I’m from Texas. From age 22 to age 70-something I lived mostly in France and Italy. I was not working as it’s commonly understood; I was “being an artist.” In that time I learned a lot, as you can imagine. I was an American shedding a lot of my cultural conditioning and accommodating new assumptions about the world.

Every new culture is a shock, depending on how insular your life has been as you grow up. Texas was just as insular in the 40’s and 50’s as you can imagine. My shock was typical, no doubt.

I feel a certain amount of sympathy for any 40 or 50 year-old who moves to another country simply because it’s cheaper and finds it too great a challenge. And I can understand their reluctance to do so after putting down roots in their native land, with all the economic and familial ties that implies. Having said that, I’m glad I got out of Dodge when the gittin’ was good. I’m glad my years of disorientation and culture shock are mostly behind me.