If you could live in France for a year, would you a)......
 

a) stay in one town/area the whole time (somewhere central)
b) move around every three months or so
c) live six months in one area and six months in another

I am hoping to go and live in France for a year - not just yet but hopefully within the next four years. This has been a dream of mine for a very long time. I have an EU passport so don't have to worry about staying for this length of time.

I want to see as much as possible but also want to try and live in a community and really get to know an area and hopefully people as well. I am interested in what Fodorites feel would be the 'best' solution. What would you do and why? This is for research purposes...I can see the pros and cons of all the above choices. Also for those who have done a similar thing or are currently living in France what would you suggest. Any ideas for towns/areas would also be appreciated. I prefer the countryside to the major cities, but understand the limitations of living in rural France.

I have travelled a fair bit in France but of course there are so many areas I still haven't discovered.

Thanks for any input
Schnauzer

What do this have to do with France, specifically? I'm serious, it has nothing to do with France, it just has to do with what you want to do and what you are going to be doing in France. Obviously, anyone who has a job cannot just be traveling around a country they move to. The issues would be the same for anyone who moved to any country as an outsider.

What are your goals? To see the country? To learn the language? To become a part of a community? It would be hard for a complete stranger to choose a, b, or c for you. That is entirely up to you and each of us would have a different answer based on our own preferences. If I had a year to spend in Europe, I would spend 3 months in 4 different places, not necessarily all in France, so I could see several areas in depth. But that is me, not you.

Actually, I think I would spend the year in Paris and take a monthly one-week trip to 12 parts of Europe.

If you want to live in a place and get to know the people then you need to choose a small area. If you're leaving in a year how likely is it that you will form friendships. It takes more than a year to form friendships at home. If you're only looking to be acquaintances and say hi over the fence then any place is fine.

Do you want to get to know French people or English/American expats? You might go someplace where you have an introduction to others.

You need to talk with people who have done this sort of thing to get their perspective on how likely it will be that you will get to know people. Getting to know an area is easy.

I would stay in Paris for 6 months and then choose 2 or 3 other locations for the rest of the time. In Paris you can definitely join an expat community so you won't be lonely.

'In Paris you can definitely join an expat community so you won't be lonely.' Uggggh Exactly the wrong reason to come to France, to my mind. Why come here so that you can speak English and associate with non-French people?

I would suggest spending a lot of time working on your French. Even if you're still working during the day, this should be possible. I have several times got off a business flight to head directly to my 3 hour grammar class. (In fact I found it was a great way to get rid of someone sitting next to you on a flight who wanted to hit on you - 'what are you doing there? ' 'My French grammar homework.' Works every time.)

Then once you arrive, get involved with something - an association, classes, whatever. And go out looking for people - invite neighbours in for a drink, join a gym class.You're not going to meet people just by standing around, especially if you dont speak the language. You need to participate. Which probably also means that you need to spend more than 3 months in one place.

Personally, I would go somewhere and not try to link up with the ex-pats.

As someone who has done something similar, my opinion is that you should base yourself somewhere for the year. Be a part of that place, neighbors , shops etc. That gives you more of a feeling of being there, being a part of everything. Get to know your neighbors, the neighborhood, join in any celebrations/holidays with them .. you will feel more like a "local" or just a part of the place rather than someone stopping by/a tourist.
From that base you can go anywhere, I have friends who stay in an apt in Provence each summer and they rent a car and drive all over, exploring, staying here and there. I would stay in Paris and do the same thing ..
Learn as much of the language as you can, this is so very important in being a part of a place and not just being the outsider looking in.
I have lived outside of the US for over 5 years now and I never have anything to do with ex-pat forums, groups etc. Personal opinion.. I am here because I wanted to be and love it.. I don't want to sit around with a group of people who meet to complain about everything here, wishing they could find things that are not sold here, etc.
I hope you manage to do this, I wish everyone could take a year or so off and just go live somewhere totally different .. it does amazing things for you :)

Having spent considerable time pondering a similar decision, My first choice would be to find one place to base. We fell in love with Languedoc-Roussillon. I would like to know there is an ex-pat community I could connect with as needed, but I wouldn't want to make it my lifestyle. I would like to have both ex-pat and French friends, so I would chose a town that offers a thriving life to it's current inhabitants. (In other words, not just a place where lots of folks have vacation homes, and the restaurants close up from November til March!)

You should look for a place that has good local and regional bus service and nearby national train service, to maximize your ability to explore. If you can live a daily life without a car, you might get by easily just renting one once in a while. A decent sized Carrefours is probably more important than a once-a-week market, but those markets do seem to have a decent schedule of hitting good towns on a continuous schedule. A good bakery and a local cafe is essential.

If you are concerned about it, take a month -- or at least two weeks -- in winter and stay there to be sure you can do all you would like (another reason we like the SW, more days of sunshine than anywhere else in the country.)

My second choice, would be two bases, for 6 months each...but I really think a full year would give you more of a connection with the community. If I were doing two bases, I would pick a good town (Ceret, Perpignan, Olonzac, Capestang or Uzes made our short list) and one city (Paris, Montpellier or Lyon). I guess it might depend on the budget available! One base would maximize the budget, two would be a bit more costly.

I'm with uhoh_busted here. we've idly thought about this, and the ideal place [for us] is somewhere with enough life going on that there are things to do all year round so that you can meet locals on a daily basis, but not so big that you don't keep meeting the same people.

a huge city would be very difficult IMHO - people just aren't interested enough to make the effort, whereas in a smaller place you will have novelty value. but all of that will be wasted if you can't speak the language.

I also like the idea of staying somewhere for a year and using it as a base for travel, so it would need to have good communications to places you think you'd like to go.

Hi S,

I would live in Paris and take occasional trips to the outside world, like the Parisians do.

((I))

I'd spend a year in one area. You can always go on holiday to another area for a week or two, several times during your year.

You need to learn French, and avoid ex-pats , of any nationality, as much as possible to get the most from your year.

Languedoc-Roussillon is chock-a-block with Brits, as are several other areas of France.

One very important thing you must do, regardless of your EU passport is to sort out health care insurance for your year - you will not be entitled to free health care.

annhig brings up another aspect of being an expat/visitor that we don't always consider until it actually happens. Living in a foreign land and not knowing the language can result in various things.. being ignored, being spoken to like you are dear/an idiot or someone being helpful/speaking English.
Where we live, people apologise to us ! for not speaking English .. we butcher the language every day but they do appreciate the effort. Do not expect anyone to speak English, then things will be easier for you.. it will be a nice surprise when they do.
Big cities actually can have more people who 1- speak English 2- are more open to strangers among them. Small towns/villages can be sometimes a bit closed/wary of strangers.
And living in a city, you are bound to meet people from all over the world, so your scope of experiences and who you meet will be a little bigger/ less closed as in a small village somewhere.
I have heard it jokingly said that you don't have to worry about speaking French in Provence, everyone is English :- )
hetismj2 brings up an important point- We live outside the US so we had to buy insurance here, it can be just as expensive as in the US so count that into your expenses.

We have friends to decided to spend a year in Europe (and actually did 11 months) by living for one month in each place all across Western Europe. As I recall, three of the places were in France. Of course, they were a couple, not just one person.

The husband wrote a book about it: Ed Webster's "A Year of Sundays." Their experience might help you figure it out.

Expats must be avoided like poison as they pull you in all of the wrong directions.

d) If you live in Manhattan and could live in New Jersey for a year would you??

Why on earth would anybody want to move to France for any period of time. Interesting question, but I can't imagine any reason. A holiday at the sea, nice but actually living there? What an idea.

Okay, I'll dream along with you. I would try four different places, moving with the seasons to try to maximize good weather. I'd pick the four locations based on how many interesting places are nearby. I'd make overnight trips in the area, so I'd want a car . Even though we always prefer the countryside, for a longer-term stay I'd want to be in a mid-sized town. 5000 population is too small; 10,000 may be too big (for me). I'd want the town to be fairly prosperous.

We think the Orne, Mayenne, and Sarthe are beautiful and not crowded. I'd make that one of my stays. Maybe somewhere south of the Loire too.

Schnauzer, what places have you seen in France that are on your list to return to?

DH and I tried to choose a place (in Italy) to buy but could never figure out what we loved the most.

In France, we were just getting started but also had a difficult time choosing where we'd want to have a permanent base if we could. So your question is a difficult one, schnauzer!

That all being said, I'd go for a town with a university and good transportation and stay there. We enjoyed Montpelier as a base. Although not quite so convenient for trains, we liked Aix as well.

Paris would be my first choice though. You can make your own neighborhood even if you're in a big city, eh?

It's difficult to answer without knowing your objectives and likes and dislikes.

All things being equal, I would choose one or two places I either wanted to explore more in-depth or areas I had not been to before. If you want to do a lot of exploring, obviously in or near a transportation hub would be ideal, few places are very far from one.

I would join one or two local activities. Yes, you meet other ex-pats in French classes but in my experience they are from highly varied countries and backgrounds, not a bunch of self-satisfied English and American retirees such as moi-même.

So, a few more clues would be good!

For purely practical reasons I'd recommend picking one place for the entire year. This helps you to feel part of a place, but I also recommend it because short-term rentals are less common (and tend to be more expensive) - plus, moving repeatedly is a hassle even with relatively little luggage due to having to give months' notice on an apartment and pay a frequently hefty deposit on another. You should also pick a place with good transport links (as mentioned above - whether this is train or bus or both) so that you can travel at the weekends if you want. I'd recommend Paris, Lyon or Bordeaux (or their suburbs). I'd agree with the recommendations to get your health insurance sorted and to stay away from other expats! Out of interest: what kind of job would you be looking to do here? How is your French? And how old are you? I ask these questions because their answers will affect the advice that others are able to give you. FWIW, I'm in my mid-twenties and have lived in France for 4 years (am also from Europe if that helps).

d_claude_bear
Thanks for posting the book,"A Year of Sundays." It's just my kind of read and available used on Amazon. All I had to do was read the flap and I was hooked.

http://www.amazon.com/Year-Sundays-T...ear+of+sundays

Spending a year in France instead of 2 weeks every year would be a dream come true, but just not possible for us. So, I'll just have to live through books and Fodorites posts.

I would pick one place only, a fairly large metropolis or an outlying area of it, with good train/bus connections to other parts of France, and decent weather. Stay away from the English-speaking expats; they will undermine your cause. Have a good command of the language before you go, and be sure you know lots of practical terminology related to keeping up a residence - go to the hardware store and memorize a ton of plumbing and masonry and electrical and appliance terms. Don't expect a warm welcome - you will have to earn your keep with the locals. Get involved in local activities as much as possible.

I like the idea of Montpellier. Lyon also. Paris, while I adore it, would not be where I would want to settle in for a year unless it were in a very outlying arrondissement. Bordeaux I would never choose, though I like it. As much time as I've spent there, I've never really been able to crack its rather crusty, unwelcoming spirit.

We're planning for a move to La Rochelle. You might like that as well.

Good luck - exciting plan!

Oh, hetismij2 and kerouac, I am dismayed with your feelings on ex-pats. I am now an ex-pat transplanted from the sterile DC-beltway culture to the beautiful country of Austria, and would love to know how you feel I might pull others in the wrong direction. I am muddling through with my German, to be be sure, but am happily making the best of this wonderful city! I could not be happier that I am living in Austria for three years and can be so close to your wonderful cities of Paris and Amsterdam, should my wanderlust inspire me.

Why on earth would anybody want to move to France for any period of time. Interesting question, but I can't imagine any reason. A holiday at the sea, nice but actually living there? What an idea.>>

logos - one might just as easily ask why go and live in the uK, the US or indeed Germany [which is where i guess that you re based though your profile is somewhat coy about that and lots of other things].

in fact I can think of several reasons - the stunning and varied scenery, the language and culture, the way in which the french have a certain "je ne sais quoi", the food, the wine, the food..but then i can think of several reasons to live in Germany as well, which is quite a similar list!

Fourfortravel, I frequented a number of expats for years and found that the main reason they get together is to complain about the local people, exchange ways to get around local regulations and trade addresses for getting 'real' food and drinks instead of having to put up with the local stuff.

Anyway, to get back to the question, I would recommend staying in one city only -- not Paris -- and using it as a base to visit other places. It should be at least a medium-sized city like Montpellier, Grenoble, Nantes, Lille, Metz, Strasbourg (non exhaustive list), or, if you really want a smaller place, it needs to have excellent transportation links anyway.

Fourfortravel, I am an ex-pat. I am British but have lived in the Netherlands for getting for 30 years now.
I made a conscious decision not to live in an ex-pat area, or to mix with the few there are around here, manly for the reasons Kerouac says.
I wanted to learn the language quickly and would not have done so if I'd mixed with ex-pats.
There is at least one American, and one Briton who live in the same town as me, and have lived here at least as long as me - but they still don't speak Dutch. They go to ex-pat dos all the time and shop in Amsterdam or Hilversum rather than here, so that they don't have to learn.

Visiting Langedoc-Roussillion and renting a house from British ex-pats made me realise how many Britons there are there. We visited a couple of markets and heard more English than French.
Not my idea of living in another country.

We have done much of what hetismij2 and kerouac have done .. once you decide to live in another country, you want to make friends with the "natives" .. you don't want to limit yourself to ex-pats, ex-pat communities etc. It is true I think, in all countries, the expats get together and complain. They can't find decent mayonnaise or soap or whatever.
We bought our home, it is in a small building of 10 apartments, 2 to a floor. We are the only non-Argentines living here. We were "adopted" by the people in the building, they watch out for us, we are always told when the tenants meetings are and if we miss something ( translation-wise) they will give us a run down when the meeting is over to be sure we got it all .
The best way, in my opinion, to do it if this is your plan, is as hetismij says, immerse yourself in the culture and language and avoid the expat stuff. Even if it is only for a year.

@uhoh_busted, there the forum languedoc-pages.com
run By a brit who doesn't gripe about France and is helpto those who live in his area.
@stcirq, I love La Rochelle and dining at Les Flots.
That bridge that takes you to Ile de Rae, I like better than the Millou tallest one.

About expats: The Dordogne is overflowing with them, mostly British and Dutch. In the early years of owning my home there I met a few and was invited to a few gatherings. Not my cup of tea. The Brits were starting up cricket and polo clubs and choirs, they were raising llamas, they were trying to get a stall at the local markets to sell lemon curd and prawn crackers and beans, they were opening tea salons. You'd see them in the markets walking four abreast wearing safari outfits, yelling "MAHgret! Did you get the CLAret???" They were incredibly insular. And for the most part, even those who had been there for YEARS hadn't bothered to learn French. Their gatherings were tainted with wistful reminders of their homeland - bad chicken curries, jello molds with crème anglaise, crumpets, baked beans - and they never stopped moaning about how difficult it was to deal with French workmen, how antiquated everything was and how long it took to get anything accomplished, how they couldn't find Cadbury's or good Earl Grey or whatever. I could never figure out what they were doing there if they didn't want to assimilate. Certainly I met some lovely ones, but as a group I did not want to socialize with them.

I agree, Cigale, that's a lovely bridge.

I would never move to a place that I had not visited often.
Be sure to rent before buying to see what the area is like
without a romantic vision.

cigale, that is what I thought .. I was all set to move to England or Paris but we had only visited Buenos Aires once. We did like it , we could see all the positives in the move and when my husband said, if and when we get tired of it or want to go home, we can.
That makes Everything easier.
It is going to be very hard to leave here.. but not as hard as it is to stay away from "home" now :- )

PS ... if you have this sort of building in the neighborhood, it helps too ..

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8...ju3co1_500.jpg

Thanks so much to everyone for your insightful responses. I realise I didn't give much info but wanted to just get people's "gut responses" to the question.

I love some of the suggestions and will take note of all of them. I do speak French but of course need to improve - I am advanced intermediate if that makes any sense!! In other words I can get by but certainly take the sensible point about learning practicle vocabulary.

I am approaching mid fifties and want to do this before I get too old, but have to wait for my doggies to pass over the rainbow ridge before I can go - they are 13 and 11 so it could be a few years yet!!!

I have spent approx 3 months in Paris, a month or so in Provence region, spent time in the Dordogne, Burgundy, Loire, Alsace and Normandy and am planning a trip next year to Corsica, Nice and the Dordogne again.

I want to immerse myself in the culture of France, I love the language, the food, the scenery and could think of no better country to spend a 'dream year' in. The ex pat lifestyle is not for me but understand there will no doubt be occasions where I have the need to speak English (I am from Australia), but I can't see myself mixing with MARgret!! (thanks for the visual laugh - can see her now)

I don't see myself working, but could do volunteering of some sort if available - animals perhaps, or teaching english to local kiddies, not that I have any qualifications in that area, but am always good for them to have a practice on!!

Renting somewhere for a year could be a challenge, I have already tried to search for sites for long term rents but most are for holiday houses. Any suggestions on this score would be appreciated.

It is certainly a dream but one I am planning to make come true. I realise there needs to be a lot of thought and planning - something I revel in and I know my Fodorite chums will give me help.

My only worry about staying in one place for the whole year is what happens if I don't like it? (Move?? but if I have taken a house for a whole year??) moving around is certainly hedging my bets but the continuity if then broken. I have lived in other countries beforehand so it is not as if I have lived in the same country all my life, so I am up for a challenge.

Any more ideas?
thanks so much
schnauzer

Wow, StCirq, "jello molds?" The expats in your area must be living in a time warp, I haven't seen a jelly for many years, in fact since my sons were old enough to protest.

This is so strange regarding the expats.

When we lived in Europe I found the expat women the most interesting, vital, involved of my friends. They were from all over the globe, and had lived all over too - one had lived on an island in Indonesia with limited water and power, there was a japanese gal who was setting up a local acupuncture practice, several had lived and worked in the middle east.

There was only one american; she was in the process of getting her PhD at the local university. In fact, she made fast friends with one of the professors there and has had her family visit in the US now that she is back.

Anyway, I would not dismiss the expat community! They are not a bunch of British retirees, at least in my experience. And most have local friends too.

I found that most the local (non retired) women are working or caring for small children during the day. It will be lonely if you close off speaking to the expats.

Scarlett, I'm interested who you would hang with during the day? Who do you go to the movies with, or coffee, or book discussions, or hikes, or museums? Maybe South America is different and the local women do not work?

I would personally spend it all in one place as well.

I just wanted to stand up for ex-pats for a second - hubby and I are expats living in London. We have been here 5 years and we have a mix of friends - fellow expats and also locals.

There are some pros for mixing with expats:
1. It takes a long time to integrate into the local community - unless you are in a small village I think it will take longer than a year. The people that live there have their families and friends already established and may not be interested in including you in that. Yes you will meet shopkeepers etc but we found it very difficult to build up a real friend group with locals. People at work want to get home to their friends and families. The people wanting to go out and sightsee etc were generally expats who were also looking for company. It can be pretty lonely if you dont know anyone and the locals are not interested in letting you in.

2. Expats tend to want to do the same things - explore tourist sites and travel and experience all they can in the new place. Locals here travel alot, but we travel whenever we can and the locals cant believe how frequently we do it. Expats also generally want to do the day trip to the neighbouring town to see the market or explore - locals think we are nuts when we have our own local market to go to.

3. Sometimes life in another culture is very frustrating and you do need to vent - or laugh about the differences. And you do miss your home culture and its nice to remember it and share it with fellow countryman or other expats experiencing the same frustrations. It doesnt have to be nasty - sometimes its a really good laugh. I have never felt more Canadian than I do when I am in Britain, and never more British than when I am in Canada.

4. Expats are a wealth of knowledge about how to settle somewhere. If you dont know how to do something they will have likely figured it out already and can help you in the process.

So I just wanted to say that you shouldnt write off expats altogether. It could get downright lonely if you cut-off the expat community completely which I have found to be very welcoming to newcomers in a way that locals are not. Now dont go and cut off all the locals or dont integrate - that is not what I am saying AT ALL! But expats do have their place and not all are annoying, negative people.

I should clarify that my experience with expats is limited to the Dordogne, where the vast majority of expats ARE retired Brits; it's not a diverse community of people who have lived all over the world and have all kinds of interesting experiences to share, as you might find in a large metropolitan area. They are typically wealthy, older folks who have a romanticized view of rural life in France, where it's warmer than it is in England but with terrain that's familiar enough that they feel comfortable there (and maybe they have a subconscious hankering to take back Aquitaine). I certainly don't find all of them annoying, negative people, but I don't find them the best conduit into local life, either. And the local French residents DO find them annoying and negative, so if you start spending a lot of time with the British expats, you get labeled as annoying and negative as well, which doesn't further your cause.

I can't speak to getting lonely, as I was never a permanent resident in France; I could come and go as I wished and always had family and friends with me for entertainment. I can see how if I'd had to endure a long winter there alone, I'd have welcomed just about any opportunity for socializing.

And yes, tarquin, I've been to at least three Brit-organized events where jelly was served. It was quite a throwback for me as well - hadn't seen it on a serving table since the late 1950s - thought maybe it was "normal" for a British potluck, but I guess not. It probably speaks to the age group of the expats in the Dordogne.

schnauzer, I don't know a lot about long-term rentals in France, but I can see not wanting to commit to a year in a place, in the event it turns out you're not happy there. I guess I'd either plan to spend time scouting out and living at least briefly in places that attract you ahead of time, or trying hard to find a rental for less than a year. You might want to engage the services of a notaire or real estate agency that is connected with properties in various parts of the country.

Jamikins, an excellent response! I am over the moon ecstatic that I have the opportunity to live outside the US and despite reservations by some, I shall continue to strive to be a "good" ex-pat.

We aren't living in an area surrounded by "us," by choice. We are doing our best to muddle through the language differences, and it's all working out just grand. Through our children's school our friends are both native and non-native, and when I'm out with local girlfriends I comment equally on natives and non-natives. :) I roam the neighborhood pulling my shopping trolley (I'm even on a first name basis with the local grocery store clerk!), and never pass judgment on the tourists who stop quickly in front of me to consult a map. If I encounter a rough patch in a local store, I ask the shopkeeper to speak slowly so that I can try to understand. It all works.

That said, the challenges of ex-pat life are numerous, no doubt. Even with assistance from your home government (as it is with us), I've found that it's a lot like labor and delivery: your girlfriends don't tell you everything! Still, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

Corsica is nice, but why take the crumbs when you can get the cake?
www.reunion.fr

I am a self-described, self-satisfied retired American ex-pat, living in a SW France village of <300. We are the only native English-speakers in the village and 2 of only 3 people who speak English, so for us it was a dive in the deep end!

While St. Cirq's description of English ex-pats borders on caricature, we have encountered people who behave like that, more in the Dordogne than here due to sheer numbers of Brits who have moved there. As pretty as the Dordogne is, it's one reason why we focused our house hunting further south.

We have been here three years this July. Because we retired somewhat early (58), the locals in our age bracket for the most part still work and 2 of our immediate neighbors live in Toulouse and come down only on weekends. We go to all our village's fêtes, which are great fun, and very occasionally we have been invited for aperos or dinner parties. Everyone is friendly, helpful and kind, appearing at our door with apricots, cherries, greengages from their gardens and happy to chat for awhile. I'm not surprised by the lack of invitations, gatherings here tend to be mostly family-oriented.

As for ex-pats, we are fairly spread out in our area. The local volunteer English library is sort of the hub, but the book selection is so poor we rarely go, although the tea and cakes are very tempting. That said, "some of our best friends are ex-pats" and have helped us relative newbies in so many ways. It's pretty daunting sorting out French officialdom on your own and it helps to have someone to moan with from time to time. Through French lessons in St Gaudens (starting year 4 next week) I have met amazing people from Germany, ND, Iran, Turkey, Brazil, Russia, the UK.

The virtual ex-pat communities such as Angloinfo, Survive France, Americans in France, etc are a mix of useful and worthless info, but pretty easy to sort one from the other. I used to check them daily.

Schnauzer, through those sites you can often find great off-season rates on holiday homes that would
otherwise be vacant. www.leboncoin.fr is another good source for rentals. We are 45 minutes SW of Toulouse, if you decide to look down this way, I'd be happy to help.

My experience with expats -- from everywhere in the world and all ages, since I live in Paris -- is that a lot of them came to Paris because they thought they were in love with the city, and then they got "Paris Syndrome" to varying degrees. Paris is not Disneyland and some people are very upset when they find out. Also, like any big city, Paris is a city of in-your-face wealth and in-your-face poverty, which can cause a certain amount of distress when you are somewhere in between.

That's why a recommend going to a more "normal" city where you are unlikely to deal with the same extremes.

The expat websites often have some good information, and they are usually run by reasonable people. Just don't get roped into drunken expat friends down at the bar.