| There are some things that Lauren misses about the USA, but for the most part, she's enjoying living in Paris, France. Adjusting to some of the quirks of French life hasn't taken away from the experience of living in another country, as she tells us here. She also gives some tips on issues like dealing with the French, and some simple, easy things to do to enjoy life in the City of Light. |
 Lauren Elkin |
February 10 2007
-Where were you born?
Long Island, NY, USA
-In which country and city are you living now?
Paris, France
-Are you living alone or with your family?
I share my apartment with a 6 pound furball named Baxter
-How long have you been living in France?
Since 2004, after previous séjours in 1999 and 2002.
-What is your age?
28 years, 3.5 months
-When did you come up with the idea of living in France?
I studied abroad in Paris when I was an undergraduate at Columbia. All it took was a month for me to fall deeply, irrevocably in love with Paris. It was a total shock—I'm a lifelong Anglophile and had always thought I would end up in England. But no—France is it.
-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?
It's difficult every time—every year I have to renew my carte de sejour and I never know what the next year will bring. It is extremely precarious and stressful. Luckily, as an academic, and a native English speaker at that, I have skills that are considered by the French to be marketable, which have made it easier to find an employer to arrange my working papers for me than if I were in a different field.
-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?
Thanks to France's socialized medical system, I'm covered.
-How do you make your living in France? Do you have any type of income generated?
For the moment I am a lectrice d'anglais at the University of Paris X, I'm finishing my first novel, and I do some freelance writing on the side. I started out as a teaching assistant at the IUFM (the graduate school for education where all French teachers train); that program was sponsored by the French embassy. In the future I plan to continue this combination of teaching, research, and writing. But I would do this anywhere, it has little to do with the fact that I live abroad.
-Do you speak French and do you think it's important to speak the local language?
Yes, I speak the language; in France, you can probably get by, not speaking French, but to be socially accepted and to advance professionally, you must speak French. It's charming to be a foreigner but unless you want to spend all your time on the outside looking in, you must make a concerted effort to assimilate.
-Do you miss home and family sometimes?
All the time—I miss my family a lot. There is little I miss about the US, except perhaps the familiarity of everything, and the immediate shared body of cultural references (for example, the Soup Nazi, Oprah Winfrey). But I feel right here in France in a way I never felt right there.
-Do you have other plans for the future?
I have a five year plan. It involves becoming a naturalized French citizen, assuming they approve my application! And finishing my PhD, and writing the next couple of novels I have planned out.
-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?
I currently rent a one-bedroom apartment in the 13th arrondissement; it costs less than 1000 euros a month here, but would cost upwards of 1800 dollars a month in New York City. I plan to buy an apartment here in the next couple of years.
-What is the cost of living in France?
It depends; I find it to be utterly manageable on my graduate student income, which hovers decidedly around the poverty line. I'm supposed to get government assistance on my flat, but I'm in the midst of applying for it. But when you factor in the 20% VAT tax they add onto everything--clothes, food, books-- the cost of living gets much higher than it normally would be.
-What do you think about the French people?
They're wonderful but honestly not much different from New Yorkers. There have been times when I've fumed at the way I've been treated by some people here, mainly waiters and state workers, but I have a rather sharp tongue and I rarely am mistreated without lashing back at the offender. That's something I would like to get under control, actually, because you don't get what you want in this city by being rude to people. You get it by not taking no for an answer and not letting them walk all over you. You have to find the right balance between politesse and "don't mess with me."
-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in France?
The only negative aspect about France, aside from the fact that my family doesn't live here, is the basic feeling that on a technical level, things don't work very well here: websites make no sense, EDF will turn your electricity off for no apparent reason, the loops of bureaucracy ensure that no one person will ever be able to help you and you'll get royally screwed whilst you're running around trying to find someone who can. You'll buy an expensive train ticket on the SNCF and find out you don't actually have a seat, you're just expected to stand the three hours to La Rochelle. You'll get to work one day and the secretaries won't be in their office even though they're supposed to be there at 830, but you have to give an exam at 9 and the copies of the test are locked inside. Things like that. But everything else is positive.
-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in France?
Rome wasn't built in a day. Why should your life be any different? Give it time, hang in there, don't stress out or take anything personally. Just go get a hot chocolate on a terrasse somewhere and allow yourself to breathe in your surroundings, glad you came in spite of it all.
-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about France?
There's my site, of course, Maitresse, and the site I'm presently developing, a sort of blog guide to literary Paris called Notes From the Left Bank. And of course there's Parisist (parisist.com), which is an irreverent, brilliant group blog about Paris that is part of the Gothamist network. I also think Rue Rude ( www.ruerude.com) is fantastic, but she's moving to California, although her archives will still be up. And The Paris Blog (www.theparisblog.com ) supplies a wonderful array of Paris bloggers and their quirky lives every day.
