Ok, so, this isn't me in Canada (obviously) - but this is me saying "Hi world, it's me Kristi. I want to hug and embrace you"

By Kristi Remick

Sitting in my college dorm room in Plattsburgh NY, sometime between 1992 and 1996, I was likely dressed in some ratty flannel shirt while humming to a Smashing Pumpkins tune and wondering where my next beer would come from.  You see, I had a horrible fake ID so beer was sometimes hard to come by.  I went to a school 20 some odd minutes south of the Canadian border and I could quickly cross the border  in an effort to score higher alcohol percentage beer legally.  Sadly, it never once occurred to me while there to visit Montreal, a very French inspired, cute and cobbly city only 30 minutes north of the border.

Before you all start thinking I had a drinking problem, let’s fast forward to 2008 where I either had a crisis, meltdown or a combination of the two. Instead of wishing for a “midlife crisis mobile” from the latest pages of Popular Mechanics, I was wondering what in the world I was going to do with this life I was given. It was through this crisis-meltdown that I found my REASON.

Back up again to 1999 when I met my husband in Atlanta.  He was shockingly well traveled in my “Canada-crossing-the-border-to-get-beer” opinion.  He went to the Bahamas during a high school band field trip and even studied abroad in Europe while in college!  This world traveler was about to introduce me to…well, the World.  Our first trip was to the Cayman Islands, a good starting point for a girl like me who didn’t yet have a passport and could just barely point out the Caribbean on a map.  Not only was the water unlike any I had ever seen, it was there I realized I was going to marry this man and see the world with him.  A traveling spirit was beginning to form in my belly, one I never knew I existed.

Throughout the next decade we saw more beautiful blue waters, crackly old buildings in Europe and packs of wild animals grazing on the sunset painted lands of Africa.  Even though I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life in Atlanta, I knew I wanted to see more of the world.  My meltdown-crisis commenced with the realization that it was time to do just that.

My husband, who is well “acroynmed”, began the search for a global rotation with his company.  Our search became a reality and here we are today in Zurich, Switzerland.  There was a lot in between that search and subsequent landing, some of it sweet and some of it not so much, but it never would have happened if I visited Montreal back when I was in college.

Because, I am convinced that my traveling spirit was always there and just needed to be inspired.  Had I been inspired too early, I may not have met my husband or moved to Atlanta or landed in Zurich.  I am in no way condoning waiting to see the world, in fact I still physically shudder while telling people the story that I never once saw Montreal as a college student…but it gave me my reason and for that, I will always hold “never seeing Montreal Canada”, close to my heart.

Thanks Canada

Tags: Expats in Switzerland, Switzerland, why become an Expat

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