Thursday, January 17, 2008

When Does it Stop

I had an interesting question posed to me last night when I was out with a group of American expats. When do things stop being different? In the beginning it seemed that there was something new around every corner now some of the excitement has worn off and it's business as usual. That's not to say that I'm still surprised by certain things but it happens on much less frequent basis.

In a conversation with my sister recently she summed it up rather well - and I'm paraphrasing here so forgive me if I get it wrong. "When you first moved it was exciting and adventurous but now you just live far away." I think no matter where you live after a while you stop exploring and being adventurous and you start to take things for granted. When I made my first trip back to Boston in July I remember seeing the city in a different way. I was doing things I hadn't previously done or hadn't done in a long time like walking through Beacon Hill, riding the swan boats in the Common and checking out the shops in the south end. Why was I not taking advantage of some of these things while I lived in Boston? At what point does our perspective on where we live change ?

I've been to Paris 4 times and each time I've been to or driven past the Eiffel Tower and every time it amazes me . If I lived in Paris how long would it be before I stopped noticing it?