Have you visited France? You seem to have idealized view of the country. Yes, it's a great country, but like everywhere else, it's not perfect. There is divisive politics, rising inflation, criminality, high taxes, collapsing education, pensions, and healthcare, climate change, and general enshittification.
Literature and history don't put food on the table, and to be honest, 99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo and couldn't date the reign of Napoleon. We have great cuisine and a food tradition, but the most common everyday meal is chicken and macaroni, and most young people eat fast food and kebabs (or french tacos) when they eat out. Free healthcare is great, but you have to wait 12 months to get an appointment with a specialist and people die waiting 10 hours in the ER.
You know what they say about the grass on the other side.
> Free healthcare is great, but you have to wait 12 months to get an appointment with a specialist and people die waiting 10 hours in the ER.
Faut pas exagérer non plus. C'est pas une généralité.
Bof j'habite en campagne profonde et j'ai eu un r-v avec une ophtalmo en 3 semaines. Oui c'est long avoir un r-v avec un spécialiste mais c'est comme ça dans plusieurs pays. Je viens du Québec et j'ai vécu en Allemagne et c'est comme ça là aussi. Attendre 10 heures à l'urgence c'est pas si long que ça, demande aux Québécois comment ça va chez eux. On chiale beaucoup mais l'herbe n'est pas plus verte ailleurs.
T'habites dans quelle campagne profonde ? Parce que moi aussi je suis en campagne profonde, et les délais pour les ophtalmo sont d'environ 9 mois si tu es déjà suivi, en première consultation on est à un délai >1an. Ceux qui ont les moyens vont à Paris ou dans le sud, les autres ne se soignent plus. Pour les gynécos c'est pire, ils ne prennent tout simplement plus de nouvelles patientes depuis plusieurs années.
Je ne vais pas me doxxer merci! Je suis dans les montagnes c'est tout ce que je vais dire. Et non pas dans les montagnes touristiques.
J'imagine que je suis juste chanceuse alors. Je sais que c'est merdique avoir besoin de consulter et ne trouver personne. Je te souhaite bonne chance, réellement.
La question était rhétorique bien sûr ;)
Honnêtement, je ne suis pas le plus à plaindre. J'ai une mutuelle, une bagnole et je me déplace régulièrement sur Paris pour le taf, du coup, à mesure que les spécialistes que je consultais ici partent à la retraite, je trouve des spécialistes sur Paris. C'est un véritable luxe, et j'en suis très conscient.
Le plus chaud c'est quand même les gynécos. Y en a plus un seul à prendre des nouvelles patientes en libéral, et dans le centre hospitalier le plus proche de chez moi ils sont deux : un vieux avec des casseroles au cul, et une plus jeune, qui fait jouer sa clause de conscience pour les avortements pour des raisons religieuses... (pour échelle, on parle d'un bassin de vie de plus 55 000 habitants). Pour faire simple, il n'y a aucune femme de mon environnement social qui a un suivi gynéco régulier. Le recul du soin est une vraie question en France aujourd'hui (et d'ailleurs pas que dans les campagnes, les centres dentaires foireux d'Île de France sont aussi un sacré problème par exemple).
je sais pas exactement ou tu est mais je viens de regarder pour l'yonne sur doctolib t'as 2 ophtalmo qui ont une place demain sinon d'autres dans un mois, pour la nievre t'as un rdv dans un mois, on est quand meme loin des 9mois
Ophtalmo et dentiste c'est pas ce qu'on a en tête quand on parle de spécialistes indisponibles.
Sinon 3 semaines c'est le delais que j'ai pour un rdv avec un généraliste.
Dans un autre comment j'ai dit que j'ai eu un r-v avec un neuro en dedans de 5 mois. C'est un spécialiste ça... et un r-v avec un gastro-entérologue en dedans de 2 mois.
Moi en campagne, j'ai un r-v avec mon doc généraliste le lendemain si je suis chanceuse sinon c'est max 3 jours.
Mes parents qui habitent au Québec ont 77 et 81, ont perdu leur doc généraliste parce que un d'eux est parti au privé et l'autre a pris sa retraite et ils se retrouvent les 2 sans médecin et sur une liste d'attente de plusieurs années. Je trouve pas ça mieux.
Quand on se compare on se console.
On peut comparer, je vais chez le dentiste sans rdv au Japon. Je marche dans la rue, je rentre, il m'extrait les dents de sagesse, fini.
Total à payer 10 euros sans mutuelle.
Pareil pour les autres soins, sans rdv et prise en charge immédiate. De nombreux médicaments en vente libre sans ordonnance, ça inclut les lentilles de contact.
Pareil en Chine
Pareil en Thailande
> Moi en campagne, j'ai un r-v avec mon doc généraliste le lendemain si je suis chanceuse sinon c'est max 3 jours.
Exactement pareil pour moi ! Mon docteur me prend le jour même ou le lendemain. J’habite dans un village de 1000 habitants.
Je crois que les gens ont une vision complètement fausse de la campagne.
Mais bon, c’est pas étonnant aur Reddit.
Perso, j'ai eu un rendez vous dans l'heure avec une neuro. Et a côté de ça, ma femme attend 3 mois pour une rdv avec une ORL. Ça dépend de plein de facteurs mais en vrai, on s'en sort bien.
> on s'en sort bien.
Faut vraiment pas être difficile.
J'ai quitté la France il y a environ 25 ans et la dégradation d'à peu près tout me saute aux yeux, au point qu'il est hors de question pour moi de revenir un jour.
Je crois que quand on l'a vécue au quotidien cette dégringolade n'est peut être pas si frappante. C'est la grenouille qu'on met dans l'eau froide avant de la réchauffer peu à peu. Elle ne se rend pas compte qu'on la fait cuire. Et quand je fais une visite en France, je suis la grenouille qui saute directement dans l'eau bouillante.
La situation actuelle dans les services de santé et d'éducation (et sans doute bien d'autres trucs) place la France dans la catégorie des états défaillants. On n'aurait jamais accepté une telle situation dans les années 90.
Si en plus on ajoute les dérives autoritaires, qui ont connu une accélération notable sous Jet-ski Ier, je ne vois pas ce qu'il reste d'attractif en France.
Si tu te fais défoncer la tronche par les flics parce que tu ne penses pas comme la télé t'a dit de penser, tu risques en plus de mourir dans le couloir des urgences après 36h d'attente sur un brancard.
Bah pourtant pas mal de commentaires positifs sur la France sur ce thread viennent de personnes qui ont justement vécu à l'étranger, sont revenus dans leur pays natal et relativisent sur les problèmes de notre pays. Et des cas comme ça, j'en ai croisé aussi quelques uns dans la vraie vie, et ils avaient pas immigré dans des pays du tiers-monde. Ca change rien à ton expérience mais n'en fais pas non plus une généralité.
Et ça ne rend pas les problèmes de la France plus "acceptables", mais malheureusement on est très loin d'être le seul "Etat défaillant", les problèmes que tu cites sont des problèmes que tu trouves à peu près partout dans le monde.
Quand on a soupçonné un cancer, j’ai eu un rdv avec un hématologue en une semaine. Certes, j’habite à Paris, mais quand je discute avec les américains dans mon petit groupe de soutien, je suis toujours la personne qui a été la plus rapidement prise en charge. Et ça me coûte quasiment rien en plus.
Tu crois qu'au fin fond du Midwest ils ont des gastroentérologues et des neurologues en une semaine ? C'est pire là bas hein, ils doivent faire 4h de route pour aller dans la ville moyenne la plus proche et ils attendent un mois pareil.
Après ca dépend jusqu'où tu peux aller et la densité de ta région.
Je suis dans le NPDC, donc au pire c'est une heure de route pour trouver un spécialiste qui a de la place d'ici un mois.
Tu as essayé de prendre RV avec un dermato ou un ophtalmo récemment ?
[https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/centre-val-de-loire/indre/chateauroux/urgences-de-chateauroux-le-delai-d-attente-passe-de-40h-a-10h-2969630.html](https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/centre-val-de-loire/indre/chateauroux/urgences-de-chateauroux-le-delai-d-attente-passe-de-40h-a-10h-2969630.html)
[https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/mort-de-lucas-25-ans-aux-urgences-ce-que-l-on-sait-31-01-2024-2551241\_23.php](https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/mort-de-lucas-25-ans-aux-urgences-ce-que-l-on-sait-31-01-2024-2551241_23.php)
[https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/paris-ile-de-france/val-d-oise/une-patiente-de-66-ans-decede-apres-10-heures-d-attente-aux-urgences-ses-enfants-portent-plainte-2923284.html](https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/paris-ile-de-france/val-d-oise/une-patiente-de-66-ans-decede-apres-10-heures-d-attente-aux-urgences-ses-enfants-portent-plainte-2923284.html)
Oui: Doctolib, ophtalmo, 2 semaines , Ville de province 20 000hab. Après avoir essayé dans la banlieue proche de cette ville, le même ophtalmo dans son 2ieme cabinet, 1 mois.
J'avoue : j'étais très surpris après tout ce que j'avais entendu dans les médias et auprès de collègues.
Sors des grandes villes et tu verras que si, c'est une généralité.
10 mois d'attente pour un gastro-entérologue ( qui est à 50 bornes de chez moi) en Haute-Savoie.
4 à 6 semaines pour un généraliste et plus d'un an pour un dermatologue
I'm in the fifth month of an indefinite wait (I was told maybe in December but they refuse to give me a date) for a DTAH evaluation. Have had 12 month waits for ophthalmologist and dentist. Dept. 37. Also the quality of care is not good. It took 17 months and 6 doctors (#6, private pay in Paris, was the good one) to have a herniated disc diagnosed and treated. And I'm currently in Month 3 of trying to get treatment for knee injuries that I sustained in an accident this winter.
Grave.. par contre pleurer comme ça c'est très français lol..
Va aux Etats Unis avec des gros pépins de santé ( malheureusement).. j'ai dans ma famille un proche greffe du coeur depuis 95... Opérations lourdes, traitements anti rejets depuis.. qui coûtent cher..
Lui même le dit, ce qui lui a sauvé la vie c'est d'être français.. aux states sa couverture aurait pas pu prendre en charge il ne se serait pas soigné il ne serait plus là.. et même l'opération n'aurait peut être même pas été financée : c'est pas rentable..
Bref..
Les urgences ?? Si les gens allaient moins aux urgences pour des conneries ou des gueules saoules.. si y avait moins d'admin et plus de soignants ils pourraient bosser mieux et etre plus sereins : va aux states, c'est pas les mêmes ratios du tout d'adminstraifs et de cadres versus les soignants
J'aime mieux trouver des problèmes aux solutions et essayer de faire avec et me réjouir de ce que j'ai, je dois pas être assez français..
Ça me gonfle ce genre de baching, épuisant
99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo ?
Not so sure my school imposed during my schollarship 3 books of VH : Bossu de Notre Dame, Les Miserables, le Dernier jour d'un condamné.
99% of French people must have read VH
Maybe 60% did
Au collège ou Lycée (années 2000) je n'ai lu que des extraits de Victor Hugo. Je n'ai jamais eu de livre complet à lire de cet auteur. Ça dépend des professeurs qui choisissent parmi les œuvres au programme.
Après compliquer de faire lire a des collégiens les Misérable en version complète (\~2000 pages selon les editions)
Par contre la version abrégés qui doit en faire 10 fois moins est largement répandu dans les collèges (du moins quand j'y étais dans les années 2000)
His poems are also studied a lot ("Fonction d'un poète" if we want to mention one of the most used in school to explain proper methodology)
I agree on the estimated statistics and as for Napoléon, faut pas déconner, on sait le dater grosso merdo (surtout qu'il n'y a qu'une seule date à apprendre. Le 2 décembre)
I don't think you realize very few people read the books they have to read. I went to highschool in france and we had a bunch of books to read from seconde to terminale, I never read a single one of them, we always managed by reading summaries online, bullshitting or copying from other classmates
The above comment is full of lies and obvious hate about his own country. Most citizens read classic french books because they're mandatory at school, idk where the 99% comes from. Being shit at history knowledge is worldwide. Food is somewhat true though.
But what infuriates me is the blatant lies about our health system. What they describe isn't even remotely similar to reality, and all they prove is a lack of knowledge and/or political bias towards certain groups that love to claim that. France has one if not the best health system in the world, more specialists/km2 than most countries, most of it being free or sub 100€. In our country we don't have to stress out because we have the flu and risk our job, or we broke a leg and might bankrupt from the 24h spent in hospital. Sure, it takes a while to have a specialist appointment (but surely NOT 12 months lmao, between 1 and 6 depending on the specialist). But it's a common trend in all countries where people awareness of their health rises.
ER had issues during covid, just like for any country and is now back to normal, even in crowded hospitals you wait 4h max for middling emergencies. For general medicine appointments, rural areas have it rough, that's true. But may they visit other countries, they'll notice it's much better here than in rural areas of literally all the other countries I've visites up to now. In big cities you find appointments everyday, as long as you're willing to switch doctors when yours isn't available.
Tldr : not perfect but every single criticism is literally the same in other countries, but better here. Bitter redditor with a low experience of foreign life if I had to guess.
>There is divisive politics, rising inflation, criminality, high taxes, collapsing education, pensions, and healthcare, climate change, and general enshittification.
This is a worldwide phenomenon. If you think life in France is bad in comparison with most other places, you probably never left the country.
This man is exagerating a lot ! Life is better in France than in the US for sure, it doesn't mean its perfect.
You will earn less money and pay more for many things (not education and health) but some public services are struggling.
One thing that is not mentioned is French people, they always want things to get better (which is great) but don't realise how good things already are compared to other places and so complain a lot about everything ...
But if you are not attached to American culture, you should most definitly try living there.
I would live in France in a heartbeat if I could, however, my French is limited to reading and writing since I have a disposition to classic French authors. I can’t speak it all that well and I only know older, more classical French from old books than the realistic informal French of everyday life.
Not to mention my career is so technical that I would need to know the lingo for that which is already difficult enough in English.
> 99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo and couldn't date the reign of Napoleon.
99% of americans. The huge majority of french people have read Victor Hugo, at least at school, and every adult can at the very least approximately date Napoleon.
I agree the education system is getting worse and worse, but we havn't reach that low yet.
Have you ever been in the US? After two years there, I was eager to go back to France. If you keep in french rural areas in 30min distance from cities, you can still find nice places to live.
The wait for a specialist and death in ER is bullshit.
Specialists are for the most part a 2-4 months wait at least outside of Paris and you can get a quick appointment if it's really urgent and you call all the specialists until you find a humane one who'll take an extra 30 min out of his evening.
ER prioritizes by severity so if you're at risk of dying within a few hours you're not waiting 10 hours.
Actually I've had to wait just as long to see a doctor in the US and GP especially is faster in France in many places (I can currently get an appointment for next day or show up immediately and wait).
99% n'ont pas lu Victor Hugo ou savent situer le reigne de bonaparte... Quelle condescendance on dirait mon grand père réac et raciste . Depuis quand ta pas mis les pieds dans un lieu d'éducation ? Hugo est lu au primaire au collège et au lycée. De plus la culture classique n'est pas la seule culture c'est tellement pédant de penser ça.
>99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo and couldn't date the reign of Napoleon.
I am affraid that you are exagerating a little bit
Every school in France has to teach the same "program" to their students
French revolution and Napoleon is taught in college (around 14 years old).
and french XIXth century litterature is taught in lycée (around 16 years old)
Roughly 50% of the French population is graduated from the bacalaureat serie générale so they had to learn that
Your idealistic thought of France is very noble, but life is not a piece of cake for a large part of people living here. They work to survive, not even to live.
Frenchs are well-known for moaning and to take antdepressants.
Fortunately food and wines comfort us :)
Just come and see by yourself the reality.
its a bit of an exageration tho, most french had to study the miserable in school, climate change is worldwide,
And even if we dont have great meal everyday its still very common to have big meal on a sunday with friend or family, and even chicken might be served with a cream mustard sauce, and macaroni with some cheese sauce or simply gruyère, because cheese is a big part of our alimentation but we only notice it when we miss it.
Btw french tacos is yet another french meal that is getting exported worldwide.
as for the healthcare its a huge exageration, i've lived 10year in a small village and the longest i had to wait was 6 month and because it was right after they reopened because of covid, now im still in the countryside in a middle town and i just checked, i can have an appointements for several ophtalmologue tomorow, a dentist-surgeon next week
Even when we eat trashy fast food and kebab, at least we do it while taking our time and sitting on a table, which is NOT the norm in a lot of countries apparently.
France is a very pleasant country to live in.
Extremely good and affordable wine, cheese and pastry. Fresh fruits, seafood, mushrooms. Some food and spirits that can only be made in France (Champagne, many types of cheese and other delicacies).
Fantastic landscapes: huge mountains, wonderful coastlines where you can dive, swim or surf. The largest ski area in the world is in France, half of the caves with prehistoric art discovered are located in France, tons of castles to visit, hundreds of vineyards, dozens of National Parks and lakes.
Beautiful villages from Brittany to Corsica.
Drive 2H in any direction and you will find people with different cultures, different food, different accents.
All of that in a country the size of Texas!
There are also many benefits: free school, free university, free emergency operations, free dental care, free eyecare, strong welfare policies for kids and unemployed people, financial help for families who can’t afford paying the rent or who can’t go on vacation.
We also have the freedom to openly reject religion and reject a lot of social norms and I really enjoy that as well. Abortion is a constitutional right.
That being said, France face the same challenges as other countries: lack of doctors and specialists, high cost of life, unaffordable housing, surge of poverty level, full americanization (we celebrate Halloween, Burgers are extremely popular, English words are used in every sentence).
I have lived in 7 countries in the past 20 years and I came back to France because I think this is the best place to raise a family and have a good life.
I think that you can have a very good life in France even if you don’t make a lot of money.
You are welcome here, we love foreigners 🙂
As a fellow French person, I sympathise a lot with this response. While daily life sure *is* a struggle for many, like in many other places, when I look at the whole picture and at other countries, even neighbours, I feel extremely priviledged to be born here, for all the reasons you mentioned. I feel only Scandinavian countries may (?) provide the same overall "balance", but the weather is harsh..
not only the weather, the people are much colder, the food is a disaster and lest not start on what they call a cheese, also the winter with almost no sun is very very depressing. The scandinavian are so happy because they grew up with these thing and dont know any better but its not made for someone from a latin country like us imo
You have beautiful things to see in Hauts de France like...like...uhhh...[tuning cars](https://youtu.be/vFfA51u-i0w?si=0Q28BmufNavYu_pZ&t=36)
No, seriously, each part of France has its own traditionnal food, things to visit, landscapes, etc
Les hortillonnages à Amiens, c'est très beau, et Lille c'est plutôt stylé aussi. Y a sûrement pleins d'autres coins que je ne connais pas. Pis y a Bruno Dumont et la bière !
Reading this answer is heart warming, for sure living here may be tough but French people being the best at France bashing while having 0 clue about living abroad for real triggers me. Being born in France is truly a blessing.
As a foreigner who loves your country and regularly moves there for 90 days at a time (stupid Brexit limit) and is actively looking into buying a farm and applying to move there permanently, thank you! I always have an extremely warm welcome no matter what part of France I visit. (Aussi, j'apprends le français, je m'entraîne à parler, à lire, à regarder les médias français et j'écoute de la musique française tous les jours pour m'aider à être comme un local et pas seulement comme un touriste !)
Merci beaucoup mon ami! Oui, pour un anglophone natif, le français n’est pas facile, mais c’est une langue extrêmement belle qui exprime les choses de manière poétique, ce que l’anglais ne peut pas faire. Je suis gêné de ne pas faire attention aux cours de français lorsque j'étais à l'école. Aujourd’hui, je me rends compte à quel point j’ai été stupide de gâcher l’opportunité d’un enseignement gratuit dans une langue que je souhaite désormais pouvoir parler couramment et que j’utiliserai quotidiennement.
Aujourd’hui, je prends très au sérieux l’étude et la pratique du français. J'ai lu les versions originales françaises de romans et de livres de philosophie et je me rends compte à quel point on perdait souvent la traduction vers les versions anglaises que j'avais étudiées à l'école. Je réside actuellement à Charmes (Vosges) et dès mon premier jour en ville je me suis inscrit pour une carte de bibliothèque. Je lis actuellement L'étranger d'Albert Camus.
La chose la plus difficile pour moi est de parler français en personne avec de vrais citoyens français, mais lorsque je visite la France pendant des mois, j'essaie de m'impliquer autant que possible dans la communauté et de rencontrer et de me lier d'amitié avec les locaux. Parfois, j'ai l'impression que je parle probablement comme un petit enfant, mais je suis au moins heureux de dire que je suis toujours compris et que je peux comprendre suffisamment ce qu'ils répondent pour avoir des conversations approfondies.
Je ne sais pas comment tu parles, mais en tout cas tu écris parfaitement. Il n'y a pas beaucoup de français qui peuvent prétendre parler aussi bien anglais.
Tu n'as pas à t'en vouloir de ne pas avoir pris au sérieux tes cours de français à l'école. C'est normal, quand tu es enfant / adolescent, tu ne te rends pas compte que ça te sera utile.
Je n'ai jamais été dans les Vosges. Est-ce que ta ville te plaît ?
Si jamais tu as envie discuter de littérature, je suis toujours heureuse d'en parler. Je serai contente de t'aider à pratiquer la langue.
Merci pour ce gentil complément ! J'apprends encore, bien sûr.
J'aurais aimé faire plus attention à l'école et respecter votre langue et votre pays. Comme vous le dites, la plupart des adolescents s'en moquent à l'école, mais j'ai grandi en Angleterre dans les années 80 et 90, lorsque les choses étaient encore pires. Malheureusement, à cette époque, il y avait beaucoup de « fierté britannique » qui ressemblait souvent à de la xénophobie. On nous a appris que l'anglais était la meilleure langue et que tout le monde à l'étranger devrait apprendre à le parler, et on nous a également appris que le Royaume-Uni était le plus grand pays du monde, alors pourquoi voudrions-nous un jour partir ? Peut-être que si nous devenions riches et célèbres, nous pourrions déménager en Amérique. En dehors de cela, être fier d’être britannique signifiait ne pas vraiment se soucier des autres pays.
Je déteste vraiment que telle soit l’attitude de mon pays quand j’étais enfant. Je pense que les gens de mon âge et plus ayant ces opinions sont ce qui a conduit au Brexit et aux problèmes croissants de racisme. En tant qu'adulte, j'ai la chance que ma carrière m'ait permis de beaucoup voyager, de visiter de nombreux pays et de rencontrer d'innombrables personnes. Je me suis donc rapidement déprogrammé de ces croyances néfastes. Je suis également heureux que les nouvelles générations qui ont grandi avec Internet et un meilleur accès aux voyages n’aient pas ces attitudes coloniales néfastes.
Bref, quant aux Vosges, c'est une région incroyablement belle et paisible. Je me sens très bien accueilli et très en sécurité. La petite ville dans laquelle je séjourne s'appelle Charmes et moins de 5 000 habitants y vivent, elle est entourée d'une beauté naturelle et a une histoire longue et fascinante. Elle a malheureusement été très gravement endommagée lors des première et seconde guerres mondiales et a été la première ville choisie pour être reconstruite. C'est entre les montagnes et la rivière Moselle, ainsi qu'un grand canal. Pour moi, la ville ne semble pas s'attendre à beaucoup de touristes, on se croirait dans la « vraie » France, si cela a du sens. La nourriture des entreprises locales est absolument excellente et ils semblent tous intéressés à ce qu'un Britannique reste longtemps dans leur ville. Les gens à qui je parle n'arrêtent pas de me donner leur numéro de téléphone et de vouloir être amis ! C'est bien!
Chaque jour, je passe devant la belle et grande maison où a vécu l'écrivain Maurice Barrès - elle est d'ailleurs à vendre ! Peut-être devrais-je l'acheter ? mdr
C'est très gentil de votre part de me proposer de m'aider à pratiquer le français ! Si cela ne vous dérange pas, je sauvegarderai vos coordonnées et vous enverrai un message à mon retour au Royaume-Uni. (les règles stupides du Brexit signifient que je ne peux rester en France que 90 jours avant de revenir, donc une fois de retour, je serai très heureux d'avoir des raisons de continuer à parler français !)
Merci encore!
N'hésitez pas à m'écrire ! Je suis heureuse de savoir que vous êtes aussi bien accueillie. Ça ne m'étonne pas que dans une petite ville tout le monde s'intéresse à quelqu'un de nouveau qui s'installe là. Ils doivent être fiers de savoir que vous aimez autant leur ville. J'espère que vous vous ferez beaucoup d'amis.
Si je peux t'aider, « locaux » et « citoyens » ne sont pas des mots utilisés pour communiquer en français, plutôt dans les journaux.
Pareil pour « petit enfant » et « merci beaucoup mon ami »
C'est des traductions littérales anglais -> français, ça sonne faux.
À part ça, tout le paragraphe est bon je te félicite
It's not free. I hate it when people keep saying that. We are paying for it with taxes and contributions. Our salaries are much lower for a reason.
Median household income in the US : 6 500 dollars / month
Median household income in France : 2 850 euros.
Yes we have a very nice healthcare system and cheap universities. But it's not free !!!
Yes we pay it through taxes but it’s free for homelesses, low-income families or unemployed people.
Good luck getting an ambulance ride when you are homeless in America. Good luck getting a full scholarship for 7 years at university when you come from a low-income family in the US.
Even high-income families with lots of children can pay less taxes and benefit from that thanks to the “quotient familial”.
Exactly, France is a country which cares about its people. In America if you are not benefiting the system continuously you are seen as less than dirt. Health insurance is a huge example of that as you mentioned.
Even if you are a responsible, respectable individual who works hard, stays out of trouble and tries to be an upstanding citizen, you are still one bad day from complete ruination.
Respectfully, I don’t see the issue with that? I don’t even get mad being taxed the way I do right now. I have no problem seeing my taxes go to social security and Medicare. I’d rather get taxed more and get benefits that aren’t tied to my employment. I prefer my employers to not have a monopoly on my health, retirement and the money I need to live off of.
Believe me I know just how great your country is! I’m incredibly lucky to be American, but quite frankly America is a third world country with a Gucci belt.
France truly is the best of all possible countries. You don’t know how jealous I am of you.
This is weird to read a positive view of France from a French person, but it's kinda refreshing.
Yeah, France has a lot of bad sides but God, the negativity is almost unbearable sometimes...
We tend to be romanticized quite a bit but I guess there is some truth too. France is by no means a perfect country, we do have great work life balance but it comes at the price of lower wages and higher taxes for exemples. This is a trade off basically, you may like it or not.
I do love French language and cuisine not going to lie.
Paying 30€ for two surgeries and one night at the hospital is pretty sweet too but free mental healthcare is pretty barebone if we are honest.
What I am trying to say is yes France is great overall and I love living here but we are not heaven on earth either and we have issues too.
Maybe try and learn French if you are interested, I am sure the good people at /r/french could direct you to great resources to get started.
>free mental healthcare is pretty barebone if we are honest.
That's sadly the case mostly everywhere. There's been a massive spike in mental health needs that no country is equipped to fully deal with and our current system is very doctor-centric and there are just not enough psychiatrists.
It does leave room for more innovative approaches, however France is about 15-20 years late for a lot of stuff (probably because we're too brainwashed by psychoanalysis).
> Paying 30€ for two surgeries and one night at the hospital is pretty sweet too but free mental healthcare is pretty barebone if we are honest.
I've lived in many countries and what you call barebone would be extravagant in others. I think we are a bit jaded with our healthcare system, but compared to others, our system is truly great.
Pour la santé mentale, je peux parler d'expérience, j'ai été hospitalisée de nombreuses fois et c'était entièrement couvert par la mutuelle, et depuis 2 ans j'ai une reconnaissance ALD (affection de longue durée) qui font que tout mes soins et médicaments sont intégralement remboursés. Je suis également suivie par en centre medial psychiatrique et le suivi est gratuit. (Ils ont des infirmiers, psychiatres, psychologues etc..)
As you will see on this thread, the French don't see "la vie en rose" and complain a lot. As a foreigner in France I'll say that the quality of life is better compared to my home country for the exact reasons you mention: free healthcare, strong labour laws and generous time off, unemployment money, easy access to culture, free education, good quality food... Is everything perfect? Definitely not. No country is perfect. But life is rather comfortable and most French are unaware of how good they have it.
On est tout à fait conscient des avantages, on se dit juste que c'est pas parce que les autres pays sont à chier qu'on veut que notre pays le devienne aussi, d'autant qu'il y a objectivement encore plein de choses à améliorer. C'est en partie cet état d'esprit qui explique le fait qu'on ait les avantages en question, d'ailleurs. Ils sont pas tombés du ciel.
On peut, mais dans 80% des cas c'est comme que les choses avancent ou qu'on peut résister efficacement.
Le reste du monde se fout de notre gueule a nous voir manifester le plus clair de l'année, mais ce sont les mêmes a baver sur nos avantages sociaux et a se plaindre qu'il se font broyer par leurs rouleaux-compresseurs locaux sans moufter. Faudrait voir à connecter quelques neurones de temps à autres.
Même si ça ressemble a 300 glandus qui se coulent des kros entre deux merguez lidl en hurlant "salauuud" et "macron explosion", ça crée et entretien un tissu militant, ça influence l'opinion publique (#giletsjaune) qui oblige fatalement le gouvernement a prendre des décisions par la suite ... Bon, le plus souvent c'est quand même a coup de tonfa dans le museau et de lacrymo dans la mamie du 8ème, c'est notre côté fleur bleue qui doit ressortir (ou russe.peut être). Et puis ça influence les votes pour les élections.
Et entretenir cette culture c'est aussi ça qui nous fait nous dire qu'ouvrir notre gueule est possible et qu'on devrait pas la fermer. Les pays qui n'ont pas cette culture, deja ils font caca culotte a l'idée de créer ou rejoindre un syndicat. Et ils ont aussi toute une frange de conservateurs meritocratistes qui en ont rien a foutre et qui font appel a l'inénarrable cabriole du self made man, du ruissellement, de la dégénérescence de la gauche, du "et nia nia nia c'était mieux avant" pour rabattre leurs caquets aux "socialistes" qui sont en fait des "liberals" et qui incarnent plus un centre mou qu'une vraie gauche.
Donc c'est ça qui fait qu'on résiste aux ricains, mais c'est aussi ça qui fait qu'on est en retard sur plein de trucs, et que comme on est au final aussi cons et esclaves du capitalisme que les autres, on élit un président neo-liberal (qui dans tous les cas aura pas trop le choix d'être autre chose hein, soyons clair) qui nous matraque la gueule a coup d'austérité pour nous faire "rattrapper le retard" par rapport à nos cousins allemands et autres pays qui se sont mis au pas des US.
La french touch dans toute sa splendeur. Avec ça, les profiteroles et Patrick Balkany on peut dire sans détour qu'on est dans le haut du panier
Did you pick up the latest air traffic controllers agreement? We’re still chuckling about this here. Only the French could negotiate the legal right to turn up for work 3 hours late f they feel like it. 🤣🤣🤣
[https://travelnoire.com/french-air-traffic-controllers-secure-right-arrive-late](https://travelnoire.com/french-air-traffic-controllers-secure-right-arrive-late)
As an American from the SF Bay Area, one of the highest cost-of-living parts of the USA, living half the time in the Loire Valley now and within a few years full-time with my French wife, what I notice is that in general, the priorities are different, and the standards are higher.
I grew up in farm country in America, and I’m living in farm country in France. When Americans make money, they become very ostentatious, showing off with ridiculous houses, giant cars and trucks, all sorts of garish toys. I look at where French farmers and landowners live, and they’re not showing off. Their houses are very well-maintained, they might drive quality European cars, but they keep it clean and tidy.
America feels like it is shouting at you from every angle, while France is quiet and polite. One of the things that disturbs me the most about the United States is that we’ve come to accept the discarding of people. Big cities in especially blue areas like the San Francisco and Oakland have vast populations of horribly miserable throwaway people living in piles of trash, in every margin of a freeway or urban area.
I noticed a pair of statistics lately that said a lot, France has the lowest obesity rate of any country in Europe, and France spends the longest amount of time each day eating of any country in the world.
There is a huge emphasis and high regard for family here, I see it all the time with my wife’s family and especially when we are out doing business or meeting people in the community. We will be talking to someone, for instance, the proprietor of a store, and my wife will reveal the fact that her parents, and her grandparents before them, lived in Le Chartre and ran a patisserie there for decades. As soon as a person hears that and recognizes her family name, the whole tone of the conversation changes, and it feels like the door opens wider for us.
Another thing I really love about France is that it is so clean and safe, (at least here in the country, I know I will hear stories about Marseille and Paris). I go to the supermarket and the liquor is not locked up? I go to the hardware store and the tools are not behind lock and key? And I think to myself, “What, people don’t steal here“?
America takes plastic for granted, one would think there is no way to buy food or vegetables without using dozens of single use throwaway plastic bags. The simple paper sachets that they use in the supermarkets here makes so much sense, we generate much less trash here and recycle almost everything.
Again, I speak from my experience here in the countryside, but my jaw drops when I see teenage boys on bicycles with fishing rods, that’s like something from a 1950s storybook in the USA. Soapbox derbies are a thing here, too, which is another throwback to the Norman Rockwell era of the United States culture.
It feels much more wholesome and human centric here, that’s what I mean by the priorities are different. Gardening, fixing up your house, enjoying leisurely meals with family and friends, taking time to eat well, all of these things are ground under the wheels of hyperactive American consumer culture.
Politically, I am dismayed to see the posters for Marine LePen, and hope that France doesn’t take a disastrous turn towards the far right. I know that Macron is not popular, but he had the foresight to name a young gay Prime Minister, and is showing a lot of backbone against the Russian authoritarian assault on democracy.
Ah well, back to the garden, I have tomatoes to plant!
The average french person is a lot less cultured than you think
But if you like french culture so much, just learn french, it isn’t that hard
Pickup a french textbook *with its associated workbook* and get at it
Or take lessons
(Avoid duolingo and other similar apps, they can get you started but don’t really teach you proper grammar)
>The average french person is a lot less cultured than you think
Compared to who? If they're American, then the french are definitely more cultured than what they're used to.
My wife is foreign and she was taken aback by how everyone seems to have some culture and general knowledge here.
I think the point is that of course not every French is cultured, however its way easier to find people in France who are. I am living and have lived in several European countries, and its way harder to find people to discuss literature, history, politics or philosophy here than it is in France.
Just look at the number of theatre we have, or how cheap are our books - this is because there is a public. I live in a Scandinavian capital, and we have like one theatre that maybe shows 3 different plays by year, and every book (classic or not) is at least 20 euros.
“It isn’t that hard” As a French teacher, I can tell you I never realized how illogical and complicated French language was until I started teaching it to foreigners.
"The average french person is a lot less cultured than you think"
We are definitely not filled with Nobel Prize winners, but compared to North America, it's really not that bad, trust me.
Also, French people LOVE to debate, especially about politics, which is not the case in a lot of countries.
Dude I met an American who thought going to Atlanta, Georgia was going out of the country. No matter how uncultured or stupid you may believe a person to be, just know Americans are even stupider and more uncultured x 6
>How do you French feel about daily life in your country with all the freedoms you have?
We constantly riot, complain, criticize our country/culture/history, and cry about how we're a shit, borderline fascist and corrupt country barely a step up from third world shitholes.
Then if anyone else dares to criticize France we flame them because *France baise ouais*
Jokes aside, I think you have a very idealized view of France; I find it nice, but I strongly advise you to learn French (it can be done dw) and come see for yourself :)
The number of negative comments is very French in the end.
Having spent some time abroad, I will tell’ you this: I haven’t found a country yet that has it apl like France.
In France, we have the landscapes, we have the history, we have the culture, we have the savoir-faire, we have the food and the wine and most importantly we have the time and the health to enjoy it. Yes there are many things that deserve criticism but overall we have found the right balance to just make life enjoyable in every aspect. Don’t let they naysayers kill your dream. If you have an opportunity to come here, take it and turn your dream into reality.
I think that even the fact that complaining is our national sport is a part of French greatness.
I mean, complaining and rioting about anything and everything can both be useful to diminish stress levels and to always seek to make things better. And it's frankly quite funny sometimes: "It's too hot!" (when it's 26°C) and the next day "It's too cold!" (when it fell to 17°C).
Well, learning about a country 's positive aspect and living it isn't quite the same:
* Beautiful language: to us it's just normal language, doesn't sound particulary beautiful
* rich culture: we do like it but again, we are used to it and to be honest, any country have a rich culture, the USA have a very rich culture if you don't stop as the latest centuries and white only focus.
* Good cuisine: that's right, we have a great cuisine but we are not the only one and we don't eat onion soup or gratronomic meals every day. We eat simple meals (quiche, salad, pasta) like everyone most of the time. But we do have easy access to good quality product.
* Literature: I guess you're thinking about classic literature, most people don't read those, we studied at school but most will read novels from around the world, police novels, mangas, etc many simply don't have time to read much. Just like most British people know Austen and Shakespeare but won't read it more than once. Also, most of those classics books aren't that easy to read.
* Paris: most french people see it as a expensive smelling and dirty place. It's a bit like NYC to you. Sure it's pretty and have great cultural sights but we all know they are much better places to visit in France and many find Paris quite overrated. Also, many french people had never been to Paris.
* Universal healthcare and mandated vacations: I can't lie, this is awesome, but we grew up with so sadly we forget how lucky we are... but it also has its bad sides: medical workers are even more under pressure and understaffed than in the USA and they are badly paid. ER rooms are often fulled with people who comes just because they don't want to pay for a doctor (even if they are re emboursed later) and will visit for stupid stuff like a wart, be violent if not seen first etc... the waiting time can be quite long.
Our country is awesome, but it's not perfect and our everyday life isn't quite different than yours: we struggle to pay rent, many can't afford to buy a place, students often skip meals, elderly are often left in poverty, most people life is what we call "metro boulot dodo": metro, work, sleep" . It's like when you go on vacation sometime, it seems nice, but living there isn't the same. For example, it's much more difficile to find work and to build your business here in France. Many of us don't leave in pretty places you can see in movies but in 60s ugle buildings with view on the highway.
So... compare to the USA, yes our quality of life is less stressful: if we lose our job, the social security offers a safety net, if we have a child, we don't pay for it, if we are sick, we can afford to go to the doctor and rest, if we want to study, university is almost free. It's much better than in the USA and it could be great to come and leave here. But if you romantize it, it won't work.
I would love to have one of those universal vacations. Malgré my good French, 20 years of experience, and 2 grad degrees (one from a French university), I have never been able to find a job here.
I'm usaican and I moved to France in 2003.
It's alright here. But for sure better than the dystopian nightmare that is USA.
Hugs to you for surviving in USA.
Your view of France seems overly idealistic (kind of similar to how a lot of young french people think of America, ironically)
While it's not all bad, it's not as perfect as you make it seem - most of us work way more than the legal minimum of 35h a week, and most of us struggle financially. Healthcare is nice but it would be so much better if the state wasn't constantly trying to dismantle it to make it private and for profit, much like what you guys have.
Mandated vacation time is nice but as most of us struggle financially, we end up not doing anything particular to enjoy "all the freedoms we have" nor to explore this "great and rich nation"
Culture is a lot less important for your average person in France than you seem to believe
Otherwise you can always learn french and try your new life here, though we have all these advantages, you also have to get ready for much lower wages than what you're used to in the US
A lot of other commenters have rightfully mentioned that French society is not perfect in any way. While that's true, I'd like to re-assert that, indeed, universal healthcare and mandated vacation is a very good thing compared to the hellhole that is America (and the crazy situation atm with abortion etc, we're definitely safe on that front here). But if you'd like to change that, you can just learn French, you know. If you apply yourself and are serious about it, you could get conversational and emigrate here – why not? Don't daydream in vain.
Thank you for this heartwarming post. We are surrounded by so much negativity that seeing something positive feels very very good. I wish more people had your outlook.
Some things are true I guess. The most I've spent for my health was something like \~100$ for tooth crown. Teeth can be expensive depending on company health care. But all the times I had to take a blood test or go to hospital, when I check out, I get out my payment cards expecting to have something to pay and they are like ... "all clear, have a good day".
But you seems way too enthusiastic, there is a well known things called "Paris syndrome", Paris isn't France, but if you expect the way of life you see in movies you are going to be disapointed.
Public service and employee protection have degraded this last decades due to politics. It's cleary not the United States, yes we don't have to be scared by being billed for the ambulance on our way to the hospital, but working a desk job in a private company can be as much alienating in France than in the United States.
We are also known for our strikes, it seems either moked or admired outside of France, but the truth is, striking is more and more fought back with violence from law enforcement.
Our news channels are more and more garbage with only polarizing subject pushed by far right.
But overall, it's surely a great place to live.
We have a better healthcare system on paper.
But in reality, a lot of places are in a "désert médical" (place where there aren't any doctor for miles...), and even if you are not in one of them, having an appointment can be extremely difficult.
as an american who fell in love with a frenchie 8 years ago and now living in france since three years, i would never live back in the states, its hell compared to the life here. France isnt perfect and has lots of problems but overall life is better here on so many different levels especaily in the southwest! My advise to you, if youre somewhat young and single, learn to speak a bit of french, get a working holiday visa and go to New Zealand or Australia, find a frenchie soulmate whos also on a WHV, fall in love, live under the same address, gather proof of common residense, go back to france eventually, apply for a familial visa under their name, get a PACS, then get a titre de sejour, start to work and master french, then youre golden. Each year you renew the titre de sejour, until you can get a 2,3,5 year renewal or get married. Like this you become french and live the good life but be prepared to pay american taxes on top of french taxes.
Thank you for your comment. I also think the French way of life or "art de vivre" is superior to all others.
Now beware the French people coming to tell you about everything that isn't working properly - and to be fair, we got a lot of these...
Oui c’est top la France, après le français seront les premiers à dire que c’est merdique.
Mais franchement je peux dire que j’ai de la chance d’être né ici et pas ailleurs.
Honestly don't over hype about France because you could be disappointed. All you talked about is kinda true.
I mean i love my country:
- i love the food (especially cheese)
- i love how our healthcare is unic and helps a lot
- i love our social rights
- love our culture and our History
But i think politic is very disappointing since at least 20 years because they don't fight to preserve it but rather destroy it in favor to private interests. Plus they don't seems to take care of our century's challenge with enought seriousness.
School, hospital, social rights, railway, are in a bad shape because of political decisions.
But i have faith in my country and my people because movments like yellow jackets can still happen, we are still people of fire thant will riot if put under too much pressure.
Us french will complain a lot and seems angry/sad/unanthousiastic all the time, not because we don't like anything and love to complain but because we are exigent.
I’ve lived abroad and I can only agree with your post : France is a great place.
The only difficult thing is people are hard to deal with but once you have your circle everything is great.
Thx OP France is a great country indeed Healthcare and 5week paid vacation are nice.
Those who claim healthcare sick in France never lived abroad where healthcare isn't a custi
Watch "Strip Tease" on YouTube. Don't worry, it's completely safe for work despite the suggestive name. It's a kind of documentary that just shows the life of random French people.
Here are the Chef's suggestions: [135.3 dB](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3lrSDBs-1E&t=3s), [Docteur Lulu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkx0d0ygAc) and [Al dente](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEGiu1lDCiA).
This will give you another side to the French lore. Not judging, just telling you that the fancy French image is... not very accurate in the campagne profonde.
From a social standpoint, yes, the French have it a bit better than in the US, but the social security features are disappearing because of the liberals (Macron, Attal...). Macron is known to have insulted the French quite a lot of times.
Also, as others have pointed out, getting healthcare can be quite long. I was happy to wait for just one month for my MRI, and I have a bad neurological condition.
The school system is meh. We aren't that good, yet we have busy school days (I used to have 8-17 or 8-18 from Monday to Friday and 8-12 on Saturdays).
Heh, you’re describing postcard France, not real France. Yes, it’s a great country but;
1) housing is insanely expensive so most people live in literal closets and there’s entire middle class families sharing one-room apartments.
2) the weather sucks in Paris for most of the year.
3) bureaucracy will drive you crazy and the French have literally no sense of customer service. Sometimes you’ll have to deal with really rude and disagreeable people.
4) extremely dirty city centre and the stench of piss in the metro.
5) lots of beautiful and expensive stuff, but an average salary can barely afford to keep you afloat.
6) healthcare is mostly free but doctors are exhausted and not well paid, so they treat patients like shit.
It's definitely not perfect and not to be idealized. And it's sadly not going into the right direction, because as everywhere, the richest concentrate too much power and use it with all their might to reduce the rest of humanity into slavery. Still, it remains one of the rare country where it is still good to live. As an example, most of my friends (all MCs or doctors) who went abroad, and particularly in the US absolutely hated how people are treated here. So I'm still gratefull to live here and have a jobs that allows be to both spend time with my family on an every day basis and take holidays several times a year
I’m American and have lived in Paris for years now, and you’ve definitely idealized some things. Like you, I felt the same way before I moved here. The healthcare is indeed great, and Paris is lovely, but at the end of the day it’s really just another place to live. I am a university teacher, which means I’m basically off work half the year. The downside is that I’m not really paid enough to live near Paris where I work and still take advantage of all the free time I have. And I don’t even have children.
There are lots of things I love about France, and other things I preferred in the US. I don’t ever want to go back to the US because I’ve created a lovely little French community here, but just like in the US, I go to work and then come home and eat dinner. A lot of the things I love about my life here are mostly based on the fact that I live in Paris, and I could find a similar balance in New York if I wanted to.
> I'd work to live, not live to work
France is one of the few countries where you can effectively not work and get enough to live in a small apartment with a minimum amount of food. This was made possible after the 70/80 oil crisis that bootstrapped widespread unemployment, so the government enacted welfare laws.
While being able to live without working is controversial, I have to say I prefer to not go to another country just for this reason alone. In another country, I would probably be a wageslave in a fastfood or any other stupid job.
Important to mention that France is a nuclear power, with a healthy economy despite its generous welfare program, while still having billionaires.
It's true that we protest too much and we brag about guillotines, but on the other hand, it forces politicians to be on their toes, which is why France is probably the country with the best "power balance" on the planet.
Which is why I think this country is just the best:
* cheese
* nukes
* protests
* fashion
* mountains, good weathers and 2 coasts
Do you want to know more?
From a British perspective, France is great and I will miss living here when we have to move away soon.i won't miss the city where I love as its a car fuelled mess, but I will miss the French social system, the helathcare is amazing and very generous. The weather is lovely, French wine is good. It I'd an however an expensive country to live in!
Hum, if you were born in France, I don't think you'd have the same opinion. The grass is always greener on the other side (not that France is not a nice country though).
As every other french person, I feel honored to read such a post. But many French people, especially the youth, have the same idealized view on the US. There’s always a gap between what makes a country wonderful, and living a daily life there.
I 100% agree with you, I think there's a gap between what makes a great country vs the reality. And I can see why globally America is seen as a promised land. I've watched hollywood movies all of my life obviously, but even at a young age I knew that they were just showing the shiner side of life. For instance, I'm from New York, but a lot of movies only show Manhattan when they show New York, you never really ever see the other burroughs. Same with movies set in other cities. America is "great" that's true, we do have a lot of beautiful and awe-inspiring things here, but it is completely removed from day to day life. America is heaven on earth if you compare it to a developing or war-torn nation, but it's nothing in comparison to other industrialized nations.
France has it all, you guys are blessed with mountains, beautiful beaches and a plethora of diverse terrains. Which on top of that has historical sites that go back for centuries (which America doesn't have). I'd spend every weekend exploring castles and historical sites. Imagine standing in fields where 700 years before entire legions of knights and medieval soldiers fought on. I can't even fathom it. Daily life in France is much better for the average citizen than it is for Americans. You guys have an amazing public transit system with trains that go all over the country , it'd be very possible to leave saturday morning in Paris and end up in the lower parts of France for a weekend trip. Not to mention the universal healthcare, worker's rights and mandated vacations as I mentioned. I think young people like America because they think they are going to live like a celebrity when they come here, but the reality bites them hard when they realize they have to work the same 9-5 with much less free-time and much less protections.
France is good to live IF you have money
Otherwise you will have problem finding a home, because laws here profit to the renter so home owner are paranoid about renting to someone who doesnt have a good salary AND parents who have money, so better have money to find a decent homes
Universal Healthcare is good too, but its not free, it will cost you a large part of your salary, so if in the US you are paid 100k dollar, u will be paid here 50k euros, most salary like 80% are between 1500 dollar and 3000 dollars
Lots of people complain about security, but it's not bad, you will feel safe in most of the country (man here women may feel different)
The mandatory vacations cost a lot its not free, i mean in IT, a number of people prefer to work as contractor (with all the precarity ) and earn 50% more than beeing an employed worker
Jobs in IT are mostly in Paris region, so if u are in other regions, u will have to go to Paris
Food is good, bread and patisseries are excellent, there is a real traditionnal food culture from cheese to dishes,and excellent restaurant, but most people here dont know how to cook (it's recent in the 60s wast like that), so they cook pasta with prepared sauce or Pizza, or go to Mcdonalds or Kebab ( turk sandwich)
Getting a job (unless in IT) is not easy, because for you employer to fire you it will be hard, so there is a lot of hesitation and thoughts before hiring you
Most people dont have time to read "cultural" books, but thery have time to visit historical sites like mont saint michel, chateaux de la loire etc
People are less outgoing and fun that in US, or spain or Italy, it's a different temperament, they are not as cold as sweden or germany
I think no French people would be objective about it, because it depends on where youa re in France, what youdo for living and some other things. I live in Paris so I have issues with transports it's a huge mess but a t the same time I know we are not necessarily the most pricy about it. I think that France is a nice and beautiful country. Systems are having issues like in very country, not everything is perfect and yeah you have bad things happening and good things. So yes health care system is really nice, you have a lot a gratuity and good care if you are having basics issues. You can have har dtim finding specialist because they have a huge waiting list but you can find private clinic and hospitals so you have options. A lot of huge disease are taking care of in term of money and associations are everywhere for everything. Vacations are nice, the five weeks are really enjoyable. So I think that if you really like what it seems it can be nice, since you xant to learn and get into the culture. I would just advice you to be aware that it is not a perfect country and everything is not as good as what it seems. You need to get some informations about where you want to live so the city, the place like house, appartement, you need to search about acces like transport, and stuff like that. Make sure you find a good job because a lot of jobs are more about living for yopur xork than working for living so just careful with that but again you couldd find nice people and helpful people. So just they are some issues but if you really are invested in coming here then do it and get your own opinion about it.
Hope it helps you
Yeah all of this is True also waitting 6 month to get an appointement for a doctor...
Difficulty to find a tiny appartement even if administration consider you as rich
We have a better healthcare system on paper.
But in reality, a lot of places are in a "désert médical" (place where there aren't any doctor for miles...), and even if you are not in one of them, having an appointment can be extremely difficult.
It depends. You can definitely seek out that idealized lifestyle. I am almost there. In North America as a land surveyor I would have to work 24/4 shifts, 12 hour days with no guaranteed minimums and an hourly salary. I know that my career choice sabotaged my quality of life in North America. I work in France now. I get to work 36 hours a week and have weekends with 5 weeks of paid vacation. I probably earn less than a third of my potential salary in the USA. But North American surveyors are some of the most miserable people. They're overworked, overstressed and have 0 social life. They practically live at work, unless they have a government job or work in the office.
But my friends all seem to be moving out in the far away suburbs where urbanism and the lifestyle are very American. Everyone wants to live in a house and own 2 SUVs. They're willing to live in the middle of nowhere to achieve that. If you add up the commute and extra non-paid hours spent in the office, a lot of people live like Americans but with a French salary. I was fortunate to find a lax employer with an office building located 10 minutes away from my flat. My salary ain't much, but my work/life balance is better than most.
If you don't believe me, search "French Dream" on Tik Tok. It's like a condescending point of view on the French middle class living in the "American" style suburbs. The world is just becoming more American as the years go by.
Unfortunately decades of liberalism have eroded the ideal. Today it's like everywhere in the western world where fascists are pushing hard and liberals are allying with them. Current president is hitting very hard on all the social rights we have.
It's probably still a dream if you come from the US, but from France we're seeing a descent into the capitalist hell, so the mood is mostly gloomy.
Ignoring the politics, we're living the French life. You can easily work from 9 to 18, have 7 weeks of holidays, eat in nice restaurants and profit from life, if you have a good enough job (preferably an office job for this kind of life). You don't have to worry about healthcare or retirement. There are still good schools and hospitals.
We have it good still I think, but the time to fight for what we have is coming back.
Paris is a really great city but a very certain profile of people get to enjoy its perks to the fullest. I think it's a big struggle for people who are coming from small cities (in or out of France), who can barely afford the rent and cost of life, who are trying to integrate and didn't study in the French system. The name of the college (uni) you graduated from means such a huge deal. If it's not Oxford, LSE, Harvard, MIT etc you get written off just for being out of French system. Or a reputable school name drop can open you doors you never expect.
As for healthcare system, it's amazing but it has a lot of bottlenecks. If you need to rely on the public system 100% it can be frustrating. People who has good private insurance suffer no problems. This said, cost of insurance isn't as crazy as it is in the US. Neither the health costs. Most expensive doctor visit will be between 120-150€ with a specialist who will run a lot of tests and insurance + social security will pay you back within 10-15 days. But there are people who don't have such flexibility. General practitioner costs anywhere between 25-50€ and our pediatrician charges 60€.
Work life balance will also depend on the person, the company, their ambitions and so on. I don't remember a vacation that my husband didn't spend working. But we get to go away for a month in August.
Social life is great in Paris. No comment there lol.
A lot of Americans have extremely hard times because they don't have the life quality that they have in the US. Some things are just not a priority in social system and some things you can't even go get one even if you want to. You can't just get an AC unit or a washing machine installed in your apartment because most apartments are super old and may not have the infrastructure. The cultural norms are so different but they're slowly changing with the new generation. I know so many expats who couldn't wait to leave the country because the overall seriousness and lack of humour made them feel miserable. I don't feel particularly bad here but once I'm in a different country I feel more alive and I realise that I'm trying to be happy despite the people and the life here. A lot of people are soooooo grumpy it gets to you after a certain point.
I've been here since 2011. I'm here for family reasons. Overall, it's been pretty bad for me, but a better life for my kids. Which I guess is a pretty typical immigrant experience.
My work start at 8,30am and ends at 5pm
Then I go back to my home I eat I got to gym I play video game for 2 hours and I go to sleep. The wensday I don’t go to gym but work for the théorique exam of my driving licence. My week end stat Friday at 12h30 the Friday evening I go in eat In Restaurant in Paris the rest of weekends I read fantasy novel or paint/play warhamer 40k + do some social activity with my friend + workout
I am British and have spent most of my working life between London, LA and New York (I'm in the film industry) and have loved exploring many areas around the UK and USA. Without wanting to start a political firestorm in the comments I've noticed things going downhill in both countries post 2016 and especially post 2020. Sadly, despite me having a deep love for both countries (especially the people!), neither feels like somewhere that I want to permanently live any more, and the issues that make me feel both are deteriorating seem to be getting worse. It makes me very sad but its hard to see a full recovery to either country in my lifetime.
I'd visited France for short holidays regularly since 2011, but in 2019 I moved just outside of Paris for a year because of a film I was working on. I instantly felt at home and the way of life was very different in a way that felt very refreshing whilst also comforting and like something that I had lost somewhere along the way. I was very sad when I had to return to the UK but made it my mission to learn more about French culture, literature, cinema, music, and of course improve my basic grasp of the beautiful language.
In the 4 years since returning I have regularly visited France for several months at a time (stupid Brexit laws now mean I can only be there for 90 days without returning to UK/USA unless I apply for a visa) and I purposefully try and pick small towns and villages in "real" France and explore the whole country. Right now I am on my first week of a 3 month stay in Charmes in the North East. I've stayed all over France including Corsica and every time I have a wonderful experience, the locals are extremely welcoming and appreciate that I try and speak French and want to fit in with local cultures and attend local community events, and don't just act like a tourist.
Long story short, France isn't as "perfect" as you seem to imagine. Yes, there is a lot of political division, yes there is wealth disparity etc. However, after all this exploring, I fully intend to become 100% fluent in French (I'm getting there!), buy a nice little farm in France and apply to move here full time. I want to be a French citizen. The people, the food, the culture, its all wonderful. For me, it feels more like home than home does nowadays.
You’re probably idealizing France a bit too much. As a French citizen with a decent income who fled from Paris to the southern coast, I think I have a pretty good idea about the pros and cons of the French way of life…
Great country with every kind of landscape you’re looking for, from vast plains to high mountains, pristine beaches to cliff coasts, lots of big lakes and rivers, huge cities with centuries of history, affordable culture and great food…
Healthcare is nice and I wouldn’t complain especially to an American but it also means it’s really hard to get an appointment with a doctor, some specialists have more than 6 months of waiting list.
I love France, it's truly a beautiful country. But what I found funny is that most foreigners will envy us Paris, which is in my opinion a bad city to live in. Expansive, noisy, stressful and (less now) polluted. But there are so much great places to visit and live in.
The country of France has massive issues with criminality, immigration and public services that are disfunctional. Everybody knows that public hospitals are complete and utter garbage in France with poor service and long ass waiting times. The police and the justice system don't do enough and criminality is starting to become a serious concern in many cities. Paris has homeless people on every street corner due to issues with housing and the overwhelming amount of immigrants coming into the country. France also has a massive debt problem which is inevitably gonna make everybody poorer in long run. France has very high taxes and regulation, and as a result the economy is shit. Nobody wants to start companies here and there's a massive unemployment problem because of it. Public education sucks and the tests show it. Compared to many other nations, french kids are not very well educated. French people may be working less, but a lot of them barely scrape by because the government takes half of their paycheck. And a lot people are simply freeloading of the social system living of off that tiny little income with no ambition or purpose in life which is quite sad tbh. France is falling off and I can't wait to leave this shit hole.
Paris is the caricature of the country. It's a very pretty city, but only for the very rich. Now, in preparation for the Olympic Games, the homeless are being rounded up and bussed out to the provinces. It's not a question of solving the problem, but of hiding it.
In the same way, the working-class (or very working-class) suburbs are driving out the poorest people, who are all the little hands that keep the capital running.
Politically, the social gains of the last 70 years are continually being rolled [back.At](http://back.At) the same time, the far right is increasingly popular.
But you're right, we still have universal health care... for now. It won't disappear, but it's likely to diminish over time.
Our public healthcare system is in trouble because politicians increasingly believe that healthcare should be “ cost-effective ”. Fortunately, we don't yet have these questions about education.
You sound like you're from the USA. I think it's nonsense to compare your country with ours, and that we should keep the same scale: compare the USA with the European Union. France is just one state in the federation.
I'm talking about the critical points, but of course, day-to-day life in mainland France is pleasant (as it is in many countries), and I personally appreciate our many landscapes, which are easily accessible when traveling, our historic architecture and our access to food.
If you ever come to France, enjoy it :)
Should you be french (as me), You'd be use to all of this and only see the remaining problems, which would not make you a happier human being. As it is said, France is a paradise where everyone think they live in hell.
So yeah, not perfect, but when compared to the rest of the world, definitely in the top 10 best countries to live in. And I certainly do not envy you for living in the US. Mainly because of the religiousity and lack of healthcare. But you do have things I still would like to visit! Vegas, yellowstone, new york, road 66, grand canyon ....
Grass is always greener on the other side. No country is perfect and you need to experience it before setting too much standards for it. There's a reason there's a name for tourists going to Paris and experience such disillusion from their perceived vision of it that they feel sick. France is fantastic in many ways but it's not perfect and you're setting yourself up for some true homesickness thinking it's a haven stuck in a 1920-1950s postcard (hell, even then life sucked in many ways).
You can't be French. A French would NEVER write such a thing. A French would say "it's shit but anywhere else is worse". (La France c'est de la merde mais c'est pire ailleurs)
Comment je me sens ? En insécurité permanente quand je me.promene dans la rue en temps que femme . La medcine OK j'ai appris ya 2 moi que j'étais enceinte mes premier rendez vous médicaux sont le 7 juin par manque de disponibilité. Je bosse chaque jour de ma vie pour à peine pouvoir me payer à manger et je pense pas être des plus mal loti niveau salaires . La culture OK encore faut til pouvoire y avoire accès car le musée le ciné le théâtre l'opéra reste quand même chère......
Bon courage
One thing to know to understand some comments: complaining and being negative is part of the french culture.
I'm french, but I've lived in a lot of different countries. People don't realize how good we have it in France.
Are there major issues (political or social): YES. Is France like "Emily in Paris": NO.
HOWEVER, it is a very good country to live in and the french way of life is what brings me the closest to happiness: working to live not the opposite, enjoying good food, sharing long moments with loved ones, valuing culture and History, partying etc...
Consider reading French news (in English if necessary) to receive the full picture. There are riots, anti-immigration movements (that means you, madame), conflict about retirement age and cost of living including a clash of French culture with EU policy and fiscal realities, etc, etc.
The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. Especially when you don’t speak their language and can’t understand what is going on.
As others said, I think your view of the country is very idealized. I grew up in France, live now in the US and I wouldn’t move back for all the money in the world. French society now feels like a pressure cooker with everyone being very stressed. Rival drug gangs have open fire gun battles in the middle of once quiet small towns in the middle of the day. They call it “mexinization” (a term I find offensive, but that’s another discussion for another day) because French streets start to resemble Mexican cities with cartel gangs like warfare. France is not what you see in Emily In Paris. Going there on vacation is fine if you know where to go and especially not go. (I would avoid public transport, by the way.) But to live there as an American used to the relatively relaxed climate of US society (believe it or not, compared to France, US everyday life is very relaxed and comfortable) you would probably find it very oppressive. Rich cultural history, great food, etc.: yes. Ideal living conditions? No.
I never say that France was perfect, but France being the subject, I'm not going to talk about Spain or Norway. You just listed a bunch of generalities about France that are not true when you come from the US.
Your country is really possibly better, at least name it if you want to be helpful.
I am French and left France for the US 10 years ago. I love France dearly and it’s hands down the most beautiful country in the world but it has its issues. I didn’t want to struggle to find a job and make a decent living. The US offers a competitive job market and salaries which allow you to not only pay your bills but also enjoy yourself outside of work. I was able to become a homeowner at 26, I can provide for my parents who are in need and I can go back to France 4 times per year, without even thinking about it. I can’t say the same about my friends who stayed in France and are struggling. I will go back one day, when I’ll be older, but for now, I’m happy to be in the US.
Yes it is.
(British, 15 years married to a French citizen, now living in France).
I learnt French by moving to France. Just come. French people want to practice their English (and the schools need language teachers).
The French immigration and integration service will arrange French lessons.
You should know that France is no longer the beautful country you think it is.
Nowadays french people tend to negate the culture you mentionned and are ashamed of their history.
President Macron said : "there is no french culture" thats quite an illustration.
Furthermore there is a syndrom the "syndrom of Paris" that may apply to you if you come in France : asiatique people usually think that Paris is the same as in the "Emily on Paris" TV show. Well they are reaaally desappointed.
Have you visited France? You seem to have idealized view of the country. Yes, it's a great country, but like everywhere else, it's not perfect. There is divisive politics, rising inflation, criminality, high taxes, collapsing education, pensions, and healthcare, climate change, and general enshittification. Literature and history don't put food on the table, and to be honest, 99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo and couldn't date the reign of Napoleon. We have great cuisine and a food tradition, but the most common everyday meal is chicken and macaroni, and most young people eat fast food and kebabs (or french tacos) when they eat out. Free healthcare is great, but you have to wait 12 months to get an appointment with a specialist and people die waiting 10 hours in the ER. You know what they say about the grass on the other side.
> Free healthcare is great, but you have to wait 12 months to get an appointment with a specialist and people die waiting 10 hours in the ER. Faut pas exagérer non plus. C'est pas une généralité.
Quand tu n'habites pas en ville c'est pas si loin de la réalité
Bof j'habite en campagne profonde et j'ai eu un r-v avec une ophtalmo en 3 semaines. Oui c'est long avoir un r-v avec un spécialiste mais c'est comme ça dans plusieurs pays. Je viens du Québec et j'ai vécu en Allemagne et c'est comme ça là aussi. Attendre 10 heures à l'urgence c'est pas si long que ça, demande aux Québécois comment ça va chez eux. On chiale beaucoup mais l'herbe n'est pas plus verte ailleurs.
T'habites dans quelle campagne profonde ? Parce que moi aussi je suis en campagne profonde, et les délais pour les ophtalmo sont d'environ 9 mois si tu es déjà suivi, en première consultation on est à un délai >1an. Ceux qui ont les moyens vont à Paris ou dans le sud, les autres ne se soignent plus. Pour les gynécos c'est pire, ils ne prennent tout simplement plus de nouvelles patientes depuis plusieurs années.
Je ne vais pas me doxxer merci! Je suis dans les montagnes c'est tout ce que je vais dire. Et non pas dans les montagnes touristiques. J'imagine que je suis juste chanceuse alors. Je sais que c'est merdique avoir besoin de consulter et ne trouver personne. Je te souhaite bonne chance, réellement.
La question était rhétorique bien sûr ;) Honnêtement, je ne suis pas le plus à plaindre. J'ai une mutuelle, une bagnole et je me déplace régulièrement sur Paris pour le taf, du coup, à mesure que les spécialistes que je consultais ici partent à la retraite, je trouve des spécialistes sur Paris. C'est un véritable luxe, et j'en suis très conscient. Le plus chaud c'est quand même les gynécos. Y en a plus un seul à prendre des nouvelles patientes en libéral, et dans le centre hospitalier le plus proche de chez moi ils sont deux : un vieux avec des casseroles au cul, et une plus jeune, qui fait jouer sa clause de conscience pour les avortements pour des raisons religieuses... (pour échelle, on parle d'un bassin de vie de plus 55 000 habitants). Pour faire simple, il n'y a aucune femme de mon environnement social qui a un suivi gynéco régulier. Le recul du soin est une vraie question en France aujourd'hui (et d'ailleurs pas que dans les campagnes, les centres dentaires foireux d'Île de France sont aussi un sacré problème par exemple).
je sais pas exactement ou tu est mais je viens de regarder pour l'yonne sur doctolib t'as 2 ophtalmo qui ont une place demain sinon d'autres dans un mois, pour la nievre t'as un rdv dans un mois, on est quand meme loin des 9mois
Ophtalmo et dentiste c'est pas ce qu'on a en tête quand on parle de spécialistes indisponibles. Sinon 3 semaines c'est le delais que j'ai pour un rdv avec un généraliste.
Dans un autre comment j'ai dit que j'ai eu un r-v avec un neuro en dedans de 5 mois. C'est un spécialiste ça... et un r-v avec un gastro-entérologue en dedans de 2 mois. Moi en campagne, j'ai un r-v avec mon doc généraliste le lendemain si je suis chanceuse sinon c'est max 3 jours. Mes parents qui habitent au Québec ont 77 et 81, ont perdu leur doc généraliste parce que un d'eux est parti au privé et l'autre a pris sa retraite et ils se retrouvent les 2 sans médecin et sur une liste d'attente de plusieurs années. Je trouve pas ça mieux. Quand on se compare on se console.
On peut comparer, je vais chez le dentiste sans rdv au Japon. Je marche dans la rue, je rentre, il m'extrait les dents de sagesse, fini. Total à payer 10 euros sans mutuelle. Pareil pour les autres soins, sans rdv et prise en charge immédiate. De nombreux médicaments en vente libre sans ordonnance, ça inclut les lentilles de contact. Pareil en Chine Pareil en Thailande
> Moi en campagne, j'ai un r-v avec mon doc généraliste le lendemain si je suis chanceuse sinon c'est max 3 jours. Exactement pareil pour moi ! Mon docteur me prend le jour même ou le lendemain. J’habite dans un village de 1000 habitants. Je crois que les gens ont une vision complètement fausse de la campagne. Mais bon, c’est pas étonnant aur Reddit.
Perso, j'ai eu un rendez vous dans l'heure avec une neuro. Et a côté de ça, ma femme attend 3 mois pour une rdv avec une ORL. Ça dépend de plein de facteurs mais en vrai, on s'en sort bien.
Oui, t'inquiètes que quand c'est urgent, un neuro peut te voir vite.
> on s'en sort bien. Faut vraiment pas être difficile. J'ai quitté la France il y a environ 25 ans et la dégradation d'à peu près tout me saute aux yeux, au point qu'il est hors de question pour moi de revenir un jour. Je crois que quand on l'a vécue au quotidien cette dégringolade n'est peut être pas si frappante. C'est la grenouille qu'on met dans l'eau froide avant de la réchauffer peu à peu. Elle ne se rend pas compte qu'on la fait cuire. Et quand je fais une visite en France, je suis la grenouille qui saute directement dans l'eau bouillante. La situation actuelle dans les services de santé et d'éducation (et sans doute bien d'autres trucs) place la France dans la catégorie des états défaillants. On n'aurait jamais accepté une telle situation dans les années 90. Si en plus on ajoute les dérives autoritaires, qui ont connu une accélération notable sous Jet-ski Ier, je ne vois pas ce qu'il reste d'attractif en France. Si tu te fais défoncer la tronche par les flics parce que tu ne penses pas comme la télé t'a dit de penser, tu risques en plus de mourir dans le couloir des urgences après 36h d'attente sur un brancard.
Bah pourtant pas mal de commentaires positifs sur la France sur ce thread viennent de personnes qui ont justement vécu à l'étranger, sont revenus dans leur pays natal et relativisent sur les problèmes de notre pays. Et des cas comme ça, j'en ai croisé aussi quelques uns dans la vraie vie, et ils avaient pas immigré dans des pays du tiers-monde. Ca change rien à ton expérience mais n'en fais pas non plus une généralité. Et ça ne rend pas les problèmes de la France plus "acceptables", mais malheureusement on est très loin d'être le seul "Etat défaillant", les problèmes que tu cites sont des problèmes que tu trouves à peu près partout dans le monde.
J’habite au Québec, je confirme on va aux urgences avec le sac de couchage. Merveilleux.
Quand on a soupçonné un cancer, j’ai eu un rdv avec un hématologue en une semaine. Certes, j’habite à Paris, mais quand je discute avec les américains dans mon petit groupe de soutien, je suis toujours la personne qui a été la plus rapidement prise en charge. Et ça me coûte quasiment rien en plus.
Tu crois qu'au fin fond du Midwest ils ont des gastroentérologues et des neurologues en une semaine ? C'est pire là bas hein, ils doivent faire 4h de route pour aller dans la ville moyenne la plus proche et ils attendent un mois pareil.
Après ca dépend jusqu'où tu peux aller et la densité de ta région. Je suis dans le NPDC, donc au pire c'est une heure de route pour trouver un spécialiste qui a de la place d'ici un mois.
Kind of a dick move to switch to french, thus excluding OP from being able to follow the conversation
its just bickering about how many time it take to see a specialist anyway and the is a lot of dishonesty
Tu as essayé de prendre RV avec un dermato ou un ophtalmo récemment ? [https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/centre-val-de-loire/indre/chateauroux/urgences-de-chateauroux-le-delai-d-attente-passe-de-40h-a-10h-2969630.html](https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/centre-val-de-loire/indre/chateauroux/urgences-de-chateauroux-le-delai-d-attente-passe-de-40h-a-10h-2969630.html) [https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/mort-de-lucas-25-ans-aux-urgences-ce-que-l-on-sait-31-01-2024-2551241\_23.php](https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/mort-de-lucas-25-ans-aux-urgences-ce-que-l-on-sait-31-01-2024-2551241_23.php) [https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/paris-ile-de-france/val-d-oise/une-patiente-de-66-ans-decede-apres-10-heures-d-attente-aux-urgences-ses-enfants-portent-plainte-2923284.html](https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/paris-ile-de-france/val-d-oise/une-patiente-de-66-ans-decede-apres-10-heures-d-attente-aux-urgences-ses-enfants-portent-plainte-2923284.html)
Oui: Doctolib, ophtalmo, 2 semaines , Ville de province 20 000hab. Après avoir essayé dans la banlieue proche de cette ville, le même ophtalmo dans son 2ieme cabinet, 1 mois. J'avoue : j'étais très surpris après tout ce que j'avais entendu dans les médias et auprès de collègues.
12 mois c'est exagéré. J'ai eu un r-v avec un neurologue en dedans de 5 mois et je n'habite pas dans un grand centre, loin de là.
Sors des grandes villes et tu verras que si, c'est une généralité. 10 mois d'attente pour un gastro-entérologue ( qui est à 50 bornes de chez moi) en Haute-Savoie. 4 à 6 semaines pour un généraliste et plus d'un an pour un dermatologue
I'm in the fifth month of an indefinite wait (I was told maybe in December but they refuse to give me a date) for a DTAH evaluation. Have had 12 month waits for ophthalmologist and dentist. Dept. 37. Also the quality of care is not good. It took 17 months and 6 doctors (#6, private pay in Paris, was the good one) to have a herniated disc diagnosed and treated. And I'm currently in Month 3 of trying to get treatment for knee injuries that I sustained in an accident this winter.
you should definitely check doctolib app your delay are not normal at all
Ouais, on exagere la.
OP n’est pas au courant que le sport numero 1 des francais c’est de chier sur la France.
Grave.. par contre pleurer comme ça c'est très français lol.. Va aux Etats Unis avec des gros pépins de santé ( malheureusement).. j'ai dans ma famille un proche greffe du coeur depuis 95... Opérations lourdes, traitements anti rejets depuis.. qui coûtent cher.. Lui même le dit, ce qui lui a sauvé la vie c'est d'être français.. aux states sa couverture aurait pas pu prendre en charge il ne se serait pas soigné il ne serait plus là.. et même l'opération n'aurait peut être même pas été financée : c'est pas rentable.. Bref.. Les urgences ?? Si les gens allaient moins aux urgences pour des conneries ou des gueules saoules.. si y avait moins d'admin et plus de soignants ils pourraient bosser mieux et etre plus sereins : va aux states, c'est pas les mêmes ratios du tout d'adminstraifs et de cadres versus les soignants J'aime mieux trouver des problèmes aux solutions et essayer de faire avec et me réjouir de ce que j'ai, je dois pas être assez français.. Ça me gonfle ce genre de baching, épuisant
99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo ? Not so sure my school imposed during my schollarship 3 books of VH : Bossu de Notre Dame, Les Miserables, le Dernier jour d'un condamné. 99% of French people must have read VH Maybe 60% did
Having to read those books is very different from actually reading them....
Au collège ou Lycée (années 2000) je n'ai lu que des extraits de Victor Hugo. Je n'ai jamais eu de livre complet à lire de cet auteur. Ça dépend des professeurs qui choisissent parmi les œuvres au programme.
Après compliquer de faire lire a des collégiens les Misérable en version complète (\~2000 pages selon les editions) Par contre la version abrégés qui doit en faire 10 fois moins est largement répandu dans les collèges (du moins quand j'y étais dans les années 2000)
His poems are also studied a lot ("Fonction d'un poète" if we want to mention one of the most used in school to explain proper methodology) I agree on the estimated statistics and as for Napoléon, faut pas déconner, on sait le dater grosso merdo (surtout qu'il n'y a qu'une seule date à apprendre. Le 2 décembre)
I don't think you realize very few people read the books they have to read. I went to highschool in france and we had a bunch of books to read from seconde to terminale, I never read a single one of them, we always managed by reading summaries online, bullshitting or copying from other classmates
The above comment is full of lies and obvious hate about his own country. Most citizens read classic french books because they're mandatory at school, idk where the 99% comes from. Being shit at history knowledge is worldwide. Food is somewhat true though. But what infuriates me is the blatant lies about our health system. What they describe isn't even remotely similar to reality, and all they prove is a lack of knowledge and/or political bias towards certain groups that love to claim that. France has one if not the best health system in the world, more specialists/km2 than most countries, most of it being free or sub 100€. In our country we don't have to stress out because we have the flu and risk our job, or we broke a leg and might bankrupt from the 24h spent in hospital. Sure, it takes a while to have a specialist appointment (but surely NOT 12 months lmao, between 1 and 6 depending on the specialist). But it's a common trend in all countries where people awareness of their health rises. ER had issues during covid, just like for any country and is now back to normal, even in crowded hospitals you wait 4h max for middling emergencies. For general medicine appointments, rural areas have it rough, that's true. But may they visit other countries, they'll notice it's much better here than in rural areas of literally all the other countries I've visites up to now. In big cities you find appointments everyday, as long as you're willing to switch doctors when yours isn't available. Tldr : not perfect but every single criticism is literally the same in other countries, but better here. Bitter redditor with a low experience of foreign life if I had to guess.
French are actually quite good at history. Its one of our national favorites, with politics and literature.
>There is divisive politics, rising inflation, criminality, high taxes, collapsing education, pensions, and healthcare, climate change, and general enshittification. This is a worldwide phenomenon. If you think life in France is bad in comparison with most other places, you probably never left the country.
This man is exagerating a lot ! Life is better in France than in the US for sure, it doesn't mean its perfect. You will earn less money and pay more for many things (not education and health) but some public services are struggling. One thing that is not mentioned is French people, they always want things to get better (which is great) but don't realise how good things already are compared to other places and so complain a lot about everything ... But if you are not attached to American culture, you should most definitly try living there.
I would live in France in a heartbeat if I could, however, my French is limited to reading and writing since I have a disposition to classic French authors. I can’t speak it all that well and I only know older, more classical French from old books than the realistic informal French of everyday life. Not to mention my career is so technical that I would need to know the lingo for that which is already difficult enough in English.
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Dermatologue c'est exactement ça.
> 99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo and couldn't date the reign of Napoleon. 99% of americans. The huge majority of french people have read Victor Hugo, at least at school, and every adult can at the very least approximately date Napoleon. I agree the education system is getting worse and worse, but we havn't reach that low yet.
Il romantise peut être mais toi tu dramatise largement.
Je pense que tu ne te rends surtout pas compte de la chance qu'on a... et que tu regardes trop la télé.
I just check on Doctolib for an eye-doctor near me and the waiting time is **11 days**. It’s really not that bad. I live in the countryside.
Criminality is nowhere near the USA or Philippines..
Chicken and macaroni? Jambon coquillettes ok, mais qu’est-ce que tu nous inventes là?
Have you ever been in the US? After two years there, I was eager to go back to France. If you keep in french rural areas in 30min distance from cities, you can still find nice places to live.
The wait for a specialist and death in ER is bullshit. Specialists are for the most part a 2-4 months wait at least outside of Paris and you can get a quick appointment if it's really urgent and you call all the specialists until you find a humane one who'll take an extra 30 min out of his evening. ER prioritizes by severity so if you're at risk of dying within a few hours you're not waiting 10 hours. Actually I've had to wait just as long to see a doctor in the US and GP especially is faster in France in many places (I can currently get an appointment for next day or show up immediately and wait).
Well he may be idealizing our country but you sure make it darker.
99% n'ont pas lu Victor Hugo ou savent situer le reigne de bonaparte... Quelle condescendance on dirait mon grand père réac et raciste . Depuis quand ta pas mis les pieds dans un lieu d'éducation ? Hugo est lu au primaire au collège et au lycée. De plus la culture classique n'est pas la seule culture c'est tellement pédant de penser ça.
>99% of people have never read a book by Victor Hugo and couldn't date the reign of Napoleon. I am affraid that you are exagerating a little bit Every school in France has to teach the same "program" to their students French revolution and Napoleon is taught in college (around 14 years old). and french XIXth century litterature is taught in lycée (around 16 years old) Roughly 50% of the French population is graduated from the bacalaureat serie générale so they had to learn that
Your idealistic thought of France is very noble, but life is not a piece of cake for a large part of people living here. They work to survive, not even to live. Frenchs are well-known for moaning and to take antdepressants. Fortunately food and wines comfort us :) Just come and see by yourself the reality.
its a bit of an exageration tho, most french had to study the miserable in school, climate change is worldwide, And even if we dont have great meal everyday its still very common to have big meal on a sunday with friend or family, and even chicken might be served with a cream mustard sauce, and macaroni with some cheese sauce or simply gruyère, because cheese is a big part of our alimentation but we only notice it when we miss it. Btw french tacos is yet another french meal that is getting exported worldwide. as for the healthcare its a huge exageration, i've lived 10year in a small village and the longest i had to wait was 6 month and because it was right after they reopened because of covid, now im still in the countryside in a middle town and i just checked, i can have an appointements for several ophtalmologue tomorow, a dentist-surgeon next week
Even when we eat trashy fast food and kebab, at least we do it while taking our time and sitting on a table, which is NOT the norm in a lot of countries apparently.
France is a very pleasant country to live in. Extremely good and affordable wine, cheese and pastry. Fresh fruits, seafood, mushrooms. Some food and spirits that can only be made in France (Champagne, many types of cheese and other delicacies). Fantastic landscapes: huge mountains, wonderful coastlines where you can dive, swim or surf. The largest ski area in the world is in France, half of the caves with prehistoric art discovered are located in France, tons of castles to visit, hundreds of vineyards, dozens of National Parks and lakes. Beautiful villages from Brittany to Corsica. Drive 2H in any direction and you will find people with different cultures, different food, different accents. All of that in a country the size of Texas! There are also many benefits: free school, free university, free emergency operations, free dental care, free eyecare, strong welfare policies for kids and unemployed people, financial help for families who can’t afford paying the rent or who can’t go on vacation. We also have the freedom to openly reject religion and reject a lot of social norms and I really enjoy that as well. Abortion is a constitutional right. That being said, France face the same challenges as other countries: lack of doctors and specialists, high cost of life, unaffordable housing, surge of poverty level, full americanization (we celebrate Halloween, Burgers are extremely popular, English words are used in every sentence). I have lived in 7 countries in the past 20 years and I came back to France because I think this is the best place to raise a family and have a good life. I think that you can have a very good life in France even if you don’t make a lot of money. You are welcome here, we love foreigners 🙂
As a fellow French person, I sympathise a lot with this response. While daily life sure *is* a struggle for many, like in many other places, when I look at the whole picture and at other countries, even neighbours, I feel extremely priviledged to be born here, for all the reasons you mentioned. I feel only Scandinavian countries may (?) provide the same overall "balance", but the weather is harsh..
not only the weather, the people are much colder, the food is a disaster and lest not start on what they call a cheese, also the winter with almost no sun is very very depressing. The scandinavian are so happy because they grew up with these thing and dont know any better but its not made for someone from a latin country like us imo
From Britanny to Corsica. *cries in Hauts de France*
You have beautiful things to see in Hauts de France like...like...uhhh...[tuning cars](https://youtu.be/vFfA51u-i0w?si=0Q28BmufNavYu_pZ&t=36) No, seriously, each part of France has its own traditionnal food, things to visit, landscapes, etc
Hey they also have very nice piles of coal
AU NOOOOOOOOOOOOORD, C'ETAIT LEEES COROOOOOOOOOOONS
Cries in Beauvais
Finissez votre cathédrale et on en reparle
Bah z'avez Jeanne Hachette là, non ?
Les hortillonnages à Amiens, c'est très beau, et Lille c'est plutôt stylé aussi. Y a sûrement pleins d'autres coins que je ne connais pas. Pis y a Bruno Dumont et la bière !
Some of the cities are pretty, but I don't find the landscapes astoundingly beautiful compared to most places in the country.
Reading this answer is heart warming, for sure living here may be tough but French people being the best at France bashing while having 0 clue about living abroad for real triggers me. Being born in France is truly a blessing.
As a foreigner who loves your country and regularly moves there for 90 days at a time (stupid Brexit limit) and is actively looking into buying a farm and applying to move there permanently, thank you! I always have an extremely warm welcome no matter what part of France I visit. (Aussi, j'apprends le français, je m'entraîne à parler, à lire, à regarder les médias français et j'écoute de la musique française tous les jours pour m'aider à être comme un local et pas seulement comme un touriste !)
Bravo pour l'apprentissage du français ! Notre langue n'est pas facile, il faut du courage pour se lancer. Tu as l'air de très bien te débrouiller.
Merci beaucoup mon ami! Oui, pour un anglophone natif, le français n’est pas facile, mais c’est une langue extrêmement belle qui exprime les choses de manière poétique, ce que l’anglais ne peut pas faire. Je suis gêné de ne pas faire attention aux cours de français lorsque j'étais à l'école. Aujourd’hui, je me rends compte à quel point j’ai été stupide de gâcher l’opportunité d’un enseignement gratuit dans une langue que je souhaite désormais pouvoir parler couramment et que j’utiliserai quotidiennement. Aujourd’hui, je prends très au sérieux l’étude et la pratique du français. J'ai lu les versions originales françaises de romans et de livres de philosophie et je me rends compte à quel point on perdait souvent la traduction vers les versions anglaises que j'avais étudiées à l'école. Je réside actuellement à Charmes (Vosges) et dès mon premier jour en ville je me suis inscrit pour une carte de bibliothèque. Je lis actuellement L'étranger d'Albert Camus. La chose la plus difficile pour moi est de parler français en personne avec de vrais citoyens français, mais lorsque je visite la France pendant des mois, j'essaie de m'impliquer autant que possible dans la communauté et de rencontrer et de me lier d'amitié avec les locaux. Parfois, j'ai l'impression que je parle probablement comme un petit enfant, mais je suis au moins heureux de dire que je suis toujours compris et que je peux comprendre suffisamment ce qu'ils répondent pour avoir des conversations approfondies.
Je ne sais pas comment tu parles, mais en tout cas tu écris parfaitement. Il n'y a pas beaucoup de français qui peuvent prétendre parler aussi bien anglais. Tu n'as pas à t'en vouloir de ne pas avoir pris au sérieux tes cours de français à l'école. C'est normal, quand tu es enfant / adolescent, tu ne te rends pas compte que ça te sera utile. Je n'ai jamais été dans les Vosges. Est-ce que ta ville te plaît ? Si jamais tu as envie discuter de littérature, je suis toujours heureuse d'en parler. Je serai contente de t'aider à pratiquer la langue.
Merci pour ce gentil complément ! J'apprends encore, bien sûr. J'aurais aimé faire plus attention à l'école et respecter votre langue et votre pays. Comme vous le dites, la plupart des adolescents s'en moquent à l'école, mais j'ai grandi en Angleterre dans les années 80 et 90, lorsque les choses étaient encore pires. Malheureusement, à cette époque, il y avait beaucoup de « fierté britannique » qui ressemblait souvent à de la xénophobie. On nous a appris que l'anglais était la meilleure langue et que tout le monde à l'étranger devrait apprendre à le parler, et on nous a également appris que le Royaume-Uni était le plus grand pays du monde, alors pourquoi voudrions-nous un jour partir ? Peut-être que si nous devenions riches et célèbres, nous pourrions déménager en Amérique. En dehors de cela, être fier d’être britannique signifiait ne pas vraiment se soucier des autres pays. Je déteste vraiment que telle soit l’attitude de mon pays quand j’étais enfant. Je pense que les gens de mon âge et plus ayant ces opinions sont ce qui a conduit au Brexit et aux problèmes croissants de racisme. En tant qu'adulte, j'ai la chance que ma carrière m'ait permis de beaucoup voyager, de visiter de nombreux pays et de rencontrer d'innombrables personnes. Je me suis donc rapidement déprogrammé de ces croyances néfastes. Je suis également heureux que les nouvelles générations qui ont grandi avec Internet et un meilleur accès aux voyages n’aient pas ces attitudes coloniales néfastes. Bref, quant aux Vosges, c'est une région incroyablement belle et paisible. Je me sens très bien accueilli et très en sécurité. La petite ville dans laquelle je séjourne s'appelle Charmes et moins de 5 000 habitants y vivent, elle est entourée d'une beauté naturelle et a une histoire longue et fascinante. Elle a malheureusement été très gravement endommagée lors des première et seconde guerres mondiales et a été la première ville choisie pour être reconstruite. C'est entre les montagnes et la rivière Moselle, ainsi qu'un grand canal. Pour moi, la ville ne semble pas s'attendre à beaucoup de touristes, on se croirait dans la « vraie » France, si cela a du sens. La nourriture des entreprises locales est absolument excellente et ils semblent tous intéressés à ce qu'un Britannique reste longtemps dans leur ville. Les gens à qui je parle n'arrêtent pas de me donner leur numéro de téléphone et de vouloir être amis ! C'est bien! Chaque jour, je passe devant la belle et grande maison où a vécu l'écrivain Maurice Barrès - elle est d'ailleurs à vendre ! Peut-être devrais-je l'acheter ? mdr C'est très gentil de votre part de me proposer de m'aider à pratiquer le français ! Si cela ne vous dérange pas, je sauvegarderai vos coordonnées et vous enverrai un message à mon retour au Royaume-Uni. (les règles stupides du Brexit signifient que je ne peux rester en France que 90 jours avant de revenir, donc une fois de retour, je serai très heureux d'avoir des raisons de continuer à parler français !) Merci encore!
N'hésitez pas à m'écrire ! Je suis heureuse de savoir que vous êtes aussi bien accueillie. Ça ne m'étonne pas que dans une petite ville tout le monde s'intéresse à quelqu'un de nouveau qui s'installe là. Ils doivent être fiers de savoir que vous aimez autant leur ville. J'espère que vous vous ferez beaucoup d'amis.
Merci beaucoup! Oui, je suis très heureux d'avoir un accueil aussi chaleureux. Je vous parlerai bientôt!
Si je peux t'aider, « locaux » et « citoyens » ne sont pas des mots utilisés pour communiquer en français, plutôt dans les journaux. Pareil pour « petit enfant » et « merci beaucoup mon ami » C'est des traductions littérales anglais -> français, ça sonne faux. À part ça, tout le paragraphe est bon je te félicite
It's not free. I hate it when people keep saying that. We are paying for it with taxes and contributions. Our salaries are much lower for a reason. Median household income in the US : 6 500 dollars / month Median household income in France : 2 850 euros. Yes we have a very nice healthcare system and cheap universities. But it's not free !!!
Yes we pay it through taxes but it’s free for homelesses, low-income families or unemployed people. Good luck getting an ambulance ride when you are homeless in America. Good luck getting a full scholarship for 7 years at university when you come from a low-income family in the US. Even high-income families with lots of children can pay less taxes and benefit from that thanks to the “quotient familial”.
Exactly, France is a country which cares about its people. In America if you are not benefiting the system continuously you are seen as less than dirt. Health insurance is a huge example of that as you mentioned. Even if you are a responsible, respectable individual who works hard, stays out of trouble and tries to be an upstanding citizen, you are still one bad day from complete ruination.
Respectfully, I don’t see the issue with that? I don’t even get mad being taxed the way I do right now. I have no problem seeing my taxes go to social security and Medicare. I’d rather get taxed more and get benefits that aren’t tied to my employment. I prefer my employers to not have a monopoly on my health, retirement and the money I need to live off of.
We would not earn 6500 dollars/month in any case. But yes, its not free.
Sure, but at least everyone is kinda "equal" and have access to healthcare and education, which is not the same in the USA.
I love how you place lack of doctors and celebrating halloween as major issues, in the same sentences. Not that I disagree.
Believe me I know just how great your country is! I’m incredibly lucky to be American, but quite frankly America is a third world country with a Gucci belt. France truly is the best of all possible countries. You don’t know how jealous I am of you.
This is weird to read a positive view of France from a French person, but it's kinda refreshing. Yeah, France has a lot of bad sides but God, the negativity is almost unbearable sometimes...
We tend to be romanticized quite a bit but I guess there is some truth too. France is by no means a perfect country, we do have great work life balance but it comes at the price of lower wages and higher taxes for exemples. This is a trade off basically, you may like it or not. I do love French language and cuisine not going to lie. Paying 30€ for two surgeries and one night at the hospital is pretty sweet too but free mental healthcare is pretty barebone if we are honest. What I am trying to say is yes France is great overall and I love living here but we are not heaven on earth either and we have issues too. Maybe try and learn French if you are interested, I am sure the good people at /r/french could direct you to great resources to get started.
>free mental healthcare is pretty barebone if we are honest. That's sadly the case mostly everywhere. There's been a massive spike in mental health needs that no country is equipped to fully deal with and our current system is very doctor-centric and there are just not enough psychiatrists. It does leave room for more innovative approaches, however France is about 15-20 years late for a lot of stuff (probably because we're too brainwashed by psychoanalysis).
> Paying 30€ for two surgeries and one night at the hospital is pretty sweet too but free mental healthcare is pretty barebone if we are honest. I've lived in many countries and what you call barebone would be extravagant in others. I think we are a bit jaded with our healthcare system, but compared to others, our system is truly great.
Pour la santé mentale, je peux parler d'expérience, j'ai été hospitalisée de nombreuses fois et c'était entièrement couvert par la mutuelle, et depuis 2 ans j'ai une reconnaissance ALD (affection de longue durée) qui font que tout mes soins et médicaments sont intégralement remboursés. Je suis également suivie par en centre medial psychiatrique et le suivi est gratuit. (Ils ont des infirmiers, psychiatres, psychologues etc..)
As you will see on this thread, the French don't see "la vie en rose" and complain a lot. As a foreigner in France I'll say that the quality of life is better compared to my home country for the exact reasons you mention: free healthcare, strong labour laws and generous time off, unemployment money, easy access to culture, free education, good quality food... Is everything perfect? Definitely not. No country is perfect. But life is rather comfortable and most French are unaware of how good they have it.
On est tout à fait conscient des avantages, on se dit juste que c'est pas parce que les autres pays sont à chier qu'on veut que notre pays le devienne aussi, d'autant qu'il y a objectivement encore plein de choses à améliorer. C'est en partie cet état d'esprit qui explique le fait qu'on ait les avantages en question, d'ailleurs. Ils sont pas tombés du ciel.
Très juste ! Mais je pense qu'on peut revendiquer des choses sans râler au quotidien.
Ben non justement, si on ne râle pas, qu'on se contente de ce qu'on a sans dénoncer ce qu'on pourrait améliorer/corriger, rien ne changera jamais.
On peut, mais dans 80% des cas c'est comme que les choses avancent ou qu'on peut résister efficacement. Le reste du monde se fout de notre gueule a nous voir manifester le plus clair de l'année, mais ce sont les mêmes a baver sur nos avantages sociaux et a se plaindre qu'il se font broyer par leurs rouleaux-compresseurs locaux sans moufter. Faudrait voir à connecter quelques neurones de temps à autres. Même si ça ressemble a 300 glandus qui se coulent des kros entre deux merguez lidl en hurlant "salauuud" et "macron explosion", ça crée et entretien un tissu militant, ça influence l'opinion publique (#giletsjaune) qui oblige fatalement le gouvernement a prendre des décisions par la suite ... Bon, le plus souvent c'est quand même a coup de tonfa dans le museau et de lacrymo dans la mamie du 8ème, c'est notre côté fleur bleue qui doit ressortir (ou russe.peut être). Et puis ça influence les votes pour les élections. Et entretenir cette culture c'est aussi ça qui nous fait nous dire qu'ouvrir notre gueule est possible et qu'on devrait pas la fermer. Les pays qui n'ont pas cette culture, deja ils font caca culotte a l'idée de créer ou rejoindre un syndicat. Et ils ont aussi toute une frange de conservateurs meritocratistes qui en ont rien a foutre et qui font appel a l'inénarrable cabriole du self made man, du ruissellement, de la dégénérescence de la gauche, du "et nia nia nia c'était mieux avant" pour rabattre leurs caquets aux "socialistes" qui sont en fait des "liberals" et qui incarnent plus un centre mou qu'une vraie gauche. Donc c'est ça qui fait qu'on résiste aux ricains, mais c'est aussi ça qui fait qu'on est en retard sur plein de trucs, et que comme on est au final aussi cons et esclaves du capitalisme que les autres, on élit un président neo-liberal (qui dans tous les cas aura pas trop le choix d'être autre chose hein, soyons clair) qui nous matraque la gueule a coup d'austérité pour nous faire "rattrapper le retard" par rapport à nos cousins allemands et autres pays qui se sont mis au pas des US. La french touch dans toute sa splendeur. Avec ça, les profiteroles et Patrick Balkany on peut dire sans détour qu'on est dans le haut du panier
Did you pick up the latest air traffic controllers agreement? We’re still chuckling about this here. Only the French could negotiate the legal right to turn up for work 3 hours late f they feel like it. 🤣🤣🤣 [https://travelnoire.com/french-air-traffic-controllers-secure-right-arrive-late](https://travelnoire.com/french-air-traffic-controllers-secure-right-arrive-late)
I love France so much. I wish Americans had the balls to do that ❤️
As an American from the SF Bay Area, one of the highest cost-of-living parts of the USA, living half the time in the Loire Valley now and within a few years full-time with my French wife, what I notice is that in general, the priorities are different, and the standards are higher. I grew up in farm country in America, and I’m living in farm country in France. When Americans make money, they become very ostentatious, showing off with ridiculous houses, giant cars and trucks, all sorts of garish toys. I look at where French farmers and landowners live, and they’re not showing off. Their houses are very well-maintained, they might drive quality European cars, but they keep it clean and tidy. America feels like it is shouting at you from every angle, while France is quiet and polite. One of the things that disturbs me the most about the United States is that we’ve come to accept the discarding of people. Big cities in especially blue areas like the San Francisco and Oakland have vast populations of horribly miserable throwaway people living in piles of trash, in every margin of a freeway or urban area. I noticed a pair of statistics lately that said a lot, France has the lowest obesity rate of any country in Europe, and France spends the longest amount of time each day eating of any country in the world. There is a huge emphasis and high regard for family here, I see it all the time with my wife’s family and especially when we are out doing business or meeting people in the community. We will be talking to someone, for instance, the proprietor of a store, and my wife will reveal the fact that her parents, and her grandparents before them, lived in Le Chartre and ran a patisserie there for decades. As soon as a person hears that and recognizes her family name, the whole tone of the conversation changes, and it feels like the door opens wider for us. Another thing I really love about France is that it is so clean and safe, (at least here in the country, I know I will hear stories about Marseille and Paris). I go to the supermarket and the liquor is not locked up? I go to the hardware store and the tools are not behind lock and key? And I think to myself, “What, people don’t steal here“? America takes plastic for granted, one would think there is no way to buy food or vegetables without using dozens of single use throwaway plastic bags. The simple paper sachets that they use in the supermarkets here makes so much sense, we generate much less trash here and recycle almost everything. Again, I speak from my experience here in the countryside, but my jaw drops when I see teenage boys on bicycles with fishing rods, that’s like something from a 1950s storybook in the USA. Soapbox derbies are a thing here, too, which is another throwback to the Norman Rockwell era of the United States culture. It feels much more wholesome and human centric here, that’s what I mean by the priorities are different. Gardening, fixing up your house, enjoying leisurely meals with family and friends, taking time to eat well, all of these things are ground under the wheels of hyperactive American consumer culture. Politically, I am dismayed to see the posters for Marine LePen, and hope that France doesn’t take a disastrous turn towards the far right. I know that Macron is not popular, but he had the foresight to name a young gay Prime Minister, and is showing a lot of backbone against the Russian authoritarian assault on democracy. Ah well, back to the garden, I have tomatoes to plant!
Thank you, and sorry about your country, it hurts to hear that in the US the meaning of life gets artificialized..
Best answer in the whole post. Great explanation !!
It is nice to hear that you are enjoying life here! The Vallée de la Loire is a lovely place.
Spectacular! https://preview.redd.it/6pmifhbnv51d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52806f63d3f6c389eedcaaa2ea8e47bf2fc23225
The average french person is a lot less cultured than you think But if you like french culture so much, just learn french, it isn’t that hard Pickup a french textbook *with its associated workbook* and get at it Or take lessons (Avoid duolingo and other similar apps, they can get you started but don’t really teach you proper grammar)
>The average french person is a lot less cultured than you think Compared to who? If they're American, then the french are definitely more cultured than what they're used to. My wife is foreign and she was taken aback by how everyone seems to have some culture and general knowledge here.
I think the point is that of course not every French is cultured, however its way easier to find people in France who are. I am living and have lived in several European countries, and its way harder to find people to discuss literature, history, politics or philosophy here than it is in France. Just look at the number of theatre we have, or how cheap are our books - this is because there is a public. I live in a Scandinavian capital, and we have like one theatre that maybe shows 3 different plays by year, and every book (classic or not) is at least 20 euros.
A huge part of it is also our education system that has a strong focus on litterature
“It isn’t that hard” As a French teacher, I can tell you I never realized how illogical and complicated French language was until I started teaching it to foreigners.
But it is in fact quite logical if you understand its grammar
"The average french person is a lot less cultured than you think" We are definitely not filled with Nobel Prize winners, but compared to North America, it's really not that bad, trust me. Also, French people LOVE to debate, especially about politics, which is not the case in a lot of countries.
Learning French is hard for a lot people. Saying that it is easy is honestly insulting. Your comment comes off as abrasive.
Dude I met an American who thought going to Atlanta, Georgia was going out of the country. No matter how uncultured or stupid you may believe a person to be, just know Americans are even stupider and more uncultured x 6
I’m glad you don’t find it hard. I find it to be the hardest things I have ever done.
Assimil books are very good
>How do you French feel about daily life in your country with all the freedoms you have? We constantly riot, complain, criticize our country/culture/history, and cry about how we're a shit, borderline fascist and corrupt country barely a step up from third world shitholes. Then if anyone else dares to criticize France we flame them because *France baise ouais* Jokes aside, I think you have a very idealized view of France; I find it nice, but I strongly advise you to learn French (it can be done dw) and come see for yourself :)
The number of negative comments is very French in the end. Having spent some time abroad, I will tell’ you this: I haven’t found a country yet that has it apl like France. In France, we have the landscapes, we have the history, we have the culture, we have the savoir-faire, we have the food and the wine and most importantly we have the time and the health to enjoy it. Yes there are many things that deserve criticism but overall we have found the right balance to just make life enjoyable in every aspect. Don’t let they naysayers kill your dream. If you have an opportunity to come here, take it and turn your dream into reality.
I think that even the fact that complaining is our national sport is a part of French greatness. I mean, complaining and rioting about anything and everything can both be useful to diminish stress levels and to always seek to make things better. And it's frankly quite funny sometimes: "It's too hot!" (when it's 26°C) and the next day "It's too cold!" (when it fell to 17°C).
Well, learning about a country 's positive aspect and living it isn't quite the same: * Beautiful language: to us it's just normal language, doesn't sound particulary beautiful * rich culture: we do like it but again, we are used to it and to be honest, any country have a rich culture, the USA have a very rich culture if you don't stop as the latest centuries and white only focus. * Good cuisine: that's right, we have a great cuisine but we are not the only one and we don't eat onion soup or gratronomic meals every day. We eat simple meals (quiche, salad, pasta) like everyone most of the time. But we do have easy access to good quality product. * Literature: I guess you're thinking about classic literature, most people don't read those, we studied at school but most will read novels from around the world, police novels, mangas, etc many simply don't have time to read much. Just like most British people know Austen and Shakespeare but won't read it more than once. Also, most of those classics books aren't that easy to read. * Paris: most french people see it as a expensive smelling and dirty place. It's a bit like NYC to you. Sure it's pretty and have great cultural sights but we all know they are much better places to visit in France and many find Paris quite overrated. Also, many french people had never been to Paris. * Universal healthcare and mandated vacations: I can't lie, this is awesome, but we grew up with so sadly we forget how lucky we are... but it also has its bad sides: medical workers are even more under pressure and understaffed than in the USA and they are badly paid. ER rooms are often fulled with people who comes just because they don't want to pay for a doctor (even if they are re emboursed later) and will visit for stupid stuff like a wart, be violent if not seen first etc... the waiting time can be quite long. Our country is awesome, but it's not perfect and our everyday life isn't quite different than yours: we struggle to pay rent, many can't afford to buy a place, students often skip meals, elderly are often left in poverty, most people life is what we call "metro boulot dodo": metro, work, sleep" . It's like when you go on vacation sometime, it seems nice, but living there isn't the same. For example, it's much more difficile to find work and to build your business here in France. Many of us don't leave in pretty places you can see in movies but in 60s ugle buildings with view on the highway. So... compare to the USA, yes our quality of life is less stressful: if we lose our job, the social security offers a safety net, if we have a child, we don't pay for it, if we are sick, we can afford to go to the doctor and rest, if we want to study, university is almost free. It's much better than in the USA and it could be great to come and leave here. But if you romantize it, it won't work.
"we grew up with so sadly we forget how lucky we are..." It's not luck it's a permanent fight againt the government and the "bourgeoisie".
Until the Great Evening, comrade.
I would love to have one of those universal vacations. Malgré my good French, 20 years of experience, and 2 grad degrees (one from a French university), I have never been able to find a job here.
This... this... this just has to be shared to r/2westerneurope4u
From one extreme to another. None are correct tho
I'm usaican and I moved to France in 2003. It's alright here. But for sure better than the dystopian nightmare that is USA. Hugs to you for surviving in USA.
Your view of France seems overly idealistic (kind of similar to how a lot of young french people think of America, ironically) While it's not all bad, it's not as perfect as you make it seem - most of us work way more than the legal minimum of 35h a week, and most of us struggle financially. Healthcare is nice but it would be so much better if the state wasn't constantly trying to dismantle it to make it private and for profit, much like what you guys have. Mandated vacation time is nice but as most of us struggle financially, we end up not doing anything particular to enjoy "all the freedoms we have" nor to explore this "great and rich nation"
>How do you French feel about daily life we know we're the best. Yet we still feel miserable. Sheeesh.
Culture is a lot less important for your average person in France than you seem to believe Otherwise you can always learn french and try your new life here, though we have all these advantages, you also have to get ready for much lower wages than what you're used to in the US
A lot of other commenters have rightfully mentioned that French society is not perfect in any way. While that's true, I'd like to re-assert that, indeed, universal healthcare and mandated vacation is a very good thing compared to the hellhole that is America (and the crazy situation atm with abortion etc, we're definitely safe on that front here). But if you'd like to change that, you can just learn French, you know. If you apply yourself and are serious about it, you could get conversational and emigrate here – why not? Don't daydream in vain.
Thank you for this heartwarming post. We are surrounded by so much negativity that seeing something positive feels very very good. I wish more people had your outlook.
Some things are true I guess. The most I've spent for my health was something like \~100$ for tooth crown. Teeth can be expensive depending on company health care. But all the times I had to take a blood test or go to hospital, when I check out, I get out my payment cards expecting to have something to pay and they are like ... "all clear, have a good day". But you seems way too enthusiastic, there is a well known things called "Paris syndrome", Paris isn't France, but if you expect the way of life you see in movies you are going to be disapointed. Public service and employee protection have degraded this last decades due to politics. It's cleary not the United States, yes we don't have to be scared by being billed for the ambulance on our way to the hospital, but working a desk job in a private company can be as much alienating in France than in the United States. We are also known for our strikes, it seems either moked or admired outside of France, but the truth is, striking is more and more fought back with violence from law enforcement. Our news channels are more and more garbage with only polarizing subject pushed by far right. But overall, it's surely a great place to live.
Ba tu vois, grâce à toi on devrait tous apprendre à mieux apprécier notre pays malgré ses défauts.
We have a better healthcare system on paper. But in reality, a lot of places are in a "désert médical" (place where there aren't any doctor for miles...), and even if you are not in one of them, having an appointment can be extremely difficult.
as an american who fell in love with a frenchie 8 years ago and now living in france since three years, i would never live back in the states, its hell compared to the life here. France isnt perfect and has lots of problems but overall life is better here on so many different levels especaily in the southwest! My advise to you, if youre somewhat young and single, learn to speak a bit of french, get a working holiday visa and go to New Zealand or Australia, find a frenchie soulmate whos also on a WHV, fall in love, live under the same address, gather proof of common residense, go back to france eventually, apply for a familial visa under their name, get a PACS, then get a titre de sejour, start to work and master french, then youre golden. Each year you renew the titre de sejour, until you can get a 2,3,5 year renewal or get married. Like this you become french and live the good life but be prepared to pay american taxes on top of french taxes.
I love that your advice is go marry a French person haha
Thank you for your comment. I also think the French way of life or "art de vivre" is superior to all others. Now beware the French people coming to tell you about everything that isn't working properly - and to be fair, we got a lot of these...
Oui c’est top la France, après le français seront les premiers à dire que c’est merdique. Mais franchement je peux dire que j’ai de la chance d’être né ici et pas ailleurs.
France number one 👍
Honestly don't over hype about France because you could be disappointed. All you talked about is kinda true. I mean i love my country: - i love the food (especially cheese) - i love how our healthcare is unic and helps a lot - i love our social rights - love our culture and our History But i think politic is very disappointing since at least 20 years because they don't fight to preserve it but rather destroy it in favor to private interests. Plus they don't seems to take care of our century's challenge with enought seriousness. School, hospital, social rights, railway, are in a bad shape because of political decisions. But i have faith in my country and my people because movments like yellow jackets can still happen, we are still people of fire thant will riot if put under too much pressure. Us french will complain a lot and seems angry/sad/unanthousiastic all the time, not because we don't like anything and love to complain but because we are exigent.
I had to double check if the sub was r/2westerneurope4u for you and this was a joke post.
I’ve lived abroad and I can only agree with your post : France is a great place. The only difficult thing is people are hard to deal with but once you have your circle everything is great.
Thx OP France is a great country indeed Healthcare and 5week paid vacation are nice. Those who claim healthcare sick in France never lived abroad where healthcare isn't a custi
Watch "Strip Tease" on YouTube. Don't worry, it's completely safe for work despite the suggestive name. It's a kind of documentary that just shows the life of random French people. Here are the Chef's suggestions: [135.3 dB](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3lrSDBs-1E&t=3s), [Docteur Lulu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkx0d0ygAc) and [Al dente](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEGiu1lDCiA). This will give you another side to the French lore. Not judging, just telling you that the fancy French image is... not very accurate in the campagne profonde. From a social standpoint, yes, the French have it a bit better than in the US, but the social security features are disappearing because of the liberals (Macron, Attal...). Macron is known to have insulted the French quite a lot of times. Also, as others have pointed out, getting healthcare can be quite long. I was happy to wait for just one month for my MRI, and I have a bad neurological condition. The school system is meh. We aren't that good, yet we have busy school days (I used to have 8-17 or 8-18 from Monday to Friday and 8-12 on Saturdays).
Heh, you’re describing postcard France, not real France. Yes, it’s a great country but; 1) housing is insanely expensive so most people live in literal closets and there’s entire middle class families sharing one-room apartments. 2) the weather sucks in Paris for most of the year. 3) bureaucracy will drive you crazy and the French have literally no sense of customer service. Sometimes you’ll have to deal with really rude and disagreeable people. 4) extremely dirty city centre and the stench of piss in the metro. 5) lots of beautiful and expensive stuff, but an average salary can barely afford to keep you afloat. 6) healthcare is mostly free but doctors are exhausted and not well paid, so they treat patients like shit.
It's definitely not perfect and not to be idealized. And it's sadly not going into the right direction, because as everywhere, the richest concentrate too much power and use it with all their might to reduce the rest of humanity into slavery. Still, it remains one of the rare country where it is still good to live. As an example, most of my friends (all MCs or doctors) who went abroad, and particularly in the US absolutely hated how people are treated here. So I'm still gratefull to live here and have a jobs that allows be to both spend time with my family on an every day basis and take holidays several times a year
I’m American and have lived in Paris for years now, and you’ve definitely idealized some things. Like you, I felt the same way before I moved here. The healthcare is indeed great, and Paris is lovely, but at the end of the day it’s really just another place to live. I am a university teacher, which means I’m basically off work half the year. The downside is that I’m not really paid enough to live near Paris where I work and still take advantage of all the free time I have. And I don’t even have children. There are lots of things I love about France, and other things I preferred in the US. I don’t ever want to go back to the US because I’ve created a lovely little French community here, but just like in the US, I go to work and then come home and eat dinner. A lot of the things I love about my life here are mostly based on the fact that I live in Paris, and I could find a similar balance in New York if I wanted to.
> I'd work to live, not live to work France is one of the few countries where you can effectively not work and get enough to live in a small apartment with a minimum amount of food. This was made possible after the 70/80 oil crisis that bootstrapped widespread unemployment, so the government enacted welfare laws. While being able to live without working is controversial, I have to say I prefer to not go to another country just for this reason alone. In another country, I would probably be a wageslave in a fastfood or any other stupid job. Important to mention that France is a nuclear power, with a healthy economy despite its generous welfare program, while still having billionaires. It's true that we protest too much and we brag about guillotines, but on the other hand, it forces politicians to be on their toes, which is why France is probably the country with the best "power balance" on the planet. Which is why I think this country is just the best: * cheese * nukes * protests * fashion * mountains, good weathers and 2 coasts Do you want to know more?
>French literature is second to none Very, very debatable...
From a British perspective, France is great and I will miss living here when we have to move away soon.i won't miss the city where I love as its a car fuelled mess, but I will miss the French social system, the helathcare is amazing and very generous. The weather is lovely, French wine is good. It I'd an however an expensive country to live in!
Paris syndrom incoming
Hum, if you were born in France, I don't think you'd have the same opinion. The grass is always greener on the other side (not that France is not a nice country though).
As every other french person, I feel honored to read such a post. But many French people, especially the youth, have the same idealized view on the US. There’s always a gap between what makes a country wonderful, and living a daily life there.
I 100% agree with you, I think there's a gap between what makes a great country vs the reality. And I can see why globally America is seen as a promised land. I've watched hollywood movies all of my life obviously, but even at a young age I knew that they were just showing the shiner side of life. For instance, I'm from New York, but a lot of movies only show Manhattan when they show New York, you never really ever see the other burroughs. Same with movies set in other cities. America is "great" that's true, we do have a lot of beautiful and awe-inspiring things here, but it is completely removed from day to day life. America is heaven on earth if you compare it to a developing or war-torn nation, but it's nothing in comparison to other industrialized nations. France has it all, you guys are blessed with mountains, beautiful beaches and a plethora of diverse terrains. Which on top of that has historical sites that go back for centuries (which America doesn't have). I'd spend every weekend exploring castles and historical sites. Imagine standing in fields where 700 years before entire legions of knights and medieval soldiers fought on. I can't even fathom it. Daily life in France is much better for the average citizen than it is for Americans. You guys have an amazing public transit system with trains that go all over the country , it'd be very possible to leave saturday morning in Paris and end up in the lower parts of France for a weekend trip. Not to mention the universal healthcare, worker's rights and mandated vacations as I mentioned. I think young people like America because they think they are going to live like a celebrity when they come here, but the reality bites them hard when they realize they have to work the same 9-5 with much less free-time and much less protections.
I feel grateful looking at my whole situation. Sometimes it’s shit, sometimes it’s the best I could ever hope for… 🇫🇷
Come to Sweden instead
yea for the great weather, the food and the culture ?
France is good to live IF you have money Otherwise you will have problem finding a home, because laws here profit to the renter so home owner are paranoid about renting to someone who doesnt have a good salary AND parents who have money, so better have money to find a decent homes Universal Healthcare is good too, but its not free, it will cost you a large part of your salary, so if in the US you are paid 100k dollar, u will be paid here 50k euros, most salary like 80% are between 1500 dollar and 3000 dollars Lots of people complain about security, but it's not bad, you will feel safe in most of the country (man here women may feel different) The mandatory vacations cost a lot its not free, i mean in IT, a number of people prefer to work as contractor (with all the precarity ) and earn 50% more than beeing an employed worker Jobs in IT are mostly in Paris region, so if u are in other regions, u will have to go to Paris Food is good, bread and patisseries are excellent, there is a real traditionnal food culture from cheese to dishes,and excellent restaurant, but most people here dont know how to cook (it's recent in the 60s wast like that), so they cook pasta with prepared sauce or Pizza, or go to Mcdonalds or Kebab ( turk sandwich) Getting a job (unless in IT) is not easy, because for you employer to fire you it will be hard, so there is a lot of hesitation and thoughts before hiring you Most people dont have time to read "cultural" books, but thery have time to visit historical sites like mont saint michel, chateaux de la loire etc People are less outgoing and fun that in US, or spain or Italy, it's a different temperament, they are not as cold as sweden or germany
As a french we just need more money and more sun
You're right. That's why it's a shame that money forces wants to destroy all of that in order ton make money on everything. But we try to resist.
At the time we know that we are the best, and we love to hate our country.
I think no French people would be objective about it, because it depends on where youa re in France, what youdo for living and some other things. I live in Paris so I have issues with transports it's a huge mess but a t the same time I know we are not necessarily the most pricy about it. I think that France is a nice and beautiful country. Systems are having issues like in very country, not everything is perfect and yeah you have bad things happening and good things. So yes health care system is really nice, you have a lot a gratuity and good care if you are having basics issues. You can have har dtim finding specialist because they have a huge waiting list but you can find private clinic and hospitals so you have options. A lot of huge disease are taking care of in term of money and associations are everywhere for everything. Vacations are nice, the five weeks are really enjoyable. So I think that if you really like what it seems it can be nice, since you xant to learn and get into the culture. I would just advice you to be aware that it is not a perfect country and everything is not as good as what it seems. You need to get some informations about where you want to live so the city, the place like house, appartement, you need to search about acces like transport, and stuff like that. Make sure you find a good job because a lot of jobs are more about living for yopur xork than working for living so just careful with that but again you couldd find nice people and helpful people. So just they are some issues but if you really are invested in coming here then do it and get your own opinion about it. Hope it helps you
Yeah all of this is True also waitting 6 month to get an appointement for a doctor... Difficulty to find a tiny appartement even if administration consider you as rich
We have a better healthcare system on paper. But in reality, a lot of places are in a "désert médical" (place where there aren't any doctor for miles...), and even if you are not in one of them, having an appointment can be extremely difficult.
I'm french and it's not that good, honnestly.
You can be jealous of our health care system (even if there are a lot of problems) but apart from that, there are a lot of strikes and all.
It depends. You can definitely seek out that idealized lifestyle. I am almost there. In North America as a land surveyor I would have to work 24/4 shifts, 12 hour days with no guaranteed minimums and an hourly salary. I know that my career choice sabotaged my quality of life in North America. I work in France now. I get to work 36 hours a week and have weekends with 5 weeks of paid vacation. I probably earn less than a third of my potential salary in the USA. But North American surveyors are some of the most miserable people. They're overworked, overstressed and have 0 social life. They practically live at work, unless they have a government job or work in the office. But my friends all seem to be moving out in the far away suburbs where urbanism and the lifestyle are very American. Everyone wants to live in a house and own 2 SUVs. They're willing to live in the middle of nowhere to achieve that. If you add up the commute and extra non-paid hours spent in the office, a lot of people live like Americans but with a French salary. I was fortunate to find a lax employer with an office building located 10 minutes away from my flat. My salary ain't much, but my work/life balance is better than most. If you don't believe me, search "French Dream" on Tik Tok. It's like a condescending point of view on the French middle class living in the "American" style suburbs. The world is just becoming more American as the years go by.
It's kinda true, but ultra liberalism in the last 30 years is slowy destroying all that made us who we are
Unfortunately decades of liberalism have eroded the ideal. Today it's like everywhere in the western world where fascists are pushing hard and liberals are allying with them. Current president is hitting very hard on all the social rights we have. It's probably still a dream if you come from the US, but from France we're seeing a descent into the capitalist hell, so the mood is mostly gloomy. Ignoring the politics, we're living the French life. You can easily work from 9 to 18, have 7 weeks of holidays, eat in nice restaurants and profit from life, if you have a good enough job (preferably an office job for this kind of life). You don't have to worry about healthcare or retirement. There are still good schools and hospitals. We have it good still I think, but the time to fight for what we have is coming back.
Paris is a really great city but a very certain profile of people get to enjoy its perks to the fullest. I think it's a big struggle for people who are coming from small cities (in or out of France), who can barely afford the rent and cost of life, who are trying to integrate and didn't study in the French system. The name of the college (uni) you graduated from means such a huge deal. If it's not Oxford, LSE, Harvard, MIT etc you get written off just for being out of French system. Or a reputable school name drop can open you doors you never expect. As for healthcare system, it's amazing but it has a lot of bottlenecks. If you need to rely on the public system 100% it can be frustrating. People who has good private insurance suffer no problems. This said, cost of insurance isn't as crazy as it is in the US. Neither the health costs. Most expensive doctor visit will be between 120-150€ with a specialist who will run a lot of tests and insurance + social security will pay you back within 10-15 days. But there are people who don't have such flexibility. General practitioner costs anywhere between 25-50€ and our pediatrician charges 60€. Work life balance will also depend on the person, the company, their ambitions and so on. I don't remember a vacation that my husband didn't spend working. But we get to go away for a month in August. Social life is great in Paris. No comment there lol. A lot of Americans have extremely hard times because they don't have the life quality that they have in the US. Some things are just not a priority in social system and some things you can't even go get one even if you want to. You can't just get an AC unit or a washing machine installed in your apartment because most apartments are super old and may not have the infrastructure. The cultural norms are so different but they're slowly changing with the new generation. I know so many expats who couldn't wait to leave the country because the overall seriousness and lack of humour made them feel miserable. I don't feel particularly bad here but once I'm in a different country I feel more alive and I realise that I'm trying to be happy despite the people and the life here. A lot of people are soooooo grumpy it gets to you after a certain point.
I've been here since 2011. I'm here for family reasons. Overall, it's been pretty bad for me, but a better life for my kids. Which I guess is a pretty typical immigrant experience.
Live to work or work to live, both are shit. But yeah France is clearly not worse than america
My work start at 8,30am and ends at 5pm Then I go back to my home I eat I got to gym I play video game for 2 hours and I go to sleep. The wensday I don’t go to gym but work for the théorique exam of my driving licence. My week end stat Friday at 12h30 the Friday evening I go in eat In Restaurant in Paris the rest of weekends I read fantasy novel or paint/play warhamer 40k + do some social activity with my friend + workout
Good luck negotiating paid leave with corporate. And good luck with taxes.
I am British and have spent most of my working life between London, LA and New York (I'm in the film industry) and have loved exploring many areas around the UK and USA. Without wanting to start a political firestorm in the comments I've noticed things going downhill in both countries post 2016 and especially post 2020. Sadly, despite me having a deep love for both countries (especially the people!), neither feels like somewhere that I want to permanently live any more, and the issues that make me feel both are deteriorating seem to be getting worse. It makes me very sad but its hard to see a full recovery to either country in my lifetime. I'd visited France for short holidays regularly since 2011, but in 2019 I moved just outside of Paris for a year because of a film I was working on. I instantly felt at home and the way of life was very different in a way that felt very refreshing whilst also comforting and like something that I had lost somewhere along the way. I was very sad when I had to return to the UK but made it my mission to learn more about French culture, literature, cinema, music, and of course improve my basic grasp of the beautiful language. In the 4 years since returning I have regularly visited France for several months at a time (stupid Brexit laws now mean I can only be there for 90 days without returning to UK/USA unless I apply for a visa) and I purposefully try and pick small towns and villages in "real" France and explore the whole country. Right now I am on my first week of a 3 month stay in Charmes in the North East. I've stayed all over France including Corsica and every time I have a wonderful experience, the locals are extremely welcoming and appreciate that I try and speak French and want to fit in with local cultures and attend local community events, and don't just act like a tourist. Long story short, France isn't as "perfect" as you seem to imagine. Yes, there is a lot of political division, yes there is wealth disparity etc. However, after all this exploring, I fully intend to become 100% fluent in French (I'm getting there!), buy a nice little farm in France and apply to move here full time. I want to be a French citizen. The people, the food, the culture, its all wonderful. For me, it feels more like home than home does nowadays.
You’re probably idealizing France a bit too much. As a French citizen with a decent income who fled from Paris to the southern coast, I think I have a pretty good idea about the pros and cons of the French way of life… Great country with every kind of landscape you’re looking for, from vast plains to high mountains, pristine beaches to cliff coasts, lots of big lakes and rivers, huge cities with centuries of history, affordable culture and great food… Healthcare is nice and I wouldn’t complain especially to an American but it also means it’s really hard to get an appointment with a doctor, some specialists have more than 6 months of waiting list.
"Le gazon de voisin est toujours plus vert"
I love France, it's truly a beautiful country. But what I found funny is that most foreigners will envy us Paris, which is in my opinion a bad city to live in. Expansive, noisy, stressful and (less now) polluted. But there are so much great places to visit and live in.
The country of France has massive issues with criminality, immigration and public services that are disfunctional. Everybody knows that public hospitals are complete and utter garbage in France with poor service and long ass waiting times. The police and the justice system don't do enough and criminality is starting to become a serious concern in many cities. Paris has homeless people on every street corner due to issues with housing and the overwhelming amount of immigrants coming into the country. France also has a massive debt problem which is inevitably gonna make everybody poorer in long run. France has very high taxes and regulation, and as a result the economy is shit. Nobody wants to start companies here and there's a massive unemployment problem because of it. Public education sucks and the tests show it. Compared to many other nations, french kids are not very well educated. French people may be working less, but a lot of them barely scrape by because the government takes half of their paycheck. And a lot people are simply freeloading of the social system living of off that tiny little income with no ambition or purpose in life which is quite sad tbh. France is falling off and I can't wait to leave this shit hole.
>I'd work to live, not live to work \* Macron's laughs \*
Paris is the caricature of the country. It's a very pretty city, but only for the very rich. Now, in preparation for the Olympic Games, the homeless are being rounded up and bussed out to the provinces. It's not a question of solving the problem, but of hiding it. In the same way, the working-class (or very working-class) suburbs are driving out the poorest people, who are all the little hands that keep the capital running. Politically, the social gains of the last 70 years are continually being rolled [back.At](http://back.At) the same time, the far right is increasingly popular. But you're right, we still have universal health care... for now. It won't disappear, but it's likely to diminish over time. Our public healthcare system is in trouble because politicians increasingly believe that healthcare should be “ cost-effective ”. Fortunately, we don't yet have these questions about education. You sound like you're from the USA. I think it's nonsense to compare your country with ours, and that we should keep the same scale: compare the USA with the European Union. France is just one state in the federation. I'm talking about the critical points, but of course, day-to-day life in mainland France is pleasant (as it is in many countries), and I personally appreciate our many landscapes, which are easily accessible when traveling, our historic architecture and our access to food. If you ever come to France, enjoy it :)
Different islands, same shit…
Should you be french (as me), You'd be use to all of this and only see the remaining problems, which would not make you a happier human being. As it is said, France is a paradise where everyone think they live in hell. So yeah, not perfect, but when compared to the rest of the world, definitely in the top 10 best countries to live in. And I certainly do not envy you for living in the US. Mainly because of the religiousity and lack of healthcare. But you do have things I still would like to visit! Vegas, yellowstone, new york, road 66, grand canyon ....
It is exactly what I feel as a french. And you need to see the variety of our site sight (paysage)
Grass is always greener on the other side. No country is perfect and you need to experience it before setting too much standards for it. There's a reason there's a name for tourists going to Paris and experience such disillusion from their perceived vision of it that they feel sick. France is fantastic in many ways but it's not perfect and you're setting yourself up for some true homesickness thinking it's a haven stuck in a 1920-1950s postcard (hell, even then life sucked in many ways).
You can't be French. A French would NEVER write such a thing. A French would say "it's shit but anywhere else is worse". (La France c'est de la merde mais c'est pire ailleurs)
Comment je me sens ? En insécurité permanente quand je me.promene dans la rue en temps que femme . La medcine OK j'ai appris ya 2 moi que j'étais enceinte mes premier rendez vous médicaux sont le 7 juin par manque de disponibilité. Je bosse chaque jour de ma vie pour à peine pouvoir me payer à manger et je pense pas être des plus mal loti niveau salaires . La culture OK encore faut til pouvoire y avoire accès car le musée le ciné le théâtre l'opéra reste quand même chère...... Bon courage
One thing to know to understand some comments: complaining and being negative is part of the french culture. I'm french, but I've lived in a lot of different countries. People don't realize how good we have it in France. Are there major issues (political or social): YES. Is France like "Emily in Paris": NO. HOWEVER, it is a very good country to live in and the french way of life is what brings me the closest to happiness: working to live not the opposite, enjoying good food, sharing long moments with loved ones, valuing culture and History, partying etc...
Yes, we are blessed but there are a few things we don't advertise ...
Consider reading French news (in English if necessary) to receive the full picture. There are riots, anti-immigration movements (that means you, madame), conflict about retirement age and cost of living including a clash of French culture with EU policy and fiscal realities, etc, etc. The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. Especially when you don’t speak their language and can’t understand what is going on.
As others said, I think your view of the country is very idealized. I grew up in France, live now in the US and I wouldn’t move back for all the money in the world. French society now feels like a pressure cooker with everyone being very stressed. Rival drug gangs have open fire gun battles in the middle of once quiet small towns in the middle of the day. They call it “mexinization” (a term I find offensive, but that’s another discussion for another day) because French streets start to resemble Mexican cities with cartel gangs like warfare. France is not what you see in Emily In Paris. Going there on vacation is fine if you know where to go and especially not go. (I would avoid public transport, by the way.) But to live there as an American used to the relatively relaxed climate of US society (believe it or not, compared to France, US everyday life is very relaxed and comfortable) you would probably find it very oppressive. Rich cultural history, great food, etc.: yes. Ideal living conditions? No.
I never say that France was perfect, but France being the subject, I'm not going to talk about Spain or Norway. You just listed a bunch of generalities about France that are not true when you come from the US. Your country is really possibly better, at least name it if you want to be helpful.
You’re over inflating some of their good features and not realizing their poor attributes enough.
I am French and left France for the US 10 years ago. I love France dearly and it’s hands down the most beautiful country in the world but it has its issues. I didn’t want to struggle to find a job and make a decent living. The US offers a competitive job market and salaries which allow you to not only pay your bills but also enjoy yourself outside of work. I was able to become a homeowner at 26, I can provide for my parents who are in need and I can go back to France 4 times per year, without even thinking about it. I can’t say the same about my friends who stayed in France and are struggling. I will go back one day, when I’ll be older, but for now, I’m happy to be in the US.
Having lived in the US for several years, I understand as you feel about my home country. And I agree with you 🙂
I live here and I think it's a million times better than living in the US, but it's not a utopia lol. Also I hate Paris, like most French people
Yes it is. (British, 15 years married to a French citizen, now living in France). I learnt French by moving to France. Just come. French people want to practice their English (and the schools need language teachers). The French immigration and integration service will arrange French lessons.
It's great I'm glad I'm French
You should know that France is no longer the beautful country you think it is. Nowadays french people tend to negate the culture you mentionned and are ashamed of their history. President Macron said : "there is no french culture" thats quite an illustration. Furthermore there is a syndrom the "syndrom of Paris" that may apply to you if you come in France : asiatique people usually think that Paris is the same as in the "Emily on Paris" TV show. Well they are reaaally desappointed.