1. During the first few months you will have an impression that, EVERYTHING YOU TRY DO TAKES FOREVER. For example getting a bank account, phone number, or internet can take you up to two weeks to get and you don’t even think about trusting them when they tell you that they will have it ready for you in that amount of time. If you once did your shopping on Sundays, it is time to change your habits because on this day France turns into a ghost town. There is absolutely nothing to do. Everything is closed besides cafès. Even the people in the streets walk slow!
2. Bureaucracy. Some of the first things to do when you get to France is to call your mother that you arrived well and to GET A BANK ACCOUNT. Trust me. Even such thing as getting a french phone number, you are required to have one. No kidding! And the list goes on: buying an assurance, the internet, finding a room to rent, receiving APL*... speaking of which, be sure to be ready to kill a lot of hours standing and be waiting in a queue line, and if you are a newbie (like I was), count on returning to the same place at least two or three times in a row because you will always miss some documents to turn in.
3. Price of a beer in a bar. This point goes exclusively to the people from eastern Europe: BEWARE, it is in all likely-hood five times as expensive as in your hometown.
4. Everybody is friends with everybody on Friday night. Saturday afternoon they usually don’t remember your name. This is not as bad as it seems and as you can see I have a tendency to exaggerate a little bit. The atmosphere is friendly, cozy, and in one evening you can have so many interesting conversations with all kinds of different people. I actually gave it a name I call it a Casanova effect because even though both of you know that he is going to talk with other woman as soon as he gives you a kiss to say goodbye, at this moment, right now he is giving his full attention, his eyes are looking only at you, and for these few instants, nothing else is more important.
2. Bureaucracy. Some of the first things to do when you get to France is to call your mother that you arrived well and to GET A BANK ACCOUNT. Trust me. Even such thing as getting a french phone number, you are required to have one. No kidding! And the list goes on: buying an assurance, the internet, finding a room to rent, receiving APL*... speaking of which, be sure to be ready to kill a lot of hours standing and be waiting in a queue line, and if you are a newbie (like I was), count on returning to the same place at least two or three times in a row because you will always miss some documents to turn in.
3. Price of a beer in a bar. This point goes exclusively to the people from eastern Europe: BEWARE, it is in all likely-hood five times as expensive as in your hometown.
4. Everybody is friends with everybody on Friday night. Saturday afternoon they usually don’t remember your name. This is not as bad as it seems and as you can see I have a tendency to exaggerate a little bit. The atmosphere is friendly, cozy, and in one evening you can have so many interesting conversations with all kinds of different people. I actually gave it a name I call it a Casanova effect because even though both of you know that he is going to talk with other woman as soon as he gives you a kiss to say goodbye, at this moment, right now he is giving his full attention, his eyes are looking only at you, and for these few instants, nothing else is more important.
5. It gets cold. I didn’t believe it either. My friends were trying to tell me, and I stumbled upon a few forums where the users tried to explain to me how the weather works. I didn’t listen to them! Why would I? South of France is the place where people go to swim in the sea, right? RIGHT? Yeah. It does get cold but you are free to make the same mistake as I did.
6. I saved the best for last- the dog shit! I am sure you have already heard about this one. There is only one thing I can tell you: look where you put your feet!
*L'aide personnalisée au logement = is a help from the state to help students, unemployed or people with low incomes to pay their rent. Really cool thing.
*L'aide personnalisée au logement = is a help from the state to help students, unemployed or people with low incomes to pay their rent. Really cool thing.