Any relationship advice for my friend or her boyfriend?

She’s American, he’s French. They met when “Phoebe” was teaching abroad in France, and were over there for the first year of their relationship. “Pierre” is working hard at his career, and got an internship followed by a two-year fellowship in the States. Phoebe moved with him to a random town in North Carolina (far from home). Now they’re getting ready for the next step: Pierre’s fellowship in Buffalo then New Jersey, and Phoebe going to grad school in Boston.

They are madly in love and want to get married one day, but the two years of long distance is too much for Pierre and he is really upset. He wants Phoebe to defer grad school and move to Buffalo with him, which she does not want to do. She has already just hung out and did boring jobs while he was advancing his career both in towns she didn’t like in France and North Carolina, and she’s excited to go back to school and doesn’t want to sit around for a year or two and wait.

Pierre says that he made the ultimate sacrifice by moving to the U.S. for her and thinks she should make sacrifices too. Ever since she mailed in her deposit for school, he’s been super grumpy and won’t talk to her, acknowledge her, or give her any physical contact. As Phoebe’s friend and the houseguest on the couch at the moment, it’s pretty unbearable. Pierre is simply wallowing in self-pity, which makes things so much worse.

The thing is, Pierre is not going to be happy no matter what in Buffalo. He’s still going to be far from his friends and family in France, and he doesn’t really go out and meet people. It seems obvious to me that since he’s not going to be better off with her, the glimmer of joy of talking to Phoebe every day and seeing her every two weeks is worth it. We have to act fast to get him to change his tune! He’s super romantic and I think some romantic act could save them.

Any advice for Phoebe to convince Pierre to hang on through these two years, or advice for Pierre?

Sorry this is long, thanks a lot!