What I Love (and DON'T) About Life in France - My Experience Living Abroad as an American

why do we always think that the Grass Is Always Greener somewhere else four years ago I moved to France I was 24 newly married and eager to be stretched by life excited for the growth and Adventures I would embark on what I didn't expect was how different France seemed than what I had imagined I thought the French would be rude and snobbish some assumptions I had ended up being entirely accurate like how elegant the French are how much they appreciate art music quality food and simple beautiful experiences but as an American there are some things I like and don't like about life here no place in the world is perfect you know so many of us want choices to be clear we want things to be a hundred percent yes but even the most wonderful places have downsides there are a lot of things about life in France that I don't enjoy but I love living here infinitely more than my home country here are the things I love and don't love about living in France the thing that I like the most about the French is that they're so not entitled they're very polite they speak quietly they never want to ruffle any feathers or God forbid disturb you just a few examples they never cut in line they wait patiently in line to get their bread at the belangerie even if you're chatting with the Belanger they will wait patiently for you to finish another great example is they they put in headphones or earphones when they're listening to music I don't know why but every time I go back to the US this is a thing I consistently see is people playing music or having a like their phone out and just blaring music on the train on the plane oh my gosh the last airplane I took in the U.S a guy literally was playing YouTube on the flight and I I actually had to ask him several times to please turn it off I noticed this every time I go to the US every time I go back to the US there's always someone playing music or playing a podcast or playing YouTube really loudly and not being considerate of what other people might be thinking and this is really the thing I love the most about the French they are considerate of the group of the collective of what other people might be thinking and so they're really polite and not entitled in their actions because of it the thing I really love they are so International like French people you turn on France 24 and there's news about Africa Sri Lanka India Australia like the news in Europe and in France they talk about the whole world it is not just American News it is not just our country everything surrounds our country it's like no we think about the global Collective we think about the world and I love that about the French and I love that about Europeans and I just that mindset is such a big value of mine and so I just I I love it thank you thank you france24 for always showing news that is not just France I also love how the French are multilingual you know if you go to alzas a lot of French people speak German I currently live in The Basque region in France and a lot of people here speak Spanish Basque which is its own language that I hear all the time in the stores and then also French a lot of people speak English here in this region as well so it's just really cool to see how multilingual a lot of people are here in France depending on the region depending on the region if you go to Paris you know it's pretty much only French but if you go to different regions in France um there are a lot of other languages spoken a couple of other things that I've noticed that I really love is how low maintenance they are about their appearance you know it's short haircuts I notice a lot of French women both older and younger University students have the short haircut like shoulder length for women very clean Natural Nails no long acrylic nails very light makeup no need to Contour no need to do all this stuff to the face it's literally so simple also incredibly soft-spoken not loud not in your face abrasive this is something I'm trying to get better at because I am definitely a louder American and I have a big laugh and try I'm trying to work on that trying to take some tips from the French here a little basket that they carry around at the Marche it's so charming and cute the French wear tighter clothes like tightly fit clothes um like a Jean will be tight or not it's not a skinny jean it's just like a nice cut straight Jean cute boots just it's very polished and I really appreciate that like fit polished elegant aesthetic it's really nice it's most common misconceptions and assumptions that I see about the French and I've been getting this a lot recently A lot of people have been saying you know they think that the French are rude or that they've heard that the French are rude or snobbish I've heard this from so many people and I kind of want to just put this out there I don't know where that's coming from like I really don't know where that idea has come from I don't know if it's Emily in Paris the Netflix show or if it's just American Media portraying the French to be like this like this rude snobbish I know what's best you know self-righteous energy I don't know what it is but in my experience I've lived here four years I have experienced nothing but lovely energy from the French and it depends on the region you know if you go to Paris it's a lot more snobbish rude people in Paris I lived in alzos for two years people are really to themselves and more reserved and quiet and don't really aren't very like chatty social butterfly like I am if you go to Corsica people are super warm and friendly and accepting and I love the Corsican so much by the way corsicans get such a bad rap in France and abroad I don't get it I don't understand why personally my husband and I lived there for two years loveliest people so warm so friendly so inviting have you over at their house make you dinner like it's just it feels like that Italian culture of warmth then like just come in come come to our house it's I I love it and now I'm in Basque country for the next two years and people are just amazing here there's so many expats so many Americans living in my town so many like hippie dippy you know spiritual people that live in my area and I just I love it people are so friendly people are so warm I do not get the whole snobbery rude assumption about French people if you have an idea please let me know Down Below in the comments because I really kind of want to start a discussion about this or like kind of just understand stand like where is this coming from like where are these assumptions coming from because my personal experience I love the French just lovely people but no country is perfect no culture is perfect there are always flaws and things that are not great and I'm going to share with you a couple of things I really don't like about the French and life in France in general the thing that's probably the most difficult for me in terms of socialization and meeting people is the French are not very expressive They Don't Really share how they're feeling on their face they're very reserved they pull it in because again the French are very reserved very polite they don't want to bother you they kind of walk on eggshells in terms of like keeping everything to themselves you know very polite not entitled people love the French but the downside of that is that they don't tell you how they feel and also just that emotional expression you know this is something I have personally struggled with for the last four years is really um finding friends in France that are like good friends like I've made a lot of friends here but they're more like acquaintances you know I hang out with them we get a coffee we get lunch but it's not like a a close friendship I have not found that in France yet over the last four years and I think it's just because I am drawn to and and feel that kinship and that camaraderie with Kindred Spirits who are more emotionally expressive and just more like kind of wearing their heart on their sleeves you know like fully expressing themselves and and and expressing that joy and sometimes you know you'll meet a few people who who are like that but I overall in France that's not really the case another thing I really don't like about the French is how they can be very pessimistic they complain a lot and this is I feel like a stereotype but it's because it's true it's it's actually very accurate um the French complain a lot about their lot in life and they complain about the things that they have no control over and I feel like it's kind of partly like a social thing like let's come together and share our emotional struggles or share about the things that are annoying to us for me it just makes more sense to you know cry get angry for a bit of time but then move on and take action and fix the situation but complaining to me is just a complete waste of time and energy and it just seems to have no benefit one of the things I like least about life in France is the lower school education system I've spoken to so many mothers teenagers and children about the school system here in France and they all say the same thing the hours are too long and there's hardly any emphasis on extracurriculars after school in France there are strict expectations on performing well in academics the long school days restrict kids from excelling in outside activities that's one thing I loved growing up in the United States how much the education system prioritizes those after-school activities for students and also those shorter school hours more time to live and play and sleep and do things besides homework a random thing that I really hate about life in France inconsistency the French will close their stores their restaurants everything and they won't advertise it they won't put it on Instagram their social media page Google Maps or whatever Google business they just will shut down like three hours before closing and that inconsistency of is my coffee shop going to be open today I don't know I guess I gotta go walk and see if it is because they don't like publicly tell people and this is something I really struggle with common thing about life in France is that restaurants will be open from 12 to 2. so if you want to get lunch you have to go between 12 and 2. if you show up at 2 15 you will not get lunch um but the thing that's even more difficult about that and more tricky is that sometimes those restaurants will close an hour earlier and they won't advertise it if your favorite place is open for lunch between 12 and 2 and so you go over there you go you show up at one and they're closed an hour early because kitchens close it's just like say something communicate please kitchen's closed kitchen's closed oh I hate I hate hearing that I hear that so often here in France and it drives me up the wall so if you get to a store five minutes ten minutes before closing time they will often tell you the store is closed and like you can't pay with a credit card or they'll start putting the gate down in front of the store like right on the dot or even five minutes before 10 minutes before um this is something that can be kind of annoying because it's like there's been so many times where like I'm rushing to my favorite store to get something real quick and they'll be closing 10 minutes before and I'm like what what's this we have still have 10 minutes here we have 10 minutes the store should not be closing yet um it's little things like that and they just they don't care not helpful not sympathetic at all to what you want or what you need like that kind of like I wouldn't say it's snobbish but it's just a lack of a lack of sympathy for what you're going through my husband can really attest to this one another really annoying thing about the French is they're very very dismissive and if something's not in their job description they will hand it to someone else and basically make their problem someone else's they're hard sticklers to the rules of administration in terms of administration things the French are not very helpful and they're very unsympathetic and basically they'll just make it someone else's problem which is very frustrating especially if you know you're here on a Visa it can be very very difficult to get things done to get things done on a timely manner you know we've Alex and I my husband and I have had so many instances where they've lost all my paperwork for my Visa I remember one time in Corsica someone marked that my husband was a clergyman even though it clearly he said in the application he's a teacher and because of that little mistake it took a year for Alex's paperwork to be accurate and to get finished and completed because they kept moving the paperwork to someone else and it never was just done find the French to be quite inefficient with things they just move the task to someone else and it never gets done and a year will pass and it still isn't done even though it's a tiny thing that will take five minutes to do in the computer that's kind of what I'm talking about my husband's an American and he applied for French citizenship because during covid he was a Frontline worker and they made this new rule that said if you were a Frontline worker during covid um you could expedite your citizenship process after paying taxes for a few years and so he did that he got the application turned in he sent it well before the deadline and then they changed the rules they completely changed the rules last minute and they didn't even make an announcement it was like something we had to search for and find through like a group on Facebook or something but basically they said that you know they're no longer taking applications and all of that and so it just no no transparency no communication um it's just things like that in terms of countries like France is definitely not one of the easiest ones in terms of admin admin and like uh paperwork and you're just the bureaucratic red tape that's everywhere it takes a really long time to get things done and accomplished and um but it's okay I'd rather be in France than the US so you know the French smoke a lot Outdoors indoors everywhere and I don't have a problem with smoking but as someone who does have a fear of lung cancer by the way guys I do a lot of research on this lung cancer women in their 40s never smoked never smokers definitely a Rising case in lung cancer over the years and it's something I've been researching for quite a while it's always been my biggest fear in life is Lyme disease and lung cancer you could get lung cancer and never have smoked there's a lot of contributing factors to lung cancer and there's more studies and research showing it um recently and you know over the years one of the leading contributing factors to lung cancer is secondhand smoke and so you know I'd rather prefer not to be constantly surrounded by smoke all day but what can you do this is the French way of life in my lifetime I hope to live in many countries on different continents with widely different cultural beliefs values and Landscapes variety is what I seek France is just the start to my lifelong promise of living long term around this beautiful Earth this is only the beginning but for now France is home [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you foreign

Channel: Helena Woods

Views: 82,955

Keywords: slow living, slow living lifestyle, intentional living, simple joys, helena woods, slow living movement, what is slow living, slow living tips, how to live slowly, how do i live slowly, slow living definition, how to simplify life, living a simple life, simple living, benefits of slow living, how to live a simple life, presence, romanticize your life, main character energy, intuitive living, living with presence, surrender, life wisdom, creative short stories

Id: CTxBbvtPN3c

Length: 15min 45sec (945 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 26 2022