once she boards that plane to New York in August, my theory will have yet another supporting piece of evidence. And I'll have one less friend in Paris.