I had a girlfriend. She (was/is) an american. Which one is correct and doesn't sound odd?

Question

Which one doesn't sound odd and is correct?

"I had a girlfriend. She was an american."

Or

"I had a girlfriend. She is an american."

Answer 1

Well she might have been at the time you were with her a US citizen and she still is, in which case:

I had a girlfriend. She is an American.

Is correct. It might also have been the case she was a citizen of Belize when you were with her and now she is a US citizen, in which case:

I had a girlfriend. She is an American.

Is still correct and you might go on to say:

But she was once a citizen of Belize.

In which case itvwould be better to say:

She is now an American

which anticipates her change of citizenship.

It's possible to make sense of the other sentence by reversing the change of citizenship. So both are correct.