Living in France gives you the time to enjoy your life. I am no longer chasing my tail as I was in the UK - moving here forced me to live differently - something I badly wanted to do but it was impossible to achieve in the hustle and bustle of England. We now only buy/use what we need, are fitter due to the wood chopping, gardening and the 2.5 mile walk to the village. We work differently, eat better and sleep better than I have done in decades. Getting up early is a joy rather than the chore it used to be. You can actually see the stars at night - due to practically no street lighting - and they are beyond awesome. I've shed zillions of 'friends' that weren't really friends but it took me to get here to realise this. These days, just a handful of people around us but they're amazing. Other than that I can only replicate what has already been said: beautiful clean air, space, countryside, smiley French people, happy attitudes and you can really know your neighbour and have a little community. France, big as it is, is far more personable we find.
It's great to see this pop back to the top again -it must be the time of year when people need a bit of brightening up. It's absolutely baltic here in Burgundy and it seems like the 'lovely climate' argument is a figment of our imagination, roll on when we move further South!
I'm still of the same opinion though, absolutely love it here, it is my home despite it not being perfect. As to the difference between an immigrant or expat Gillian, I think you should start it as a new discussion. There an interesting link here if you want to use it. I'm off to take the kids to a new indoor play area in the next town - mind you, it's got WiFi for parents, so I may pop up later - although the compromise is that I'm supposed to going to get some work done:-)
I love France. Otherwise I could not have survived as long as I have. Alone. getting on a bit, not retired (probably never can) and living in more metropolitan areas it's an entirely different kettle of fish to someone living in a pretty rural environment coming from the UK.
Each day my heart appreciates the drive between Epernon and Rambouillet where I work- through the semi-rural countryside, so pretty and historic. I love the choice in food even though I'm limited in what I eat. I like the fact there's more history here. It's just as beautiful though less magestic than NZ. I enjoy the French language even though I'm not competent and it's a source of concern and frustration trying to do anything without the ability to argue.
I don't have any friends except for a hermit-like elderly boyfriend but he's shown me that French men can be gentle men and better behaved than what I've experienced in the past. I find French people lovely and I'm trying hard to fit in.
My job has no career prospects and is very abusive (by a fellow Kiwi, not the French) but at least France gave me one which is more than NZ could do.
In my heart I want to consider myself an immigrant but France doesn't consider me one. It insists I am a temporary expat. I have no rights to be in France other than my yearly contract so it's hard to feel settled and French but despite all the difficulties it is my publicly stated goal to become naturalised if I can survive here long enough, pass all the mandatory language tests and convince the government to let me stay. You see I'd already made a commitment to France just in leaving NZ at my age.
The health system is affordable in France though not better than NZ- often the GPs and specialists here seem less competent - they don't listen but eventually someone will see you.
I think that if you are at the bottom of the heap it's probably better to be in France than NZ right now. France doesn't have major earthquakes, also a plus. France is closer to the rest of the world - which is scary at times with all the problems but hugely interesting.
The richest time of my life has been the two years I've lived in France. Most of it has been dreadfully hard - some of us function like lightening rods for bad luck but that doesn't deter me (see http//wwwtotheendsoftheearth.co for a sneak preview ). If I can just hang in here long enough I'll eventually be able to enjoy even more of what France has to offer in terms of lifestyle. The climate is not a good one here near Paris; I'd like the choice one day to live further south. I'd like the choice to have a garden, a pet, some stability. I believe one day I can have those things here and I want to make it easier for my daughter to choose to come to France one day if she wants and not go through what I've gone through to do so. The gloss wore off quite quickly but the love remains for a country that's in my DNA, my head, heart and soul, for better, I hope, not worse.
It is a good idea to raise this question and it does make sense to remember why we are here. Friends often recall again what for us has become a every-days life when they visit us and come up with comments about their impressions of their experiences in our small towns micro climate. While the teachers mainly enthuse enthusiastically about the behavior of young people here: "they greet while the pupils in Germany there are all hooligans and in England even school knife anarchists", while the lawyers hackles are raising up when they hear about French courts they say "the judicial system suffers dilatory actions". Only my journalist colleagues are getting often on our nerves because they think they know it all.Being more a fan of Asian cooking, saucy and cheesy "haute cuisine" is of secondary importance. It is rather the "total product France" which makes up the sum of the quality of life which should not be subjected to detailed examination. Then I become straight forward...
I think I have too often spouted about why I love France, but something happened last week that sort of summed it up.
Out of the blue, my wife and I were invited to the free lunch put on by the village for the 'Elders of the Village' which means the +65's. There were no fewer than 180 of us,from a population of about 400? That's tells me something about the quality of life here. Most all grey-haired and a bit deaf, which meant we had the most boisterous and great lunch (4-star level incidentally), and met people we had never met before, and suddenly we felt we were part of the place. That in just seven months in this village. I have to say though it never happened in the Jura or in Paris. My wife is/was Parisienne and they can have a hard time adjusting to the country, but her good news now is her twin sister is coming down to live in our region as well.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find some 12 other English-speaking on our table, which may sound terrible but before coming to this area (South Correze) I never spoke to another local person in English for eight years, and just talking of cows in French did leave me a bit wishing for the old maternal tongue!
Everybody else has said all the other things I agree with - and I admit I do like the word 'immigrant' as opposed to 'expat'. It really is the difference.
I love France and I love my village in the Minervois, life here is so different from my life in Manchester, which I escape as often as I can. I do love Manchester too, living in the city centre within walking distance ofe everything a city can deliver, and Manchester is more creative than many. But I am realistic enough to recognise that the bureaucracy of public "services" that many people have described on here is probably a bridge too far for me, with my limited language capability. The best thing about here in France, is the people, once you get past their reserve and gain some sort of acceptance and inclusion, it probably took about 2 years for me, but it is now mes voisins that bring me back to my wonderful village.
Enjoying where I live, exploiting the reasons why I live here, and keeping myself to myself. Few problems as a result.
I'm not sure I qualify to reply to this post, as I've only been living in France for 4 weeks today, but I'm off this morning to sign the "compromis de vente" on a nice little apartment, so there's no going back. I have recovered a bit from the initial strangeness which I'm sure afflicts all new movers but I'm interested in the reason why people feel they must be "ex-pats" or "immigrants". I have had several emails from friends in the UK, saying things along the lines of "now you are in France you must only eat French food (whatever that is, in this globalized world), watch French television, basically be French. I had a think about why this was irritating me and I eventually replied that I never said to anyone that I was moving to France to "go native". I moved because I love the 3 Cs - cuisine, climate and culture, probably in that order. I respect the culture I'm now living in and I think I should try to speak French as much as possible and try to fit in to my new surroundings; I totally disapprove of people who move somewhere and make no effort to fit in, become despressed and then blame the country they've moved to. However, I am me, who has mostly lived in Scotland, lived in Italy for 6 months, lived in Cambridge for 8 months and now I am me living in France. I don't think I need a title and so far I'm enjoying life here. I do think that it is probably easier for us retired people to be happy here; I admire those who have moved earlier in life, willing to try to fit into the French employment system. I could never have done that.
With you there, but then there are wet blankets who only complain as if life was designed as a plot against them anyway.
We retired to Cantal six years ago and have never regretted it. Our neighbours are all French and made us very welcome despite our poor language skills. We now speak French quite well. We love the relaxed way of life and miss very little back home apart from family and friends; whom we occasionally visit and vice-versa. We live quite well off our govt pensions and socialise quite a lot with our neighbours. I am Président of the local golf club (which is quite a challenge with my O level French at the meetings) but we enjoy the sport and the social way they play golf here - no formal dress code, no "hurry up and only take 4 hours", we stop and chat to each other as we go round and enjoy a glass or two of wine afterwards. It only costs us €500 as a couple, a year, to be member and it's a lovely country course.
I LOVE my life in France. I live in a stunning region with loads to do. I have some of the best friends I have ever made in my lifetime. I love the fact that there is so much I can do in my free time without it costing me a penny. I have made more progress professionally here than I ever could have in the UK and the quality of life as a whole is second to none.
Sometimes, when I take a deep breath of crisp winter air and look around at the Pyrenées covered in snow; I think that I'll burst with all the joy that my life brings me.
Hurrah... thanks Tracy... as a "newcomer" I WAS beginning to think that no-one did anything other than complain..... and that made me sad as I love it here ... I have found my spiritual home so to speak. Came initially as a long holiday to decide what to do with my life after selling a business in the UK and never left. When friends and family back in Blighty ask me when I am coming "home" I tell them I already am! Have no regrets, miss very little apart from meeting my new niece and nephews at birth. My daughter has accepted life here at last (having been anti at first) and is thriving. She speaks 4 languages at the age of 14 (which would never have been the case in the UK) and has friends of both nationalities. I have a business here now (a village shop) and find everyone friendly, welcoming and helpful.... even the fonctionnaires!! Like others, would never go back to the UK to live....
Love the quiet. Love the peace. Love our bio-veg. Love the wildlife. Love our membership to 2 French walking groups.Love caravanning in France. Love our French friends. Love our rambling house. Love not fighting Leeds's hustle and bustle. Could go on and on. We have discussed the possibiity of one of us croaking it, and what we'd do. Think Stella might want to go back to UK (grandkids). Me, I'd stay put. My ambition also, but not too soon, is to be the first Brit in the local cemetery, with a suitably Milliganesque headstone!
I have been in France now for 7 months with my two sons. Although we have had a holiday home here for 8 years, it was my first time living away from the UK and living a day to day existence in another country. Unlike a lot of the other English ex-pats here, we are not retired and my husband, for now, still lives and works in the UK a lot of the time.
It has been difficult for the family to adjust to not only a different language but a completely different way of life, but we seem to have turned a corner in the last couple of weeks and on the whole, I am now more certain that the choice we have made was the right one for us as a family.
Just simple things like people you do not know saying hello, please and thank you. Having a more laid back approach to things, less aggression (apart from road rage though!) and enjoyment of the simple things.
My sons are starting to speak French and are thriving in a public school. I am starting to have longer conversations with the mums at the school gate and getting less conscious about my rusty school level French.
It certainly takes time to adjust - especially if you have come from a busy home town or lifestyle or indeed have left a career behind and become a full time mother or father. There are cultural and administrative difficulties to overcome, and like in all places, people you just wont get along with. If you make the effort though, generally these things are not insurmountable and after a while they just become the norm.
As my husband keeps telling me - relax and take your time. Enjoy what you have and put off anything you don't need to do until later. This is certainly the place to learn to unwind and to reinvent yourself and the way you live your life.
24/7 in France says: I love living here - the quality of life, culture, language, and general joie de vivre are what fills my heart and soul, hence, why I wrote a book (Solitary Desire) about my life journey to France!
exactly the point Andrew :) :)
true -)
yes i understand Brian - I currently live on the outskirts of Manchester and have always lived in the city but have memories of playing on my parents allotments as a small child and watching fat caterpillars eat dads cabbages....lol......also heading for the 'countryside' on an old bike at every opportunity.... revising geography 'o' level lying in a field (the summer of '76)... what i am saying is if you love the 'countrside' you get into it whichever way you can.... and do not have to be restricted by the location of your home, now France offers an opportunity to live a more self-sufficient life with a people who are not too distanced from it..... that said, i fully absorb comments regarding earning income - as taxes cannot be paid for with potatoes!!
You're welcome, I don't knock either: city or country, I've done both and both have their advantages - I just wanted to stress that like should be compared to like in the UK -v- F thing ;-)
true Andrew - that said I know of friends who live in inner city manchester and love it - they enjoy the 'edgy-ness' and canal culture - not my bag at all - i enjoying getting muddy and being in nature/around animals - some of my friends think that's hell..... all a question of choices/expectations - i've taught for SureStart and Aim Higher in inner city areas of Manchester and appreciate sometimes peoples choices can appear limited ....
.... and thank you for your comments regarding learning French-)