Housing

Every move is a pain, but an international move is even more demanding.  It has to do with everything from size of resident to appliances.  Normally, in the US when one moves into an apartment, everything is there except furniture.  Kitchen appliances, and in some cases washing machines and dryers are in the units.  In France and the Netherlands, usually all one has on the first day are bare walls. In some cases even the paint is coming off of the walls.  On the other hand, in the United Kingdom it is rare to find an apartment without furniture.  Most flats, as they are known there, are furnished.

Before moving to the UK, I knew that my flat would be smaller than my apartment in the US.  I was moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom flat.  Usually, a two-bedroom residence is larger than a one-bedroom unit, but this was not the case.  I donated the furniture that I did not want to take with me.  I tried to take only what was needed.  Since the company was paying for the move, I took everything in that shipment.  It was either leave it behind permanently or take it along.  I had a bed, a couch, a small table with two chairs, two individual chairs and the rest were small items such as dishes, books, and clothes.  And yes, it was too much for my flat.  I had to ask the landlord to remove his living-room furniture and a bed. 

Once I had all of my belongings in the flat, I quickly found out that I did not have enough closet space or shelves.  Some items stayed in boxes the entire four years that I was there.  I had to go to Ikea to buy bookshelves.  Not knowing how long I was going to be there I did not want to invest too much money in things I might not need in the future. 

After four years, I moved on to Paris.  It took nearly two weeks to find a decent apartment.  I was working with an agent, just like I had done in London, but it did not go as smoothly.  I even had to change agents, because the first one did not seem to understand what type of apartment I needed.  I visited apartments all around Paris and none suited me.  Finally, I took the lesser of all evils.  The apartment was in a great location.  The building had character, but that was it.  There was no furniture, no curtains, no light fixtures, and not even kitchen appliances.  The one good thing was that the apartment was freshly painted.  I did not have to do that. 

Having just arrived in Paris and not knowing how long I would be there, I was not about to spend a lot of money on things I could not take with me.  However, I at least needed, an oven, a dishwasher, a refrigerator,  a washing machine/dryer, a micro-wave and a TV.  The kitchen cupboards and light fixtures would have to wait.  I bought portable lamps instead. Additionally, I needed a dinning table and curtains.  There were only three closets in the three-bedroom apartment, but since one bedroom was empty, I used it as a storage room and many items stayed in boxes. 

In Paris I had more space than London, but less storage and no appliances.  I enjoyed my time in each of these wonderful cities, but I am happy to be on the shores of Lac Léman fully-equipped. 

The Five-Year Hurdle

In the preceding post, I mentioned that the five-year mark is the moment of truth.  This is the moment to decide whether to stay abroad or to return home.  Most corporate assignments do not last more than five years.  There are some reasons for this.  First, the longer you are away from headquarters/home office, the more you are perceived as no longer a member of the department, team or group with whom you previously worked.  Second, you have moved from a domestic career track to an international career track.   Third, many US corporations send employers abroad just ahead of retirement, thus at the end of their assignments they are more likely to return home than stay abroad.  Fourth, the cost of an ex-pat package has become extremely expensive and corporations are looking to cut costs.

But, if the decision is to stay abroad after five years, then you will have many more new experiences.  The first five years are more about not losing contact with the home country and friends, and little about learning the nuances of the local country.  Often during the first five years, one is traveling around the region and spending only a small amount of time in the local country.  For example, I lived in United Kingdom for four years.  I believe I visited Scotland and Wales each only once.  Additionally, I did not visit many areas outside of the London area.  Now that it is ten years since I left the UK, I still have not visited any of these areas.  That was truly a missed opportunity.

A year before reaching the five-year date, my employer requested that I return to the US.  I had worked for this company 11 years and the last 4 were in the UK.  At that point, I was not ready to return to the US, so I took the decision to look for another job.  First, I moved to Paris, and then a couple years later, I came to the shores of Lac Léman and I have been here ever since.