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Whole world out there waiting to be discovered

I moved to France with my English girlfriend over two years ago. We arrived here in September 2000 equipped with only the most basic level of French, a suitcase full of clothes and the feeling of dread and excitement all rolled into one. The very first week of being here I started work for my new company whilst my girlfriend searched very unsuccessfully for a job. I imagined that being emerged in a foreign language meant that it would be very easy to pick it up - how wrong I was! I could barely string a sentence together let alone follow a group of colleagues laughing and joking in the office. At the end of the first couple of weeks things were looking down, my girlfriend was having no luck finding a job and I was feeling a little excluded at work due to the language barrier. We then happened to stumble upon an organisation giving French lessons for foreigners in France, perfect! We joined up quickly and started to meet people from all across the world who were in the same boat as us. Having something in common we made new friends quite easily, each of us acting as something familiar to grab onto in a world of unknown. Things then started getting easier and my girlfriend even found a job teaching English. Now, more than two years on we are very happy. We have a small community of English and French friends whom we see every weekend. I'm still at the same company after having my contract extended permanently and my girlfriend is now teaching full time. We do plan to return one day but moving away kind of gets under your skin and I don't think I would ever be able to return to England for good. You quickly realise that there is a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered. Geographically we are only a train ride under the channel away but most of the time it feels like we are a million miles from England. There are of course days when I miss fish and chips and Eastenders but honestly ... there are not many.

Sent by: Matthew

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