Par Nicholas Zaugra
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Jérôme is spending a few days in Lyon at the beginning of April. The 47-year-old Lyonnais comes straight from the United States where he settled almost thirty years ago. Born in La Croix-Rousse in the 4th arrondissement, the 40-year-old returns to France once or twice a year. He tells us about his choice of life.
He left France at 19
It was at the age of 19 that Jérôme, then a second-year student in the preparatory class at Ampère high school, decided to try to cross the Atlantic to live in the United States. “I had always had the idea of going to the USA. I stopped my prep class in the second year. I passed my English exam and the one to enter an American university”.
As a young American, he sets out to find college on the east coast. “I had already been to New Jersey and loved it. I came back to France with a big directory of universities. But unlike an American student, who applies years in advance, I submitted an application a few months before admissions, “he explains to Lyon news.
“I was on a campus in the middle of nothing”
Jérôme is admitted to the Slippery Rock Universitynorth of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania).
“I was on a campus in the middle of nothing, it was a bit lost. There were students from all over the world. It was a Frenchman who welcomed me and made me want to stay in the United States. I still have ties with him, ”smiles the Franco-American.
I was able to study marketing and I got an NBA. I first worked in a bank and then in a data company for 6 years before joining the famous brand Ralph Lauren in New York for seven years. Today I work for a much more modest fashion brand.
He founded his family in the United States
The Lyonnais has never left his adopted country. ” I started my family here“, he explains. The quadra met his wife, of Ukrainian origin, who moved to New York at the same time as him. “It’s a very international, very open city.”
The couple have two children aged 11 and 13. Jérôme meanwhile gets his US citizenshipthe famous green card, in 2006. “I am involved in American life, I vote in elections, I also voted in the last presidential election,” continues the American by adoption.
Jerome and his wife buy a house in the suburbs in New York State north of the Bronx. “We settled near a train station. I can go to work by train and by bike. I’m 35 minutes from Grand Central in Manhattan. The idea is to do without the car as much as possible here. Door-to-door, I am an hour away from my job,” he says.
Adapting to American life
One of the biggest challenges of being French is getting used to the American way of life. “I first lived in the Midwest, a much more rural area. They are small towns and it was great”.
AT New-York, where he now spends more time working there, Jérôme always feels like he is discovering something new. “There is activity everywhere in the streets, the city is changing, whole neighborhoods are changing, they are very different”.
I am 50/50 French and American. I still have French habits. I read Le Monde and l’Equipe every day, I watch French series on Netflix, I listen to music, I often go to bakeries. I also love seeing French artists in concert here. They choose smaller rooms. I have a crazy memory of Johnny Hallyday and Patrick Bruel in New York.
“Here the baguette, it’s 5 dollars”
The Lyonnais still tries to treat himself to the pleasures of his native country: cheese, bread or wine. “It’s one of the things I miss about France,” smiles Jérôme.
Clearly, finding a job is easier here, there is little long-term unemployment. But it’s true that you can get fired faster. On the food side, it’s something else, that’s for sure. Good quality products are very expensive, they are a luxury. Here the baguette or the croissant is 5 dollars. The healthcare system is also very different. Even when you are insured, you are afraid of going out with a huge hospital bill…
The “radicality” of certain conservatives, like Donald Trump, still “scares” Franco-Americans.
More direct day-to-day relationships also took time to adapt. “Today, I’m more comfortable talking to a stranger. Here, it’s more natural, it’s normal. It seems very superficial, but it makes it easier to create relationships”.
Return to France and Lyon?
Jérôme returns to Lyon at least once a year to see his family who still live in the Croix-Rousse district.
Does he plan to return to France? “It’s not planned at all, maybe only if we have professional opportunities,” he says.
« Lyon is still my city. My parents still live in my childhood home. When I’m at Croix-Rousse, it’s as if I hadn’t left. The schools, the atmosphere, the shops have not changed…”
“Lyon continued to improve”
Each time he returns to the capital of Gaul, the father notices that the city is changing. “Lyon continued to improve. I cycle a lot and love using the bike paths. I hear the tensions on the work of the ecologists, me, I take advantage of the good side, I do not see the negative side ”.
On each of his trips, he takes the opportunity to visit Vieux-Lyon, Pérouges, make Bouchons Lyonnais or “visit other regions of France”. “I left at 19, there are parts of the country that I don’t know…”.
Jérôme is one of those 60,000 to 70,000 French people living in the New York areaaccording to french consulate. “And I don’t regret it at all,” concludes the ex-Lyonnais.
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