Dreamers & Schemers: What The Heck does It Cost to Live in France
Dec 12th, 2006, 08:15 PM
#24
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<i>Anyway, what is interesting is the way they make their living -- with an expat website, which is : www.angloinfo.com -- I have not investigated it yet, but apparently it is supposed to be a very useful resource for people wanting to live in France.</i>
This expat site keeps creating more sections. Last it has opened the section for the Coastal del Sol in Spain. It does have sections in Holland and I think it's looking towards Bulgaria, etc..
I read this from time to time-there is a forum on the sites too. It's a average type of expat site but it's worthy for your department.
Blackduff
This expat site keeps creating more sections. Last it has opened the section for the Coastal del Sol in Spain. It does have sections in Holland and I think it's looking towards Bulgaria, etc..
I read this from time to time-there is a forum on the sites too. It's a average type of expat site but it's worthy for your department.
Blackduff
Dec 12th, 2006, 08:52 PM
#25
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Good info below found in another post.
Author: Carlux
Date: 12/12/2006, 05:38 am
Well, as a Canadian who has lived in France for 12 years,I would highly recommend it! We didn't find the bureaucracy overwhelming,although it was easier for us because we both happened to have British (European) passports. But basically buying a house consists of bringing money!
Certainly spend your time learning French. We thought it would take us 6 months to get here, and in the end it was closer to 6 years - a falling property market in Toronto made things less easy than we had hoped. But we spent part of that time taking night classes to improve our French, which really paid off. One of the myths is that 'you will be able to pick it up once you live there.' Well, in a word, no. If you can't talk to people in their own language, you can't talk to them. Early in our experience here a French man said to me 'there's not much in it for us to talk to people about the weather all day,' which unfortunately is as far as some people get. He was very nice about it - we were speaking French at the time - but he's quite right. Why wouldn't they choose to talk to someone in their own language about something interesting?
But people are generally incredibly welcoming, health care is better and cheaper, we are surrounded by beautiful countryside, great food, great wine, and there are virtually no commercials on the television!
And, while we certainly know people who spend part of their time here, part in their own country, we really believe that you have a different experience that way. If you want to be perceived as a resident, someone who belongs, then normally you live there somewhere full time, and since you will have improved your French by then, that's when you reinforce your links with the local population. It may well turn out that you prefer not to be here full time, but as a summer visitor, it will be a different experience.
There are any number of books on moving to France, most of them for British, but you will find some for Americans:
# The Grown-Up's Guide to Living in France (Grown-Up's Guide) by Rosanne Knorr
# Living and Working in France, Seventh Edition: A Survival Handbook (Living and Working in France) by David Hampshire
# Chez Moi: The Foreigner's Guide to Buying a Home in France by Laurence Raybois
# Living & Working in France by Genevieve Brame
# French or Foe?: Getting the Most Out of Visiting, Living and Working in France by Polly Platt
Author: Carlux
Date: 12/12/2006, 05:38 am
Well, as a Canadian who has lived in France for 12 years,I would highly recommend it! We didn't find the bureaucracy overwhelming,although it was easier for us because we both happened to have British (European) passports. But basically buying a house consists of bringing money!
Certainly spend your time learning French. We thought it would take us 6 months to get here, and in the end it was closer to 6 years - a falling property market in Toronto made things less easy than we had hoped. But we spent part of that time taking night classes to improve our French, which really paid off. One of the myths is that 'you will be able to pick it up once you live there.' Well, in a word, no. If you can't talk to people in their own language, you can't talk to them. Early in our experience here a French man said to me 'there's not much in it for us to talk to people about the weather all day,' which unfortunately is as far as some people get. He was very nice about it - we were speaking French at the time - but he's quite right. Why wouldn't they choose to talk to someone in their own language about something interesting?
But people are generally incredibly welcoming, health care is better and cheaper, we are surrounded by beautiful countryside, great food, great wine, and there are virtually no commercials on the television!
And, while we certainly know people who spend part of their time here, part in their own country, we really believe that you have a different experience that way. If you want to be perceived as a resident, someone who belongs, then normally you live there somewhere full time, and since you will have improved your French by then, that's when you reinforce your links with the local population. It may well turn out that you prefer not to be here full time, but as a summer visitor, it will be a different experience.
There are any number of books on moving to France, most of them for British, but you will find some for Americans:
# The Grown-Up's Guide to Living in France (Grown-Up's Guide) by Rosanne Knorr
# Living and Working in France, Seventh Edition: A Survival Handbook (Living and Working in France) by David Hampshire
# Chez Moi: The Foreigner's Guide to Buying a Home in France by Laurence Raybois
# Living & Working in France by Genevieve Brame
# French or Foe?: Getting the Most Out of Visiting, Living and Working in France by Polly Platt
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