So, why move to France?

"We had the opportunity to come to France to study, and for the children to master a new language in their super-absorbent years, and to immerse ourselve in the complexities and wonder of French culture; how could we possibly not?!" is my passionate, internal response to this question. My natural good nature and excellent upbringing successfully quiets the uber-fervent answer, and my graceful manners take over, describing the following, evenly and calmly:

So, since we met my husband and I have chatted casually about the possiblity of, and opportunities involved in, moving to another country. Imagine: Bilingual children! New food to try! International friendships! Gorgeous, ancient architecture to explore! Living in New Zealand (being born there, growing up there, having children there) is fabulous. It is paradise. Really, really. But when you've got itchy feet,  then moving from one city to another, still in New Zealand, just doesn't do it. And when you want to dip your toes into the international community of economists and the world of study and research, New Zealand feels a long, long way away.

And it is. I have realised, since living in France, that Europeans generally do not appreciate the sense of isolation we take as given in New Zealand. Our closest neighbouring country is Australia - a three hour plane ride away. And what language do they speak there? Well, English of course. And then the enormity of Australia is something not widely understood either. A friend asked me how long it takes to fly across Australia; two-three hours? When I said, double that and then add some more, she was incredulous.

And then there's the language thing. We have, I think, pretty good integration with the Maori language in New Zealand. When you've been away (say, in Europe) and then you come back to New Zealand, you realise how prominently the Maori culture is part of life in New Zealand. It's great. But the Maori language is not compulsory in schools so children in New Zealand do not generally grow up with the ability to speak more than one language.

Compare this to Europe. How many countries are there in a space the same size of Australia??? No idea, but I do know that France is the same size as the state of Texas, USA. (So that makes the United States of America way too big for me to get my head around. ... And then there's the size of the universe, which is a Whole Other Issue...)

And France doesn't just border onto Spain. There's Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Italy as well (have I missed any?). Imagine all those chance encounters with 'strangers' or 'foreigners' who speak other languages! Imagine living close to the border of one of these other countries and knowing French from school, possibly a mixed dialect developed from living so close the border of another country (like Catalan), and then most likely good scatterings of the language of the neighbouring country. That is Just So Good for your brain, and from what I understand, makes the wiring in your brain more disposed to learning other languages in the future.

And for children, the capacity to learn a new language is so much greater in childhood than at any other time in their lives (here, here!). Curiously, I had always been a bit sad - since I was young - that New Zealand wasn't colonised by the French (instead of the English). I just always thought the language was soooo beautiful and I wanted a French name like 'Emmanuelle' or 'Clothide' or 'Agathe'. Our childhood cat even had a French name - 'Fifi'.

But anyway, we moved here because 12 years in Wellington, New Zealand for us as a family was great, but we were ready for a new adventure. After visiting a few universities in Europe, we decided to apply for the PhD programme here in Toulouse, since it was taught in English and didn't have prohibitively high fees. The challenges in actually getting here, and then challenges of settling down and integrating are probably the reasons I have for wanting to write stuff down in this blog. It has been huge. But great too.

We have scheduled in to our time here an annual trip back to New Zealand to see (ancient) family members and new ones being born, and of course our friends, and to maintain business contacts as well. That, free phone calls, skype, and the fact that we like it here, make it possible to manage the long-distance thing and not feel homesick.

Even French people ask me why did we leave paradise to come to France? We love the history, the culture, the food, the wine, the style, the manners, the pace of life, the warmth of the sunshine, the mountains and the beaches, the wonderful people we meet. So, really, how could we not have moved to France?!

(More about the challenges - of which there seem to be a frighteningly large number - in further postings.)