FRANCAIS
ENGLISH
SO,
HOW'S THE LIFE IN FRANCE?
Sand, sun and sea - Clohars-Carnot (Finistère)
So, how’s the life in France?
Not totally different as the one you can have in Australia, but many things change a bit… Essentially because most of the Australian heritage comes from Great Britain, and even if the US has got a big influence in France, French people are kind of resistant (and for some things VERY resistant) to all things that comes from other countries!
So let’s go for few articles about the different parts of the everyday life (they will probably be amended and enriched in the next months).
If you think you can figure out only with English language, that can be difficult!
Okay, in France we also have McDo, but fortunately, we have plenty of other things to discover...
Of course, you will find the same ways as everywhere. With few differences...
Advice and check-list, to help you in your accommodation seeking.
Or how the internet and the mobile phone plans works in France...
Yeah, d'you think you are in holidays? Tips and good-to-know stuffs for your job seeking
Without any kind of sorting, two or three useful (or not) tips...
Oh just a little precision: because it’s my experience in France, most of the following information are not really adapted for those who will make a road-trip, but will be more suitable for people who will spend a while in the country.
Pic du Midi - Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées)
DO YOU SPEAK FRENCH?
If you are wondering if you can figure out in France without speaking French a bit properly, just think if you could live and really enjoy Australia without speaking English! Maybe it’s possible, if you don’t go out with French people and if you are going to seek jobs with no local contact, but… What will be the interest? I mean, you will miss many things and many people (many French are like everybody in the world: they know only their area but they know it very, very well!).
So, let’s assume that you go to France also for learning how to speak French, and let’s review few tips that you can practice even before you leave:
1. Switch your phone, computer, software and other screens in French. It’s very easy to do, quite easy to use (first because of the icons, then because many of these words are already English!) and you will be able to master few useful words.
2. Watch some French movies in French, with French subtitles. I reckon the subtitles in a different language make things too difficult for the brain (at least mine, but up to you!). Yes, I agree 100%, French movies nearly never reach the level of the Hollywood ones but if you try, you will see that France has got many good comedies, history movies and thriller movies, especially (and now some animation movies as well)*. But to enjoy them, you really have to watch them in French, because the English translation is often objectively disastrous!!
3. Same thing for the books: ok, the world best-sellers are written in English, but you will see, there’s also excellent books written in French! Perhaps you already know “Le Petit Prince” (Antoine de St-Exupéry)? If not, it’s a must-read! The writing is adapted for children, that means it’s a very good exercise for learning (more simple words, quite short book, interesting story…). As is “Le Petit Nicolas” (René Goscinny & Jean-Jacques Sempé).
If you like more classical books, that you may already know a bit of the story, there is “Les 3 Mousquetaires” or “Le Comte de Monte-Cristo” (both by Alexandre Dumas). At last, if you prefer the comics, you have to know that French comics (from Belgium, to be precise) are really different than the American or the Japanese ones.. But not less good! You can start with the “Astérix” (René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo) or “Tintin” (Hergé) series, two legendary classicals. More modern, you will have “Largo Winch” (Philippe Francq & Jean Van Hamme) or “Lanfeust” (Christophe Arleston & Didier Tarquin) series… There’s plenty of kind, sure you can find some you will love!
4. A good training, a bit more difficult, can be to follow the French News (France 24 is the TV channel that try to be an equivalent to the BBC, LeMonde is a newspaper on the internet): it’s interesting, quite short (you also get your smartphone when you have more than a minute to wait?) and usually (but not always) overlap with the English information.
5. If you can, go few weeks in a French-speaking country (ok, I know, there’s not a lot but France got few islands all over the world, it can be a nice holidays spot!). At least, you can join conversation groups, there are some in many big cities round the world.
6. If you have time and money (because it’s expensive), consider a French school for the first week you will spend in France. obviously, you cannot become bilingual with that but you can review the basics (French is not the easiest language in the world, but the grammar is not so different than the English one…) and you can meet people (yeah, no French, probably, but it’s just the beginning!).
The golden rules to follow, when you are in the country:
# Don’t spend too much time with English speakers (nearly impossible to speak French between two English-speaking people!)… It looks simple but human nature makes people gathering between people who have the same native language!
# Dare! No need to be already very good to understand and to make people understand you. Even if some (many) French people won’t help you a lot, it’s the only way, and you will see that when you have no choice, you will progress quickly!
# Keep going in a 100% French-language environment: borrow some books in French, watch French DVD (you don’t know “Maigret” or “Navarro”? Pity… ^^
But if you try, you will see that in few months, everything becomes more simple… And it’s really worth!
TO FIND AN ACCOMMODATION
So, for this part I’m really sorry but I bought my own apartment in Toulouse 5 years ago and it has been a while I didn’t seek a flat or a room to rent… So I will focus on the French use, more than on how to find the best place…
What?
As everywhere, you will have choice: house, flat, room in a share house… Not so much share room because to have his own space, even if it’s a small one, stay important in France. The surface of what you will be able to rent will depend on the place you are: easy to find big space in the countryside, not too difficult to find good space in the “state cities” (expression which means “every city except Paris”), difficult to find even small space in Paris… Globally, the Australian standards for the surface are bigger than the French one!
Obviously, the prices will follow the same scale: from 200-300 € per month for an apartment in a small town, to 600 € per month for an apartment fully-equipped in a city. Till 1000 € per month for a room in Paris. Yes, France is really cheaper than Sydney and around the same prices, and a bit cheaper than the other state capital cities…
If your plan is to stay few months (or less!) somewhere, the best thig to do will probably be to find a room in a share flat. Usually (but not always), you can rent to another flatmate (and not directly to the owner…)
How?
In 2016, as everywhere and for everything, difficult to avoid the internet!!
You can find some good offers on:
# Le Bon Coin, which is the French Gumtree (even if its design and its ergonomics looks very, very old…);
# SeLoger, this website gathers every kind of offer, some are free and some are with real estate agencies. The advantage is it’s a serious and reliable place to seek…
# De Particulier a Particulier, a website dedicated to relationships without real estate agencies. Not many offers but it’s free so why not to check as well?
When an offer looks good, give a phone call (it’s always better than a message) and check the following points:
# The rent amount (most of the time, it will be the same price for a single or for a couple) and if the bills are included or not (sometimes the bills don’t appear at all on the offer);
# The bond (usually one or two months of rent) and the prior notice (that can be quite long, 3 or 4 months, but if you have to move for a professional reason, it can be reduced to one month);
# No need to check the internet: in France it’s always (okay, 99% of the time) unlimited;
# The equipment you will be able to use (dishwasher, gas or electric stoves, oven, fridge…), the minimum you will find everywhere is a sink and some stoves;
# If the furnitures are provided or not…
How much?
Yeah, the most important… Few tips to define your budget:
# The rent is always displayed per month, and not per week. And consequently, you have to pay it every month, usually in advance.
# The bills are often paid in advance, with an average price, and sometimes refund depending on the ‘real’ price. Internet cost 30 € a month per plan, water and electricity will depend on your habits and on your location, around 30-40 € per month per person.
# The bond is often one month rent, sometimes two, but you may negotiate this second month… The biggest difference with Australia will be the amount of papers and proof of everything that you will be asked: passport, pay rolls, visa, guarantee from another person… At least for a “standard” rent (I mean where you are directly contractor with the owner or a real estate company).
The strong and proud city of the very South-West of France, located at few minutes from the Spanish border...
Old and rich city on the West coast of France, this place offers a very lovely way of life...
I will not present Paris... But be careful, it's a huge city and some places are much better than others!
Rue Kereon. One of the main city of Brittany, if you want a peaceful life and a strong Celtic culture?
USEFUL LINKS
Leboncoin: https://www.leboncoin.fr/annonces/offres/
SeLoger : http://www.seloger.com/recherche_colocation.htm
De Particulier a Particulier: http://www.pap.fr/
TO EAT
From this point of view, France (as Taiwan) is a kind of opposite to Australia: you will find a great variety of good food, different in every area you will go! Different kind of meat (foie gras, duck and goose in the South-West, lamb and pork in most of the country, cow, horse...), the freshest seafood in every maritime area, different kind of dish (crepes in Brittany, sausage and cassoulet in the South-West, melting cheese with potatoes in the East...), many types of desserts (charlotte, macarons, kouign amman, calissons, betises... Each city has got its specialty...). Cooking with butter in the North, with olive oil in the South... In this country you will learn that "cheese" and "bread" is the same as "meat" or "fish": there's hundreds, thousands kind, with totally different tastes and totally different use! I would bet you will be impressed...
Even if it's not a religion in France, we do have barbecues as well, but often they are with wood fire. Personally, I think it's better but much longer as well...
In terms of restaurants, you will be able to find not only French ones, but places from all over the World! From Thailand, Germany, Spain, Ireland, China, Mexico, Russia... Usually good because there's plenty of them so they need to be good!!
For the days you wanna cook yourself (yes, eating outside is not very cheap...), you will find plenty of shopping centers. We don't have Coles or Woolworths, we have E.Leclerc, Carrefour, Auchan, Intermarche... We also have Aldi and Lidl, two cheaper brands. They are rarer but much bigger, usually not in the city centres. To replace the 7-11, you will find Carrefour Contact, Proxi, Super U...
Oh, and obviously, as everywhere in the world, you will find very easily McDonalds, KFC and Burger King (equivalent of Hungry Jack’s in France). Always useful if you are a bit hungry and if you have few euros in your pocket.
Two other differences between France and Australia:
– you will find all the alcohol you need directly in the shopping centre, there's no many bottle shop. And the law that forbidden to sell alcohol to people younger than 18 is much easier to avoid in France.
– most of the shops are closed one or two days in the week, often on Sunday unless you are in a very touristic area... Don't forget to check for Public Holidays, there's no general rule for that... Usually, Christmas and New Year are very quiet, and the 1st of May, everything is closed, including the public transports.
Sunset from the Pilat sand dune - Arcachon (Gironde)
TO COMMUNICATE
Yes, not sure this item is part of the most basic needs of human being, as listed by UN or else, but I reckon it's one of the first thing everyone takes into account when we arrive somewhere!!
THE INTERNET
Personal subscriptions are cheap (around 25-30 € per month), in comparison to Australia, and nowadays they are all unlimited!!
Quite everywhere you will find free (or very cheap, or free if you are customer) WiFi and a good speed for watching movies or else.
PHONES
Obviously, your smartphone will be able to connect any WiFi network, but it may be not enough, especially if you are seeking a job or an accommodation. So, as everywhere around the world, let's have a look to the mobile network providers... You will find 4 main companies:
# Bouygues, equivalent to Optus
# SFR, equivalent to Vodafone
# Orange, equivalent of Telstra
# Free, which doesn't have any equivalent in Australia, unfortunately: with their aggressive offers, they established the all-unlimited-without-plan-and-for-cheap as a standard!
Now, the offers of all of them are quite similar, and the prices (around 20 €) are similar to the Australia's prices, with better offers. Orange is a bit more expensive, usually, but it has got a better average.
As Australia, you can find alternative offers (Virgin, LaPoste, Darty, NRJ...) that use one of the 4 networks above. It can be interesting to have a look when you arrive, they may have better offers.
Be careful, most of the time you will be asked to provide your bank account details, for an automatic transfer each month. That means you could eventually pay a bit more for special numbers and you have to ask the provider if you need to stop your plan.
TO MOVE
BY PLANE
It can be an option but in France, you have ONLY 1000 kilometre from North to South and from East to West so… Don’t forget to check also the other options! The cheapest companies (RyanAir, EasyJet…) often use other airports than the “city airports” (Gold Coast instead of Brisbane if you want an image) so you will have to add one hour or more.
BY BUS, TRAIN OR TRAMWAY
Public transports in France are not as efficient as in Australia, but they are cheaper and you can link easily all the cities with the trains, bus and tramways are usually only for shorter distances…
The trains, so, are all under one
The trains all belong to the SNCF company, which manage the train stations and everything. They can sometimes be on a strike, otherwise the quality depends on where you want to go and where you come from: to make it simple, all the lines linked with Paris are efficient and most of them are really quick if you catch a TGV train (TGV means High-Speed Train in French), the others are much less efficient (you can have some delay easily) and are slower.
Bus, subways and tramways depend on each city, but usually you will find a good network everywhere, at least for the dense urban areas, and the prices will vary from 1.20 to 2 € per journey (and of course less if you take a card or something like that). Note: you can find discounts for some weekends but unfortunately, we don’t have the same kind of “free rides after the tenth one”…
Big difference with Australia (but maybe it’s because our drivers are less friendly…), you will find very easily all the information you need (where you are, which stop you have to get out…), even in the bus!
BY CAR
France is 14 or 15 smaller than Australia, for 3 times more people… You think Sydney is crowded? So in France, it’s Sydney everywhere!
Translation: no need a car if you plan to stay in the big cities or around (very difficult or expensive to park, way too crowded to move with…). You may need one if you plan to go in the countryside (and in some part of the country, you WILL need one). Just be aware that, except in Brittany, all the highways are toll-road (and really expensive one…).
The best way to travel in France by car is the car-pooling: nowadays it is absolutely normal to share its car when we go somewhere… And so convenient, for the driver and for the passengers, (‘m wondering why we don’t have that in Australia…), just go on the Covoiturage website, book a trip and go!
If, I don’t know why but if, you want to buy your own car, it’s as easy as in Australia. Just few tips about that:
# We don’t have any REGO since a long time, you just have a small (in comparison to Australia!) fee to pay when you buy the car, in order to have the “grey card”, without which you cannot drive…
# Please check if your Australian driving licence is valid in France, because, obviously, I never checked that!
# You probably already know but we drive on the right (with the two meanings of the word ^^) side of the road: that can be a problem at the beginning but it’s just a question of habit that comes quickly! Be aware, roads in France are much narrower than in Australia and less easy to use (the traffic lights are single only, no marks on the floor to help people to direct…). Oh, and another important thing, people are much less patient when they are driving!
# As I said, you will find a lot of (expensive) toll roads, that you have to pay on the spot.
# Most of the cars are still manual. Dunno why, because even few months in Australia is enough to think that automatic can be very convenient! But it’s like that…
BY BIKE
In the cities, it’s clearly the best way to move: you can find bikes to rent for short rides for cheap (more exactly very cheap when you compare to Australia) or if you stay few time somewhere, have a look in the next Decathlon shop (all the sports stuffs for a good price) and buy one!
Then, the safety of the bike roads varies a lot, depending on the city you are in (globally better than Australia, anyway), but more and more, councils try to make it better… And all along the rivers and canals, you will have wonderful rides to make!
BY FOOT
I guess everybody know how to walk… So just two comments:
# In most of the city centers, pedestrians are much more important than in Australia, in comparison to the cars… No need to wait 5 minutes for every traffic lights! But be careful, some drivers don’t care at all…
# In France, we drive on the right side, ok. But as you will see, everything else follow the same logic: the elevators (when you let people take over), the streets (when it’s a bit crowded)…
USEFUL LINKS
SNCF, the French railway transport company: http://www.voyages-sncf.com/
Covoiturage website, not free but cheap and very popular website to share the rides: https://www.blablacar.fr/
Decathlon, a good and cheap sports brand: http://www.decathlon.fr/
Countryside - Lacroix-Falgarde (Haute-Garonne)
TO SPEND MONEY...
Not the funniest topic (that said, some people love!) but we have to talk about it as well...
BANKS
Let's be clear: French banks are less simple and more expensive than the Australian ones. Few things, quickly:
– Banks cost between 2 and 10 € per month, depending on the level of service and the kind of credit card you want.
I never heard about a discount or free fees above a certain amount of income but maybe that can be negotiated.
– Interests on saving accounts are not counted day by day, you always have to be careful to the day you transfer or withdraw money...
– As in Australia, there's plenty of ATM (called DAB), even in small cities. And usually, there's no fees between the different banks. By the way, thanks to UE, there's no fees either when you withdraw in another country whose currency is in Euro as well. Pretty cool, right?
– The last time I asked, you couldn't choose your PIN code, but things may change, who knows...
Every day, everything is nearly as easy to use as Australia: you can pay without contact quite everywhere (and pay with your card quite everywhere!). But, but... You cannot ask for cash out, it's the only real missing service...
LIFE COST
Not easy to talk about that... Not because we are shy, because it really depends a lot on the people, the place, the time and the use... However, I can give you my overall feeling: life in Australia is a bit more expensive than in France, except in Paris, where the prices are similar to Sydney's prices. Anyway, bring a bit of money with you!
To give you few notions, based on my own expenses:
# Accommodation: between 250 and 1000 € per months depending on the city and your level of comfort.
# Transports: a bit less stable but with the petrol, the bus, the toll roads, the car-pooling… Around 200 € per month, and closer than 300 € if you enjoy every weekend... The petrol cost between 1 and 1.20 € per litre (obviously, you can find cheaper... or much more expensive!), to rent a car is clearly more expensive than in Australia.
# Food: I spent about 300 € per month for shopping, with few restaurants here and there, most of the everyday food bought in ‘cheap’ shopping centres and some vegetables and fruits bought onto the markets.
# Phone: your bill will be around 30 € per month.
# Activities, travels and weekends: obviously very depending on yourself!!
Also, don't forget the money you will have to spend at the very beginning: visa, insurance (pretty sure you won't be able to be under the protection of the French Medicare), plane ticket...
The Toulouse (also called "Pink city") Town Hall building, on the Capitole Place...
Paris. Have you seen the movie with Nicole Kidman? Anyway, you can go and have a look...
In winter.
An amazing walkway that you can enjoy by bike or by boat, between Bordeaux and the Mediterranean Sea...
Other USEFUL details
Just some tips that couldn't fit in the other articles... ^^
CULTURE
Many public museums are free once a month (often on a Sunday) and you will find some occasion during the year for visiting many buildings for free (Journées du Patrimoine, for instance).
You will be able to read or watch whatever you want in any public library. To borrow some items for few weeks, you will have to subscribe, with a fee around 10 or 20 €.
KEYBOARDS
Nobody knows why, but in France, you won't find QWERTY keyboards but AZERTY ones... Some letters change (but not all), not sure there's another way to try, to try and to try again... After few weeks / months, it shouldn't be a big deal!!
UNITS
Because France was one of the first country to impose the metric system everywhere for everything (we even tried for the calendar!), you will find only meters, kilograms, kilometres and other litres here... No cups for cooking and no miles for driving!
The time is in the 24 hours format, you will never see ‘am’ or ‘pm’ in France, even if you will sometimes hear "3 o'clock" instead of "15h", but only when it's obvious for everyone that we are talking about the afternoon.
And the currency is Euro (the shared currency across nearly all European Union), whose exchange rate with Australian Dollar vary every day.
