Jhumpa Lahiri Quotes

I am starting to like L.A., but the concept of a place you have to get used to so much seems a little weird to me. I have been to many foreign cities where I didn't have to acclimatize as much as I did to L.A.

I'm going to try to continue to try to speak English because I live in the United States.

Moving to England, again it's a new language to learn, and I've got to get use to the mentality, the culture, but I think I've integrated myself really well into this team, and I'm happy so far.

Everything has changed since I came to China.

Come English Settlement, I had it in my head that I didn't want to tour.

I took time off from school and traveled to Italy when I was 19, living with my extended family members. I must have slept in 30 different houses those months, taken in by people who'd never even met me.

I couldn't settle in Italy - it was like living in a foreign country.

When Niki and I moved to Paris, there was also the challenge of Paris, an extremely daunting city.

When I first came over to the States, I started writing, I think, as a way to help myself learn English. I would start stapling together little booklets for myself.

When I last went to Italy, over two years ago, I had a lot more trouble understanding the language than I used to when I lived there for a year. I used to speak very little but I could understand very well.

After this, I took private lessons in Italian from an elementary school teacher. He gave me themes to write about, and some of them turned out so well that he told me to publish them in a newspaper.

We moved to Australia for two years though and that was a little bit tough trying to fit in.

In some ways England is more liberal than France, but I also find it more intrusive. But when you go abroad you have to accept the ways of where you live. I have to respect that.

American History is largely the record of the adjustment of a migrating people to their environment.

It's hard when you are trying to ingratiate yourself in a completely foreign world. It takes a long time.

It was important to me to become day-to-day fluent and functional in another language, and about 10 years ago, I went to Rome for the first time and felt an instant gut connection and wanted to get to know the city.

The first few months in a new country are always really hard.

Leaving home early is always complicated. But when I arrived in Germany, I encountered an incredible structure built by the company that takes care of my career. They did not leave me wanting for anything. The most complicated thing was really the language. Otherwise, everything was taken care of.

When I live in a country, I always try to learn about the country - not just England, the U.K. as a whole - so I will stay here some days to do something different.

I keep a diary because I love this writer, David Sedaris, and he writes a lot about his diary, and he inspired me to keep one.

I have Italian heritage, so I'm keen to go over for a few months with the girls and soak up the culture and the food. I'd like us all to learn Italian together as a family - it's something I've been saying for years.

I actually love the challenge of being in a new place where I'm so obviously the foreigner.

When I'm in Hyderabad I love going to the multiplexes to watch movies or party with friends, but that's after I've grown to love this city. When I first came here I thought 'Aiyyo why in the world did I land here!'

When I went to Germany, all I knew were German swear words.

It is not easy to arrive in a different country and adapt quickly, but I think I'm getting there, and I'm proud of that.