For all those coming to France

[anca]

hi
i'm a romanian student and i will come in september in montpellier with a scholarship that i gained at my university. i will stay until 15th of october. could you tell me how to find a place to stay? if you have any suggestions,i can't wait to read them.thank you

[Bevdeforges]

You may want to ask at the university if they have any listings of student housing. I know up here in the Paris area, there is an organization called Science Accueil that is supposed to help science students and researchers with things like finding a place to stay. There may be something available through the university if you just ask around.
Cheers,
Bev

[KatieJ]

Hello. we are thinking of making a move to France, particularly to Normandy region. Does anyone know a good way to find out about houses for sale, somewhere south of Rouen would be ideal.
Also, any tips/advice on the cost of living...........how it compares to UK?
KatieJ

[Deeana]

Originally Posted by KatieJ

Hello. we are thinking of making a move to France, particularly to Normandy region. Does anyone know a good way to find out about houses for sale, somewhere south of Rouen would be ideal.
Also, any tips/advice on the cost of living...........how it compares to UK?
KatieJ

Have you looked at the site AngloINFO Normandy: living in and moving to Normandy, France under the heading classified you will find people advertising their houses for sale. My daughter found an incredible bargain on there last year - you might find someone in a hurry to sell on that site.

Cost of food is much cheaper if you eat a lot of locally produced fruit and vegetables as we do and don't touch the processed food. It's also better quality and fresher so you don't throw anything away.

[minesthechevy]

'Cost of living' isn't just the price of fruit, methinks.

Electricity and gas are more; car insurance was about the same for me(55yo with more than one car) as the UK , but you need to 'add on' all the add-ons in order to make a like-for-like comparison. Also be aware that NCB has a limit of 50% (not 65%), and you get there after 13 years not three.

As others have noted, wages tend to be lower, and jobs are hard to get; if you need to seek an income, look at the ex-pat community first - there seems to be plenty of folk who move here and prefer to import their own workers.

No car tax, but the autoroutes have huge peage (toll) sections. It costs about 90 euros to get from Calais to Lyon IIRC.

Les Frogs don't have Council Tax, they have tax fonciere (which applies if you own a habitable building) and tax d'habitation, which applies if you actually want to live in it. As a guide, our former 3-bedroomed place in Surrey cost us twice per year in Council Tax what this place (a bit bigger, near Grenoble) does in TF and TH together - and we get our bins emptied just as regularly, the roads are repaired when needed, and those with kids get them educated.

Diesel is currently €1.28 round here, don't know what the UK price or current exchange rate is but diesel is generally cheaper than the UK, petrol about the same.

Jobs done by 'tradespeople' tend to be more expensive and have longer lead times - I guess its affected by the 35 hour working week and the national 'down-tools' psyche which kicks in at noon.

You should be aware that France effectively closes all mondays, and for all of August. Don't expect many places to be open when you want them to be.

All that said, Im having a gas, I lost 11 kilos in the first year I was here, and I wouldn't go back to the UK to live if paid.

[CSouth]

Hi, I relocated to the South of France a few months ago, I am alone most of the time with my two young sons, whils my husband works away. I can happily say I hate it and have never felt so lonely. I am learning French and have tried to intergrate, but they have not made it easy. Im sure in a few years I may have made some friend and life might be different with kids at school etc. However I don't want to wait this long and so am already planning my return to the UK. I know many expats are now anti Brits, but I love where I lived on the South Coast of Britain and found every one so friendly. I plan to go back asap. However where I am in France is beautiful and I dont want to be too negative, maybe justy wrong time and place for us.

[thr]

Originally Posted by CSouth

Hi, I relocated to the South of France a few months ago, I am alone most of the time with my two young sons, whils my husband works away. I can happily say I hate it and have never felt so lonely. I am learning French and have tried to intergrate, but they have not made it easy. Im sure in a few years I may have made some friend and life might be different with kids at school etc. However I don't want to wait this long and so am already planning my return to the UK. I know many expats are now anti Brits, but I love where I lived on the South Coast of Britain and found every one so friendly. I plan to go back asap. However where I am in France is beautiful and I dont want to be too negative, maybe justy wrong time and place for us.

Hi again,
I have just logged on to see if there was any reply to my message to you regarding meeting other mums with young children. Now I see you are planning to return to the UK......I'm so sorry that you feel you have to go back, perhaps if we had met up earlier, you wouldn't have felt so bad. Anyway, I will keep on searching for friends/mums as I am still lonely, but unable to go back!!!
Best wishes,
Tracey

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by CSouth

Hi, I relocated to the South of France a few months ago, I am alone most of the time with my two young sons, whils my husband works away. I can happily say I hate it and have never felt so lonely. I am learning French and have tried to intergrate, but they have not made it easy. Im sure in a few years I may have made some friend and life might be different with kids at school etc. However I don't want to wait this long and so am already planning my return to the UK. I know many expats are now anti Brits, but I love where I lived on the South Coast of Britain and found every one so friendly. I plan to go back asap. However where I am in France is beautiful and I dont want to be too negative, maybe justy wrong time and place for us.

Saw your post last night, but wasn't able to get back into the forum to reply. Also saw that, due to your husband's work, you are probably going back soon anyhow.

I can sympathize with your experience. When I came to live in France, it took me a good seven years before I stopped wondering if I had made a huge mistake. (I'm married to a Frenchman, and was having a number of unrelated problems at the time that just made things worse.)

France is a tough country to love as a foreigner. The culture is such that it isn't easy to get to know people, especially if you don't speak French reasonably well. What ultimately worked for me was finding my own niche - with help from an association for newcomers that had a comfortable (for me) mix of French and foreigners, including the anglophones.

But finding and joining associations is tough, too, if you aren't around for "La Rentrée" - the big back to school and work tradition in September. But as you say, it may just have been the wrong time and place for you. It's also tough being the trailing spouse in any expat situation, as the working partner has a sort of automatic entrée into the social scene whereas you're stuck at home during the day.

Not everyone is cut out for the expat life. And you are hardly the first person to not be enamored of France. I know exactly how you feel when you hear folks going on about how much they "love" France... grrr. But now I have French nationality, which over here gives me the right to gripe about things I don't like in France.

Anyhow, good luck in making the move back. And stop by now and then to let us know how you're getting on.
Cheers,
Bev

[haricotvert]

Hi Bev,

I'm pleased I found you. I am trying to do all my homework on moving out to France from the UK with my family. (I know from other peoples experiences that it's not all easy going & I'm preparing myself!)

[KTC]

Originally Posted by anca

hi
i'm a romanian student and i will come in september in montpellier with a scholarship that i gained at my university. i will stay until 15th of october. could you tell me how to find a place to stay? if you have any suggestions,i can't wait to read them.thank you

Hello anca,
I am an English student studying in France. I suggest that you go to see the CROUS office in Montpellier or, if you aren't already in France, get in touch with them via the internet. I'm sure there will be one in Montpellier as the CROUS is a national organisation which offers help to students looking for accomodation. Their offices can usually be found close to the university campus and most students should be able to tell you where the office is. I also know that they have people who work specifically with foreign students and their contact details should be on their website.
I hope that this will be of help to you and good luck for this year.