What was the biggest surprise? We didn’t leave on a whim. In 2015, we moved to Québec with five suitcases, a one-and-a-half-year-old child, a CSQ, and an immigration file built line by line. Cyril had a job offer, a closed work permit. I had an open one. On paper, everything was aligned. And yet, nothing prepares you for what it really means to start over. The biggest surprise wasn’t the cold or the distance from home — it was realizing how much of yourself you have to leave behind to make space for something new. Canada didn’t just give us opportunities; it confronted us. It asked us to trust ourselves when everything familiar was gone. Slowly, without noise, this place became home — not because it was easy, but because we dared to stay open. What do you wish you knew before moving? We wish we had known that there is never a perfect moment. You can wait for more savings, more certainty, more reassurance — but life doesn’t work that way. There will always be reasons to postpone, to doubt, to stay where you are. We thought being “ready” meant having everything under control. It doesn’t. What truly matters is believing in yourself enough to move despite the fear. The real shift doesn’t happen when everything is secured — it happens when you decide to trust your capacity to adapt. Knowing this earlier would have helped us stop searching for the right timing and start believing in ourselves. How did you make friends? We didn’t build a life through grand gestures. We built it through small courage. Saying yes to conversations even when our accent betrayed us. Accepting help. Reaching out when it felt uncomfortable. A neighbour, a colleague, parents met through daycare — small encounters that slowly formed our first sense of belonging. Those connections didn’t erase the loneliness, but they softened it. They reminded us that community doesn’t appear overnight; it grows when you allow yourself to be seen. Would you recommend this move to others? Yes — because life rarely rewards caution alone. Moving abroad teaches you something essential: you don’t need to have all the answers to take a step forward. You need courage. You need trust. And sometimes, you simply need to dare. If the idea keeps returning, if it quietly insists despite your fears, listen to it. There is no perfect moment, only the one you choose. Most meaningful lives aren’t built on certainty — they’re built on the decision to believe in yourself and move anyway. That’s what we did. And it changed our lives.