Jessica leaving boo hoo!

So I started u a thread so Katja doesn't get taken over.

This is all very quick , u must be making some huge mental leaps...how scary but SOOOOOOOO exciting. and at least France is a first world country unlike Italy hee hee!
So come on...details...where abouts in France? I have a mate who lives there, but in some rural outback, but seems v. happy. Well anyway it is a big place. So, he is moving when? and you are joining him when? and in the meantime I get to meet you and drink!!! DRINK !! OH yes, I know no Italians who think drinking is normal, I mean I don't drink alot (2 glasses of wine and I am practically anybody's), but it's a matter of mentality......... anyway now I digress...

Im going to miss you Jess but i will come and visit!!!!!!!!!!

I should start by saying I am leaving Italy (yay) but not leaving the forum (double yay). I am still in SHOCK. It happened so fast. With husband being in the Italian military I was kinda prepared that we would possibly be moving around some. Spain was a big possibility for a long while. But this came out of nowhere and has nothing to do with the military (now I can stop worrying about them sending him to Afghanistan)! We are both kind of "over" Italy and it's lack of possibilities. While it's easy to move up in the military the pay still lags WAY behind. I was talking to a friend in the US who is in the Marines and he was saying that he can't believe someone of my husband's rank and 15 years of service is still getting CRAP pay. It's true though. My husband is a brain and deserves to be paid what he is worth (He is a computer genius btw). So he randomly sent off his CV to an interesting company and the next day got called by HR. After a week of back and forths they made an offer "we couldn't refuse". So husband is resigning from the air force and we are freaking out. His office is near Lille in a little town called Valenciennes. We are thinking to live there or in Lille, but since his contract is actually Belgian (the company is based there)we are not throwing out the idea of living across the border. SO I could either be an expat in France or Belgium, depending on who has the best shops and cutest (cheapest!) apartments. The good thing in Belgium's favor is I can trade in my American drivers license! In France, like Italy, I have to go through all the schooling and tests again...and we all know how over priced and ridiculous THAT would be. So who knows...we will see. Of course I will still consider myself an expat in Italy too since we have heart broken inlaws (when we told mamma she was like "I will die this time! I will!" even though she will probably see us more now that there are 5 euro flights to ciampino instead of 5 hours in a car)that will demand us to be here often. Plus we own property here so, you know I guess that counts too.

Since husband needs to be in France for work by the 30th of November, we have to pack all our crap up and put it in storage here in Verona. So we don't have to pay rent here for December the chinchillas and I are going to be couch surfing with the inlaws in Rome starting around the 15th of November until we find "Jessica's dream house in France/Belgium". Being that this is Europe and near Christmas I am not counting on finding "Jessica's dream house in France/Belgium" until January BUT that means many expat in Rome get togethers before I go!

wow!
My brother is in the RAF in the UK. Can't comment on pay coz don't know, but he was posted in Iraq for 6 months which was scary! Surely D's mum is at least happy he is out of that kind of danger!
Anyway this really does sound exciting. And I am sure that in Northern Europe you will have more opportunities to be appreciated for your own skills too.

Do wish I had such a high flying, intelligent husband...unfortunately all the intelligence is on my side of the family!

So I am going to look forward to some happy times over Xmas...it will be so cool to meet you, and my new adopted little friends (who still have no names!!??).

Maybe we shall even see you more often because of the cheap flights!

Wow - exciting stuff, Jessica! You needn't have worried about hijacking my thread, but it's good to have the whole explanation where everyone can find it.

Yeah I tried to name them but i couldn't tell them apart. Now they are just called Lizzie's hamsters haha. You will have to think of something cute for them

ha ha that's funny...well I think I will let Matteo name them, or else they will be named after some 1950's crime lords! we'll see!

Thats sounds sooo exciting!!!, i have alot of french friends here in Florence and they have inspired me to visit the "not just paris" parts of the country! is this pretty much forever? I wish i was in rome to meet up with you all, i would consider trecking it out there if you guys know of a couch i could crash lol.. and to get claires books.. its a thought!

jessucanoel wrote:I should start by saying I am leaving Italy (yay) but not leaving the forum (double yay). I am still in SHOCK. It happened so fast. With husband being in the Italian military I was kinda prepared that we would possibly be moving around some. Spain was a big possibility for a long while. But this came out of nowhere and has nothing to do with the military (now I can stop worrying about them sending him to Afghanistan)! We are both kind of "over" Italy and it's lack of possibilities. While it's easy to move up in the military the pay still lags WAY behind. I was talking to a friend in the US who is in the Marines and he was saying that he can't believe someone of my husband's rank and 15 years of service is still getting CRAP pay. It's true though. My husband is a brain and deserves to be paid what he is worth (He is a computer genius btw). So he randomly sent off his CV to an interesting company and the next day got called by HR. After a week of back and forths they made an offer "we couldn't refuse". So husband is resigning from the air force and we are freaking out. His office is near Lille in a little town called Valenciennes. We are thinking to live there or in Lille, but since his contract is actually Belgian (the company is based there)we are not throwing out the idea of living across the border. SO I could either be an expat in France or Belgium, depending on who has the best shops and cutest (cheapest!) apartments. The good thing in Belgium's favor is I can trade in my American drivers license! In France, like Italy, I have to go through all the schooling and tests again...and we all know how over priced and ridiculous THAT would be. So who knows...we will see. Of course I will still consider myself an expat in Italy too since we have heart broken inlaws (when we told mamma she was like "I will die this time! I will!" even though she will probably see us more now that there are 5 euro flights to ciampino instead of 5 hours in a car)that will demand us to be here often. Plus we own property here so, you know I guess that counts too.

Since husband needs to be in France for work by the 30th of November, we have to pack all our crap up and put it in storage here in Verona. So we don't have to pay rent here for December the chinchillas and I are going to be couch surfing with the inlaws in Rome starting around the 15th of November until we find "Jessica's dream house in France/Belgium". Being that this is Europe and near Christmas I am not counting on finding "Jessica's dream house in France/Belgium" until January BUT that means many expat in Rome get togethers before I go!

Oh God I'm so jealous you might go to live in my home country Belgium. Lille is a nice city I heard. And indeed not far from the Belgian border. Would you want to live in the Flemish or the French speaking part?
Although I'm not from that part of Belgium (not that it's that big) but if you need any info or anything or some tips about cities to def. visit in Belgium, let me know.

Congratz to you and your husband for the joboffer!

Yeah we would have to live in the french speaking part if we chose Belgium just so my husband can get to work in Valenciennes. We were thinking of Mons, but I found some expats who said it was a sh*t hole. I guess I have to wait and see for myself. Do you know anything about Mons?

Well, I don't know that much about Mons (Bergen), but if you ask my opinion I would pick another place. Think that Mons is in the 'Borinage', which is the old coalmine region. It's not really know as a great place to live, neither is Charleroi for that matter. But of course opinions are personal, so maybe when you visit you will like it.

Do you want to live in a big city or rather a village? If you want a city, the closest by that I think is nice is Lille,France.
The south of Belgium is the more 'poor' region, more problems on the jobmarket etc.
Although there are absolutely beautiful places esp. in the Belgian Ardennes.

Yeah I think that whole area is like that, coal mining, ect. But we don't have much choice really, his job is in Valenciennes. So it's either there, Lille or Mons. I don't really have a preference in terms of big/small towns but I don't want WAY small, there has to be a center and stores. I am leaning towards Belgium so I can trade in my driver's license for a Belgian one! I guess we will have to see it with our own eyes then decide. Just glancing online, the apartments in Mons are cheaper and way cuter than the ones in Valenciennes and Lille.

Why dont you google the areas for touristy things or to see what the towns are like as in how big, shops etc, social stuff that might help get a better over view as well then you can check it all out when you go have a look

hi belgium,
am from amsterdam.just wanted to know where in italie do you live?
me in rome.

jessica,sorry your leaving.
but a new advanture is waithing for you.
and new friends to make.

one side it must be difficult to have to live in a other country but other side its nice when you'r young you can see more of the world.
no?

good luck with everything,and keeps us up to date how it go's there

Sorry to hear you're leaving, jessica - although that sounds like a fantastic opportunity in France. It also gives me hope. I feel like I'm so used to the sh*tty job market here in Italy that I forget that in other places people are actually hiring (and paying decent wages) even during the crisis.

Anyway bon voyage! I guess this means you'll be studying French? I hear the French health care system is greatBTW. No idea about the Belgian.