American expat Owen describes what it's like living in Toulouse, France, where the pace of life is more laid back and the locals are warm and welcoming. Owen also gives a number of tips and information on topics like the cost of housing in Toulouse and adjusting to cultural differences. |
 Owen Peery |
-Where were you born?
New Jersey, ummmmm Metropolitan NYC I mean.
-In which country and city are you living now?
-Are you living alone or with your family?
-How long have you been living in France?
We have lived in France for 5 months and here in Toulouse for 3 months.-What is your age?
36 years old, that's not very nice.
-When did you come up with the idea of living in France?
My partner is French and had lived in the US for many years and was feeling it was becoming time to return. I on the other hand had been growing more and more unhappy with living in the US. During the whole Bush presidency we heard many people rattle on about how they were leaving and it was so intolerable and then they stayed. The steady march of the US to the right was a big factor in finally deciding to move as was the Bush presidency but there is more to it than that. Some of the complaints we had about the US were not fantasy ideas. They were ideas that were being implemented in other countries or had been implemented for many years so we knew they were possible. Sometimes I think the left tends to engage in too much wishful thinking with ideas that will never happen. So when we considered our complaints, healthcare, quality of life, affordability, access to high quality food, importance placed on culture, intelligence not considered suspect, etc., we decided it was time for France.
-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?It was not impossible but it was not easy either. We are PACSed in France so it was easier for me than for those of you with no French in your family, but I still had to originally come on a student VISA and next year I can convert it. I wrote a funny story about my VISA appointment on my blog. Read about it here: http://francetales.com/2007/09/27/visa-received-day-of-pain-over
-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?I looked into medical insurance because I thought I was going to go on a non-working VISA and that is required for that kind of VISA. I was planning on taking French language classes anyway so when I found out the Alliance Française classes qualified me for a student VISA, if I enrolled in 3 months of intensive course, I decided to go on a student VISA. The big benefit . . . ALL students are covered by Securité Sociale. I didn't have to pay for a private option. I have health insurance just for being a student. Now who values education?
-How do you make your living in France? Do you have any type of income generated?We have a small income from the US that will allow us to live on a budget for about 2 years before we absolutely have to work so we are in a good position. Since the dollar is so crappy we are going to find work before then though. I just got a job teaching English in an Engineering Graduate Program. I was a teacher for 8 years in the US so I'm sure that helped me to get such a nice job. It is not that many hours a week but it is fine for now and it pays in Euros. I do get 3-4 hours in a row which is nice.
There is a group of Americans in Toulouse that we joined. They send a newsletter out each month and once in a while they list employers that are looking for English speakers. I sent a company they listed a link to my online resume. They were really looking for someone to teach more specialized technical language so it was a perfect fit for me since I taught computer science for years.
I also earn a little bit of money from my blog through ads and affiliate sales, *cough cough cough* http://www.francetales.com. I hope this will grow and the amount of work I have to do will decrease, I mean going somewhere else to work. Maintaining a blog is work and there is mundane stuff like promoting and generating traffic but overall I'd rather do that than go to an office each day.
I think we will try to do some private English tutoring as well. Lots of ideas and the work situation is not as bad as people say in France, at least not in the big cities.
I also create online video training tutorials for a company called Atomic Learning but since the dollar is so bad it doesn't make sense to spend too much time earning in dollars, at least until I have exhausted all my other options.
Anyone have any other ideas for earning?
-Do you speak French and do you think it's important to speak the local language?All I can say is of course. Except Occitan is really the local language, sort of, and I definitely don't speak it. I don't know why you would want to live in another country and not learn the language and traditions. I can see if you were only going to be somewher for 3-4 months but still I would take classes and try anyway.
-Do you miss home and family sometimes?
My family is here and home is where you make it. I have moved a few times in my life and it is hard to leave friends but with the internet you can stay in touch with people so easily. We have this internet, TV, telephone system called Livebox and we get unlimited free calls to like 17 countries so we can call our friends worldwide easily. The only problem is the time difference. We lived in Berkeley, CA for many years and by the time the timing is right to call there after a work day, for them, it is very late for us. I miss knowing where everything is, how to get anywhere, where to buy special foods for special meals, and knowing exactly how things work and are supposed to work. But other than that, it is still a new and exciting time for me.
-Do you have other plans for the future?
Create a few more websites to try to earn more online, travel to as many countries in Europe as possible as they are all so close, go back to school for User Interface Design so if I have to work I can get a decent job with a European degree, go to Morocco in April for a vacation at the beach even though the weather has been incredibly mild this winter, continue learning French, brush up on my Spanish - in Toulouse there are many people from Spain, make friends, live comfortably.
-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?We decided to rent for the first year or so in case we didn't like it and didn't want to stay. We moved from CA to Philadelphia and bought 2 places immediately. Financially it was a great investment but after about 3 years we realized we really didn't like it there. If we hadn't owned those places we might have picked up and moved sooner. We stayed another 2 years and sold one house and rented the other. We didn't want to make the same mistake in Toulouse. One or two years of renting is not so bad. Then we'll know the neighborhoods better and where we want to live, etc. It's not that I think we won't like living here but if it is too hard to earn here and buy a place and live comfortably we won't stay, at least then we are more flexible.
We live in a 2-bedroom apt that costs 730€ a month, it is a top floor apt with an unobstructed view and a balcony on the front and a good sized terrace on the back. It was a special situation only available for a year and maybe a few months beyond that. That is why it was so inexpensive. Leases are usually for 3 years so they were having trouble finding someone for the apt. The owner is a professor teaching in Germany now and will be returning next year. For us it was perfect, the timing, but for most others it was a deterrent.
The price of housing in Toulouse is not cheap but nothing compared to NYC, London, Paris, etc. It is hard to characterize how much something would cost here. It seems to vary a lot not just on the neighborhood but the style of housing. Toulouse has a beautiful old center but has many rings of ugly 50's-70's apt buildings. Many of which are not so bad inside the units if you like contemporary furnishings but they do lack charm. You can find a decent apt in one of these kinds of buildings close to or in the center for a reasonable price. For a much smaller apt but in a beautiful neighborhood in a 500-year-old building you can pay 2-3 times as much, sometimes even in the same neighborhood.
We have been told that we can find a 2-bedroom apt with parking and a terrace in the center for 200-250K € that might need some work and we can find a small Maison Toulousain at the edge of the center with 2 bedrooms but with a small garden for under 300K €. That is what we are looking for.
-What is the cost of living in France?Food is inexpensive and fantastic but taxes taxes taxes there are a plenty, but at least you get something for them. The rents are reasonable. Clothes and shoes are very expensive, earn some euros and then go to the US, it will be cheaper. Electronics are more expensive too. We live on a budget so these things haven't been too tempting. Insurance is very cheap, our car insurance costs like 34€ a month, we have a 2002 Alfa Romeo, I'd pay quadruple that in the States.
-What do you think about the French?Toulouse is a ville of the south. They are very kind and gentle and warm. If anything they speak to me slower and are more welcoming to me when they discover I am from the US. I think they don't look at people as foreigners, just as people. I truly think they treat people very well. It might be because Airbus is located here and they are used to Airbus and foreigners being a significant force in their economy, but I think if you are kind here you are treated well. They talk badly about Parisians so I think they pride themselves on being more open and accepting of people than Parisians.
-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in France?
This is too complicated to answer here. Read my blog as I comment on this all the time: http://www.francetales.com
Negative, work is hard to come by if you don't have a specialized skill or are not at least a citizen of an EU country.
Positive, everything you ever imagined, and more.
-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in France?
Learn French, watch a lot before you judge, remember your lack of cultural competence is normal and expected, AND will probably be the cause of your not understanding things, not "French arrogance". I do not mean to suggest the French are perfect but cultural competence is a huge factor in how people feel towards the place they live, if you are not working on improving yours, you will have bad experiences.
-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about France?Look at my links page. There are many resources there. Some are good for practical information and some are good for ideas about where to live. If you are an American I'd try to find info about Americans rather than British. There are a lot of Brits living here but what they have to do to live here and what Americans have to do to live here is very different so even though the language will be the same you won't find the info as useful. It took me a while to really get this.
