Christie+H.

The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side

By Christie Huff

“The grass is always greener on the other side”. This is one of those clichéd expressions, which I’ve heard often, but I recently had an experience that allowed me to fully embody its meaning. Over spring break, I went with some classmates to France, where we spent a week living with different families, going to school with them and doing different activities. Before the trip, I was mainly worried about how I was going to communicate with people who speak only French, when my French is far from perfect. However, I failed to think about how close we would become with these people or the culture that they live in.

As the week progressed, and I learned how to communicate with my family, and all of the people I met, I became increasingly jealous of the lives they lead at this French school. Their classes seem much more relaxed, while they still seem to learn lots. They are able to go out at night and walk around town and go into different restaurants or bars and just hang out, which is something that I really can’t imagine living in Atlanta, where you need a car to go basically anywhere. And of course, I loved their food!

Most of all, I became jealous of their open culture. Being the Americans, we were like the celebrities, and everyone wanted to meet us and talk to us, and they all seemed so much nicer than most people I’ve meet in America. In one week, I became closer friends with some of the people that I met, than I am with some people whom I’ve known for years.

As I was explaining this to my host family, they were shocked when I said that I would love to just stay in France (although they were also thrilled and encouraged it; yet another example of their open environment). When I explained my reasons, they still looked at me like I was crazy, and then proceeded to explain to me the many reasons why I am so lucky to live in America.

While I understood many of their reasons, I was struck with the fact that these people are dying to live the life I lead, while I would love to switch places with them. It made me think of the clichéd maxim: “the grass is always greener on the other side”. I suppose it is human nature that we are unable to be content with the lives that we live – we are always jealous of someone else, convinced that they have the better end of the deal. media type="file" key="The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side.m4a"