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anyone live in France?
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:02 PM Author: Oh, you travel? ( ) is it chill? I think I want to retire there if I'm unfortunate enough to live to retirement age. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538334) |
Date: January 9th, 2025 8:04 PM Author: Adrian Dittman have you done any research into living in france? do you speak french? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538338) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:06 PM Author: Oh, you travel? ( ) I speak beginner level French I guess. I know I would need to get a Visa de Long Séjour and renew it every year until I get a Carte de Résident Permanent. I know I would need financial proof that I'm not a total Loser. Probably need health insurance too iirc. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538340) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:11 PM Author: Adrian Dittman quality of life is generally much higher. expats typically find it challenging to make friends in france. unless you plan on retiring to paris or something (lol), better get cracking on that french. |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:12 PM Author: Oh, you travel? ( ) why not paris? even if it's a suburb or whatever (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538351) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:17 PM Author: Adrian Dittman (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538364) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:25 PM Author: Oh, you travel? ( ) hmmm is that colloquial expression? "Paris is a true chef" (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538397) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:26 PM Author: Adrian Dittman paris est un vrai shit-hole, mon frère (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538400) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:26 PM Author: Oh, you travel? ( ) is that how you say shithole, "chef-role"? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538404) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:27 PM Author: Adrian Dittman no, real french people would pronounce it 'sheet-ole' (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538406) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:28 PM Author: Oh, you travel? ( ) 180 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538408) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:46 PM Author: shitlib shibboleth I've lived in France as a singlemo. Mostly in Paris but several two week plus stays in other parts of the country.
It's a great place to live but nothing is perfect. The work/life balance is way, way better than the U.S. The food and wine are obviously better and they are genuinely more interested in culture (e.g., reading books, going to museums, seeing movies, music, etc.) There is great natural beauty in the Alps, Pyrenees, and South of France to name just a few highlights.
But it's much harder to make friends with French people and date women, and the bureaucracy is real. Knowing rudimentary French is the least of it, you need to understand the culture and how things are done and (more important) not done. You have to do things the way French people expect them to be done or they will basically freeze up and be unable or unwilling to help you. They will never explain why or how you should be doing what you are supposed to be doing--you should just know. You may hear the passive expression "ça se fait pas," which literally means "that is not done," but which in actuality means I'm not going to help you because I don't like you, you don't have some stamp you need on this paper I need to sign off on, etc., and I am done being polite. I speak fluent French and still would have an incident like this 2-3x per years, usually when trying to do something that would be pretty easy in the US, like book a train trip, rent a car, go to the doctor, do passport-related stuff, sign a lease, etc. Also, they are much lazier than us and you have to wait a long time for shit that you are not used to waiting for, like repairs in your apartment, dry cleaning, etc.
Ultimately, I decided not to live there long-term because it was too frustrating to work a corporate job there with all the bullshit paperwork and passive aggressive office politics (which you could write a book about), and because it would be too hard to find a hot, loyal French wife who would want to actually get married and have kids. Lots of them just "partner up" and live in sin, few ever go to church, etc. It's still a great place to visit, and they have become a little less assholish and tolerant of foreigners since I left.
I also am considering retiring there, as these issues would be fine once I have the time and patience to deal with them and wouldn't have to deal with finding a mate. Both Paris and the SOF would be 180 places to be retired and not give a fuck about anything. |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:53 PM Author: Oh, you travel? ( ) cool. no interest in working there or "finding a mate", just retire and die. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538454) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 9:09 PM Author: Adrian Dittman describe the cultural gaffes (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538489) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 9:56 PM Author: shitlib shibboleth Grave affronts to public decency, like getting a sandwich from a bakery and eating it at my desk rather than going out to a 90 minute sit-down lunch with coworkers every single day (or even worse--working between 12-2!), showing up on time (or less than 20 minutes late) for social gatherings, refrigerating butter and eggs, eating a bit of baguette while walking home from the bakery, moving cheese on a cheese plate with my fingers. I could think of more. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538633) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 10:07 PM Author: shitlib shibboleth Oh I forgot another one. When I was doing a homestay during an exchange program, I made a phone call on the house cordless phone. The mother in the family told me I needed to pre-dial the number then press the call button. This was, she told me with a completely straight face, because the phone company charges from the moment the phone opens the line. So it was imperative to have the phone dial the numbers as quickly as possible rather than having me dial them manually after opening the line.
They are also extremely weird and gay about leaving lights and appliances on due to how expensive electricity is. And in the few places that do have AC you will be a pariah if you set the temp down to American standards (like 68). |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 10:14 PM Author: prince j'rick mpanama (1) eggs in france are 180 and don’t need to be refrigerated like the mass produced ones in the us. the same goes for chicken in general, the birds aren’t saline infused monsters and actually taste like chicken (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538692) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 10:20 PM Author: shitlib shibboleth I know, I eventually saw the light. French eggs aren't washed as much as American eggs and still have a protective coating to keep bacteria out. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538710) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 10:27 PM Author: Adrian Dittman yeah i think 1 and 2 especially are pretty serious offenses over there. i once showed up to someone's house 5 mins early for dinner in france and i'll never forget the total look of confusion on the hosts' faces.
i thought it's standard for the french to tear off a piece of baguette on their way home? |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 10:41 PM Author: shitlib shibboleth I've been admonished for it, though I agree it's not uncommon for people to snap the top off a baguette (quignon) and either eat it or shove it down the wrapper so it will close and not leak crumbs. They are generally very anti walking and eating. I've also been given side eye for going into stores and getting drinks to walk around with. In the US they frequently have fridges by the checkouts at Target or CVS and it's common to walk around with a beverage in public. But in France it's more frowned upon to go in and buy a drink to consume while you're walking around. (This seems to have loosened over time and is less of an offense in touristy and less fancy areas.) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538760) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 9:29 PM Author: poor taste 180 how french have a "do the needful" but for being arrogant and uncooperative (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538550) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 8:48 PM Author: prince j'rick mpanama (1) wouldn’t want to work there, but we’ll spend several months a year there in retirement (i have the passport) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538447) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 9:31 PM Author: lex i would not recommend moving to europe without a very particular goal, especially if you're prone to nihilistic despair. alienation is worse when you see people you can't meaningfully interact with everyday than when you just live in the woods and do screen work. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48538559) |
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Date: January 9th, 2025 11:56 PM Author: OldHLSDude I used to go to France a lot on business and had a small group that reported to me in the Sophia Antipolis tech park in SE France. The most memorable thing that ever happened was when we had a meeting with a joint venture partner (a famous large French company). The CEO showed up and in heavily accented English said, "I would like to welcome all our American friends who come here from time to time to wash their dirty assholes." I LOL'd but all the other Americans present were frostily silent. I don't think he meant it as a joke. I think he genuinely disliked each and every one of us.
At one point I went to visit the now closed Superphénix fast breeder reactor east of Lyon. They served wine at lunch in the reactor employee dining room. I asked about it and as near as I could understand it was either legally mandated or a union thing. Shades of Homer Simpson!
Was at an Ariane rocket assembly area clean room in Toulouse and saw a Frenchman up on a ladder working on a rocket. He was dressed in a clean room bunny suit, but had a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
Had a lot of fun on business, but think as previously pointed out it's a very tough place for an ex-pat to live without the anchor of a company affiliation and colleagues.I had an office in Paris headed by an ex-pat American who was strictly ARE country. He actually did OK socially, but I do think it was because of the company connections. Had a similar Japanese office and I don't think France was any easier.
OTOH, I have good friends in NYC who rented an apartment in Paris for the summer last year and they said it was totally 180. They are retired, but the wife in super fluent in French to point of being mistaken for a native. Maybe if you live in Manhattan going to France is less shocking.
Give it a shot but leave an exit option. |
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Date: January 10th, 2025 3:54 AM Author: The Soo CR Christmas JUGGERNAUT Sup? Paris is 180, the South of France in the summer is 180billion, skiing and so many other regions to explore. The day to day QOL is much higher than the US and the COL is a joke if you’re used to NYC for example. Yes bureaucracy is slow and annoying and yes it can be a hassle if you need a plumber or to do renos to your apartment because people are lazy and there are 8,000 bank holidays. Obv can’t speak to the work culture but you’re retiring there not working anyway. I totally disagree that it’s hard to make friends or date French women and I also have no experiences like the other person above of people being outright rude and refusing to assist with anything. If you could get a home base in Paris and ski in the winter and go south in the summer there’s not much better. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5661798&forum_id=2#48539181) |