Living in France, le blog

Quartier St. Jean, Lyon

OK, so you're anglophone and you are either in France or about to be. Maybe that's what you wanted: seduced by lush, rolling carpets of wine country, or perhaps by the austere majesty of Alpine peaks silhouetting the european sky—or better yet by the the often-alluring silhouettes of natives against a more urban backdrop—you chased the dream, bought the plane ticket and now you're here, eager to live the vaunted european lifestyle...

...or maybe your boss sent you here against your will as punishment for your annoying habit of throwing pencils into the drop-ceiling panel above your cubicle. Or maybe you're on the lam, wanted for poaching rare termites in your home country and you can never go home. Whatever. You're here or about to be, and you're going to need to know a few things to survive.

That's where I come in. In this blog, graciously hosted by Mon-Coach-Langues.com, I will attempt to share what I've learned during my long stay in la République for the benefit of others. Actually that's just a nice way of saying that I will explain all of the things I've done wrong and describe how they should have been handled in the first place, but who's keeping track, right? Rightly or wrongly, I've done most of the things that a person really needs to do in another country: deal with immigration, learn the language, go on vacation, navigate companies and universities, shop for and purchase cars and real estate, go on vacation, deal with insane french bankers and banking practices, marry a local, go on vacation, tap into the potentially-wonderful-but-often-mystifying health care system and, of course, take wonderful vacations.

France is a magnificent place. More people visit this country than any other on earth, regardless of size (I didn't believe that either, but it is by all appearances quite true). And hey, I still live here, even though the statute of limitations on termite poaching in my home country ran out a long time ago. I could leave, but here I am...so it must be OK, right? It is, however, also a terribly screwed-up place, banjaxed in many ways that are difficult to understand without experiencing them firsthand...or at least reading about them in a blog. In the coming weeks I will try to expose you to the basics: you know, the sky-is-falling, I'm-in-a-new-country-and-can't-find-a-pint-of-decent-beer type of emergency that you just can't walk into blindly. After we've got you a little bit more settled, we'll get into more interesting stuff, like how to plan a good French vacation.

If you have any specific questions or simply want to tell me I'm full of crap (always a possibility), please feel free to use the comment section at the end of each entry: bizarrely, if you are the first to post a comment on a given post you will be obliged to click on "no comment" in order to open the comment dialogue box.

Next week: Getting Here. Or, How to Not Be Deported.