Moving to France
Next week, I’m moving myself and the blog to France. The big plan is to make it a semi-permanent move: I’m doing the second part of my course in Montpellier, but after that I hope to get a job and live in France for a while. It’s neither a plan to solve world hunger, nor a particularly ambitious plan, but it’s a plan.
Attentive readers may know that I lived in France before – albeit briefly, before Bush II was President. Some of my writing from that period is on the blog. My time in France knocked a few rough edges off me, but it obviously didn’t put me off the country, and now I can’t wait to go back. If I don’t go now, I’ll never go.
France is no paradise. Believe me, if I wanted to preserve my francophilic tendencies, I’d restrict my contact with the country to a couple of weeks holiday each year. As a place to live, France is no better or no worse than any other country in western Europe. But France has quirks. These are my confident predictions for the first month:
- I speak good French, but I will make a complete fool of myself at least once a day with something I say
- I will nearly be run over at least once, because I’m not used to cars driving on the right
- I’ll say I understand 80% of what’s being said, when I really understand 50%
- There will be AT LEAST one enfuriating Catch-22 involving a missing document, a bank or a bureaucrat
- Somebody will ask me if I’m German or English or American. And when I tell them “Nouvelle-Zélande“, they’ll think I’m from Denmark.
Place de la Comédie, Montpellier. Image: Wolfgang Staudt
I’m also going to be doing all my coursework in French: I’m less worried about the classes than about writing assignments. It’s going to be a challenge, but worth it. Either I’ll crash and burn spectacularly, or I wont.
It’ll take a few months of pain to acclimatise. But over time, things will get better. The language will come back. I’ll get more assertive in queues and start drinking Volvic. I’ll make some friends and start talking with my hands (no, really, it will happen). I’ll get up to speed again with current affairs so I can laugh at the jokes in Charlie Hebdo.
And of course, France and I may fall out of love. I may hate living there. I may give up and go home. But I hope not.
So, over the next few months I guess I’ll be blogging about different aspects of life in a “new” country. There’ll definitely still be posts about non-French things, but if etnobofin seems a little, well, préoccupé, please forgive me.
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Sounds exciting! I look forward to talk of life in France. And the best of luck with it all.
Bon Voyage!
Coolio! My French exchange (1988 – ?) was to Lunel mear Montpellier. I remember sitting on the edge of that fountain in the Place de la Comédie, discussing French McDonalds and what our exchange homes were like. Important things when you are 15.
Whenever I want to speak French I push my lips out a bit (like I’m going to say “bah, je sais pas”). It helps. That and the hands.
Hope you have a great experience, not too much frustrating bureaucracy and lots of spring sunshine.
Oh and that reminds me, are you ready for the weird southern accent?
…je voudrais du peng… où est la salle de beng?…
Thanks for the comments guys
@carol, yes I think I’ve got the southern accent sussed – many hours wasted watching Jean de Florette etc, (although that’s Provençal rather than Languedocien). It’ll be a change from the Alsatian accent that I learnt, anyway. All part of the fun.
Well, that’s going to be interesting !
(what’s this B.S. with French people drinking Volvic and talking with their hands???)
@klari, I’m just teasing. But it’s true that French people use their hands more when they talk than “northern Europeans” or “anglo-saxons”.
Nononono.
French people do not talk with their hands. Sometimes the hands move independently while they talk, that’s all.
Blessings for the move, Richard. Travel safely and send us your new address etc.
@klari, OK I will defer to your far greater experience and judgement. But in my experience, there are certain gestures and habits that the French have that don’t exist (or don’t have equivalents) in English
Right !
Anyway, I think you’ll understand much more than 50% of what’s being said around you. As for Charlie-Hebdo jokes, that might be harder though, I still miss some. I prefer the Canard Enchaîné, anyway. (http://www.amazon.fr/Canard-Enchain%C3%A9-V%C3%A8me-R%C3%A9publique-Dessins/dp/2352040701 )
[...] makes me feel fortunate, and just a little proud that I’ve taken the next step along the journey I outlined earlier in the [...]