Is living abroad living up to ur expectations ???

[michymama]

Hi, I've always wanted to live in Italy since I was a kid. We've been in sicily now for 6 years and I'm some what disillusioned. I'm tired of hearing about all the coruption and having to live with it too !!! I still love living here and want to stay but sometimes feel so fed up with having to "know" people to get anything !!
Does anybody else every feel like this ?? Is the UK such a great place as I sometimes imagine, or see when I visit ?? Any Italians who have moved to UK how do u view Italy ??

kindersurprise - yes, that's a very good question.

Over the years it has varied but for the past 10 years (of 15) I have been more integrated into the local community that the expat community. However, now that my daughter is at school, I am finding that I am meeting a lot of non-French-wives-of-Frenchmen - so I suppose that mixed couples are my natural habitat.

I've always spoken French fluently so that has never been an issue. However, culturally/socially it took me a long time to get to grips with France and now I have pretty good picture of how complex it all is . Just as much a minefield as the UK class system.

Anna - apart from carrefour, do you know of any other supermarkets that do internet shopping (as in real shopping not mignon petit panier)?

Yes, generally love living in France - apart from above lack of internet shopping.........

I don't use Ooshop (Carrefour)

I alternate Houra (Cora) which has the hugest range, with Telemarket which is (or used to be...) more upmarket. Also Picard once in a blue moon.

Dont think there is a cora in bordeaux!

I think Houra is national and Telemarket is supposed to be going national, may have already done so.

It comes from a warehouse, not from a store, anyway.

It comes from a warehouse, not from a store, anyway.

do you have a web add for Houra, cant find it?

Sorry michymama!

Have you seen the film 'Respiro' - it really put me off living on an italian island, however gorgeous the landscape?

V. good question. I think most of my good friends are English speaking although my partner is Spanish. I feel very integrated in Spain but I think it's natural to maintain the closest relationships with people from your home country, you simply have more to talk about and even more so abroad!

When people talk about the importance of immigrants integrating into societies I always think that it's so natural to stick together, everywhere I have ever lived I've noticed that people do it and complete intergration will take many generations.

Lokka - there are some expats who socialise exclusively with other expats. I know of one couple here where I live who speak v v limited french and have been here for ten years....

I cannot imagine living somewhere for so long and not being able to communicate with those around me.

www.houra.fr

Completely agree..I live in Madrid and speak Spanish fluently but as I'm sure you're aware the 'costas' are full of Brits who can't ask for milk in their local shop and have lived there for years..it's awful but they are generally people who retire there..I hope younger people or families make an effort to speak the language!

I think anywhere can be great as long as you know you are not staying for ever - that way you can concentrate on the pros and play down the cons. So far we've lived in Paris and Berlin, but may be heading back to Blighty for our next posting. I'm sure living in the UK will be much more tolerable knowing I don't have to stay there more than four years (after that back to Paris or who knows where). The problem with moving permanently is that you know you've got to live with the cons on a full time basis which can make it harder to see the positive things. That said, I suppose having to move every four or five years might be seen as a bad thing by some - fortunately I don't mind!

LilianGish - is it your or your DP's job that keeps you on the move?

shopping medioeval in Paris??? Anna! !

Michymamma, as I said in the Italin thread, life in Sicily must be hard. We are moving back to Milan and I'm already dreading the frustration of the traffic, the bureaucracy (sp), going to any public office and been given different advice by grumpy employees who'll never get sacked whatever they do. I've missed Italy so much in the last 8 yrs, to the point of crying whenever it's shown on Uk television... (pathetic emoticon). I'm going to make pasta.

DP's. Not terribly easy for me to work although I did work in Paris before the dcs were born. I actually see it as a positive thing in a way as I love being a SAHM and this way I don't have any pangs about whether or not I should try and get back to work. I also think its even more important for the kids who have never lived in England - they are very English and that's largely down to me!

I knew I wouldn't like living in UK, so it's lived up to expectations really

)On the bright side, I was just saying to DS this aftie as we left the vets. He can be assured that if he steps outside of the house in this town without a dogpoo bag, it's guaranteed there will be some rubbish lying around to pick it up with.)

brownsuga
What do you not like about living in the UK?

I am very integrated, to the extent that I struggle to speak English sometimes and have to force myself to do so with the DCs.

Funnily enough, I am getting more British, the longer I am here. I have been here for 15 years and we have just now got around to getting sat tv to watch BBC etc. I would say I am more homesick now than I used to be, but still would not want to move back to UK.

A woman I met recently through work told me that her DH does not speak German although he has been here 15 years. I find that incredible, it almost seems like MORE work not to pick up the language.

KBS, it's the amount of people living in such a small country, things are bound to go wrong. live in a kitset estate with tiny backyards, feel very closed in, and in the grim north. (i'm from nz, so used to open speace, but have lived in 6 other countries and this is my least favourite)

interesting thread.

question 1: having been raised by an expat in the US, I have grown up comparing cultures and travelling loads. I've lived in several countries and always get itchy feet after the first couple of years. Now that I have kids and my dh is british, I am gasping for us to make a move, but he wants to stay. I am torn between forcing it or staying put.

question 2: I recently noticed that most of my friends, and virtually all of my closest friends, are either foreigners (although not Americans) or they have lived abroad too. It seems like we are all drawn to each other to moan nostalgically???

BrownSuga, i am living in the north too and finding it really difficult.

oregore, i've been here 2 years, and have itchy feet too, trying to drag dh back to middle east. waiting to hear about a job, and a few other things to fall into place.

Whereabouts are you? We're near Durham, uded to live in sunny Sunderland. There are nice bits, and the scenery is amazing, but, well... I probably don't need to enumerate the drawbacks for you.

we're in seaton carew. we can see the nuclear power station, the blast furnace across at redcar and on the drive in, various chemical plants . but on the bright side, it keeps dh and me in work (engineering/construction)