A little bit more about my "soon-to-come" expatriation
Posted by: Fidji SIMO in American way of life, Blogging, Expatriation, Travel, UCLA
I mentionned at the beginning of my blogging experience that this blog was going to be launched in September 2007, when I will leave France for the US. In fact, my first purpose was to write a blog about both the great moments and the difficulties of expatriation. But my passion for the Internet, entrepreneurship and innovation was too strong and I decided to launch this blog before leaving our wonderful country.
Anyways, lots of visitors of this blog have sent me messages telling me that they would be interested in reading more on this expatriation on this blog. It is quite understandable: as this blog was until now (and will probably continue to be) really Internet centric, my readers are in many cases passionate about this sector. And it is really hard to be passionate about the Internet without having a great interest in what is happening in the US, and how a Frenchie can manage to be integrated there.
So I just want to tell you that I’m leaving to the US on Sep. 18th to study entrepreneurship for one term at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), as an exchange student from the PIM program. This term at UCLA will replace my last year at HEC Paris, and I will graduate in June 2008. But I reassure you, I won’t convert this blog into a story of my life, first of all because it is really not that interesting, and secondly because if you want more basic news about what’s happening to me you can follow me on Twitter here.
I can speak more serenely about this departure now, because almost everything is arranged, but I can tell you that expatriation really IS a big deal.
During these past months, I’ve had to:
- go through awful administrative processes to get my student visa
- find an apartment online (I love rent.com!) and book it without even being sure that the woman I sent my money to really is the property manager of a great condo (of course I checked everything I could, but how can you be sure when you are miles away?). I must add that I had tough requirements: short term stay, fully furnished, close to UCLA, not too expensive, with the possibility of having an Internet access, and if possible a fitness center (me, demanding?
)
- try (not done already!) to install an Internet access in my future apartment to have it when I arrive
- figure out that there is a sexual offender in the street of my US address thanks to vison20/20, amazing site generating violent reactions (I definitely can’t stop writing about net topics)
- find an insurance to cover me in the US
- start selling all the furniture of my French apartment
- resiliate all the utilities contracts
- get used to the fact that UCLA is a HUGE university and try to identify the halls I must go to when I arrive
- leave my beloved Mac for another computer, buy Windows Vista and Office 2007 because they are the only ones compatible with UCLA systems
- select the courses I want to follow while knowing that exchange students NEVER get the courses they selected
- start being stressed (I’m really in advance on this one!)
So if you have any questions about the preparations fro an expatriation, do not hesitate to ask; otherwise, more to come after Sep. 18th ! Wish me good luck!
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Hi Fidji,
Living abroad is one of the best living experience one can have. You gonna meet different people, be exposed to a different culture. The funny thing is that you learn a lot about your country and a lot about yourself when you’re away. You’ll never be the same again.
Another great thing is at your personal level you also become some kind of ambassador so behave yourself !
Have a great time over there and keep on the good blogging !
Hi Cecil,
Thanks for your comment. In fact I already lived and worked abroad (3 months internship in Miami and 3 months internship in London), but what’s different this time is that 1) I’m going to study abroad, which is a quite different experience I guess, 2) I see this expatriation as a definitive one (even if of course I can end up by running back to France in a few months!).
You seem to have a pretty good experience of expatriation yourself, where did you live?
Profite bien ! Je ferais bien une année aux USA moi !
Thanks Leafar, you’re more than welcome to come and visit me!
Way to go! You seem very well prepared and I feel like you are going to love it! I am much older than you are, but I wish I sounded as serene, prepared, articulate and mature as you sound when I first jumped into UCSB (didn’t go to UCLA, and it was already a BIG jump).
Be prepared for the cultural shock though. My best advice is to be OPEN, open, open, and keep your shocks for yourself (or better, for your blog, where you’ll be able to confront your questions with other, it feels good to vent, and also to get the others’ perspective, whereas they have gone through it or that they will commiserate with you!).
Take care!
Thank you so much Otir for your nice comment, it feels good to get advice from French expatriates.
I also feel that it’s a BIG jump, and I try to minimize the inherent risk to such a decision by being well prepared. I am also completely aware that jumping into a huge university full of international students will be a great change, because, at HEC (my current French school), French students and international ones aren’t that mixed. But it is the reason why I want to have this experience, so I will enjoy every minute and try to share my thoughts here.
I will definitely spend time reading your blog to see if I can deduce your feelings about expatriation, but I would love to hear more about your experience at UCSB and the reasons that made you decide to live in the US.
Thanks again!
Do not spend to much time trying to find answers to that in my blog, I don’t think they are so clearly stated, some even say I am too talkative… which is not considered as the best of assets in an anglo-saxon culture! Although I sometimes post about cultural differences, and often speak about the main misunderstandings that often occur between the French and the American, it is not clearly identified on my blog, I am afraid.
I went to UCSB thirty years ago and spent a great time there, I was studying language and history. My major was in foreign language, and I chose to go back to France as I was stupid enough not to take a great opportunity that I had to stay in California to go to an interpretor school. Bad bad choice, but life gave me other lemons instead, I assume.
I came back to the States in 98, twenty years later, after many adventures in France, and the reason why I came back were not a real choice, I just wanted to reunite my family and my (at the time) husband wanted to pursue his musical career in the US (he is a jazz musician). Right after I arrived in the States, our elder son (who was 26 months at the time), was diagnosed with autism and I decided to stay. The rest is history, the musician decided he’d be better off without us, and I stayed, learning to live in exile, and to do the best I could with what I was given in life.
It turned out that the US are a great country where everything is possible when you want to make it possible. It is a dangerous and stressful life, and I do not approve of everything, I stayed very French, but I love it.
I hope I answered (a little) your question. Basically I stayed because acceptance is greater in the US, especially acceptance of anything that is different. But relationships are the area where the biggest cultural differences apply, so one has to be aware of the fact and be able to accept and not to take anything for granted.
Sorry for typos and the length. And of course, I didn’t mean you shouldn’t read my blog if you’d like!
Thank you so much for sharing this story here. It definitely motivates me to go through all of your articles (it will takes time ;-))!
From what I’ve seen already, the style you use to describe what strikes you most in this world is really captivating. Your reason for staying in the US is one of the reasons for me to go there: from what I’ve experienced during my previous stays, there are less stereotypes, which gives a greater level of freedom. I also like the positive “a priori” towards people: it seems that Americans thinks that people are great “a priori”, unless they are proven the contrary. So I understand that it is exactly the kind of positive “a priori” you and your son needed. I hope that he finds there the environment he needs to develop his potential and enjoy the world.
Anyways, you’re very welcome anytime on this blog to share your good advice and experience. Be sure that I’ll drop back to yours!
Great analysis Fidji! That is exactly one of the biggest differences that can strike us French when dealing with the American culture. It does not preclude the Americans from being prejudiced but they base their prejudices on different parameters than we are used to in France.
The main downside you may encounter is that we are culturally more accustomed to relationship networks and less used to “low level context” culture, that is to say, in the US you have to go for the explicit, and never assume things that have not been said can be understood. Being straightforward is efficient and nice, but it often lacks subtlety. It is a great asset to be able to keep our ability to decode contexts even in an American environment.
It will give you a tremendous capital of “charm”. The Americans are fascinated by our ability to be so “mysterious” (that’s the way they see our culture). Take advantage of it, but don’t be surprised if you find that their dance is different and sometimes “cold”. Respect their taboos, you’ll find out that they are more numerous than you would have expected in the first place (I still find them where I was not expecting them to be).
I am very glad you enjoyed my contribution to you r post. I will definitely look forward to reading you again.
Great, I love having “charm” and being “mysterious” just by staying who I am! Besides being French costs much less than adding silicone…
Again, your insights are very welcome on this blog, see u soon!
HI Fidji,
well i’m afraid my experience as an expat is not as comprehensive and does not have as much hindsight as Otir.
Besides, I have just lived in european and close countries : 3 years in London and 5 in Zürich.
But it’s just great : it brings you a lot to think about our identity and our culture.
Have a good time !
Thanks Cecil for these details. I don’t think that we can compare “comprehensiveness” of experiences. I only spent 3 months in Miami and 3 months in London as an expat and it already taught me a lot, especially since the first weeks are often the toughest. So of course I can’t compare my experience with Otir’s, however we got the same feeling concerning American culture.
So you definitely have a pretty large experience of expatriation, and the question that bugs me is: why did you come back? Did you miss France, and if yes, what was the trigger?