Troy grad finds new home in Paris

Not all graduates of Catholic schools in the Albany Diocese make their homes here. For Ciaran Quinn, a 1977 alumnus of Catholic Central High School in Troy, a neighborhood a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower has proven to be a perfect fit.

A four-month backpacking trip around Europe after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy first got Mr. Quinn thinking about living abroad. His parents had immigrated to the U.S. from England and Ireland, so travel was an appealing concept from that angle, as well.

First, he moved to San Francisco and worked for several years in the energy management division of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., helping large energy users save energy. There, he met his future wife while both went to graduate school at Berkeley.

Off to France

The daughter of a Senegalese ambassador, the future Mrs. Quinn had grown up in Brazil, Italy and France. When she moved back to France after grad school, Mr. Quinn followed, and "I've been here ever since," he told The Evangelist.

Moving to France without even knowing the language was a character-building experience for Mr. Quinn. He recalled his struggles to do even basic things like getting a place to live, having a phone installed and buying a car.

To learn French in a hurry, he said, "I went to school for six weeks -- and then had the school of hard knocks."

Different strokes

For one thing, Mr. Quinn had to learn how business is done in various European countries. At his first job, he was put in charge of setting up a U.S. company's first overseas venture.

"Although we all thought differently before the move, it turned out that neither [country] was very well prepared for the move!" he remembered.

He described his early work experiences were like a scene from the movie "Broadcast News" in which a reporter becomes a newscaster. "He sweat so much that they brought out a hair dryer to dry off his shirt during the commercial break," Mr. Quinn said. "I had meetings like that."

City of Lights

Eventually, he learned to get along in the bustling city of Paris, whose people he called "very decent, one-on-one." He compared Paris to many large U.S. cities in that the people are not rude, but often too busy to make time for a confused expatriate.

"Imagine if you went to New York City just speaking French," he explained. "People wouldn't have much time for you there. But once you learn the system, as with anywhere, it's a lot easier. Nevertheless, they are still among the worst drivers in Europe!"

Today, the Catholic High alum co-owns his own company, VEO Ltd., which develops business for U.S. companies expanding into Europe. He noted wryly that "many of them have no idea of what they are getting themselves into; we sort that out for them. Our primary mission is to close business deals on behalf of our clients."

Moving around

He also gets to travel quite a bit; although he only came back to the U.S. twice last year -- once, for his CCHS class reunion -- he has visited 50 countries around the world.

"I think I would go nuts staying just in Paris," he stated. "In 2000, I went to London at least 20 times. But then, London is far closer to Paris than New York City is to Troy; hop on the train, and you are there in time for a mid-morning meeting."

What he misses most about America is "the nuances of the language," he said.

Memories

He remarked that attending Catholic High gave him "a decent set of moral guidelines" to follow wherever he lives, and that he was happy to attend his class reunion and see that his fellow alumni "grew up well."

But that can't compete with living 200 yards from the Eiffel Tower.

"My son and I often walk over summer mornings when the park is empty, feed the ducks or say hi to the tourists," he said. "We will pick up a baguette on our way back -- there is a bakery about every 200 yards in Paris -- and, if he is riding on my shoulders, he'll start eating it from the top and I'll start from the bottom. Sometimes, we will climb up the tower if it's a clear day. It's the best place to live in Paris."

(A trip to the airport is always interesting for Mr. Quinn's family. He has dual Irish and U.S. citizenship; his wife has French, Brazilian and Senegalese. Their son has French and U.S. "We recently went to the airport with three different passports," Irish, French, U.S., he remarked, "and each of us was carrying a passport which was from a country other than that in which we were born. "The immigration people barely glanced at us.")

(01-23-03) [[In-content Ad]]