Lauren from the United States went to work in France and found the experience incredible and eye opening, especially compared to the life she had back home.
Here she shares the things she discovered when living in France which might appeal if you are also interested in going.
Paris is so different to the rest of France it’s like a whole different country.
The bureaucratic system is ridiculous. After seven months here I’m still sorting out paperwork.
Related to number 3: you have to keep every document ever and photocopy everything a hundred times. Do not throw a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g away, no matter how pointless it seems keeping it!
Wine is acceptable at any time of the day.
‘Getting ready and dressing up’ to go out doesn’t really exist. In a club you see girls in dresses dancing side by side with girls in jeans and a t-shirt.
The weather really is better than Britain. I’ve not seen an ounce of frost all winter.
The Eiffel Tower sparkles every hour in the evening and it’s beautiful.2
Queuing is not important here.
If you walk slow in the metro people will hate you because you will make them miss their metro and they will have to wait two minutes for the next one.
You (eventually after lots of paperwork stress and hastle) get a lot of money off the government if you’re young. (CAF and Travel Reimbursement).
Pain au Raisins. Enough said.
There are Fromageries which are shops just for cheese, as well as shops just for wine.
You can sit outside cafés and have a drink and watch the world go by. 8
You have to blend in because people that stand out are hated and stared at.
The French eat really late.
Alcohol in supermarkets is absurdly cheap and alcohol in bars and clubs is ridiculously expensive.
With trains and covoiturage, getting around France is really easy!
Covoiturage (car sharing) is really cheap, fun, safe, and a great way to meet new people.
Paris is fecking expensive.
Do some research and you can find the best happy hours ever! On Thursday I went to a bar where it was 2.75 a pint (8 euros is standard in Paris) and it came with a free meal of Cous Cous, meat and veg!
Most cultural stuff is free for under 25’s if you’re from the EU.
Carrot Rapée and Beterave is the best thing in the whole world.
There’s only ten digits in a French mobile number.
There are Patisseries and Boulangeries on every street.
The amount of homeless people is really sickening. And even worse is the fact that no one seems to be doing anything about it.
Almost everything is closed on Sundays, (or open until 12).
Parties and bars tend to spill out onto the pavement in a wonderful Parisian-like fashion.
France is incredibly pretty.
Everyone drinks Coke Zero and not Diet.
Diet Coke is called Coca Light.
It often costs to use the toilet and sometimes when you get there it’s not even a toilet its more like a hole in the ground.
There are lots of crazy people in Paris and it’s important to try and avoid them.
Châtelet is the bane of everybody’s life. And it smells.
No one says sorry. Even if it’s their fault.
In Paris everyone has tiny dogs because their apartments are so small.
We do not have the same ‘fresh milk culture’.
French people like singing and chanting.
French people are very proud of their patrie and like to buy Made in France. Sorry China.
Make-up is only just growing in popularity. It’s expensive, hard to find and not worn by most women.
The only acceptable colours to wear are black, brown, grey and beige.
Toiletries like shampoo, shower gel, hair dye, make-up wipes etc are expensive here.
The wine is heavenly.
PDA much French people??? ew.
Paul makes the best baguette.1
The artists in the little square at the top of Montmartre are just fabulous and you could watch them for hours.
Everybody smokes. Okay, not everyone, but almost.
Brasseries are full of dodgy men.
The tourist areas of Paris are very nice and friendly and everywhere else is not.
People really do just carry baguettes about the street. And no, they’re not wrapped in protective plastic, you’ll be lucky if you get a bit of paper to protect it from your fingers. It’s so stereotypically I love it!
You will never get sick of the French accent.
Paris is the most stressful place on earth.
Buskers can be really good and funny.
Kebabs taste good in France.
Self- Raising flour is impossible to come by.
Everyone rides scooters.
The two-second driving rule does not exist here. Neither does the one second rule. Or the half a second rule.
The traffic jams on Friday nights and Sunday nights is crazy because everyone wants to leave the city and then everyone has to come back.
People in France do not snack. When I’m trembling with lack of sugar or sneakily scoffing down a Pain au chocolat, they’re smoking and drinking coffee.
Tea does not come with milk.
The alcohol ‘drinking games’ culture doesn’t really exist here. In France you drink to be sociable and because it tastes nice. In Britain you drink to get wankered.
It’s incredibly dangerous to jump into the metro when the doors are beeping and about to close.
Everybody dressed up, even to just go to the corner shop. I once had wet hair from the shower and nipped outside and everyone thought I was a mental person.
Everybody goes jogging to keep fit as gyms are too expensive.
If a shop owner decides he doesn’t want to work today he can just shut his shop when he wants and annoy people.
Places close for lunch for like two hours.
Paris is full of couples on romantic weekend breaks.
Every day I discover something new. Sometimes a secret garden, sometimes a new museum, and today- a huge car park right under the Notre Dame on the island. How bizarre.
Speculoos. It’s just incredible. In biscuit form, in gateau form, in mouse form and most amazingly in spread form. wow. just wow.6
Faising the bis. These cute little cheek kisses just make my life so French.
The French language sounds like someone’s singing a song.
In January there is a huge frangipane cake called a Galette des Rois which you share, and whoever finds a tiny object inside their piece gets to wear a golden crown.7
The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre Dame, the Sacre Coeur, the Chateau de Versailles and all the stereotypical Parisian things are famous because they are just absolutely beautiful and jaw dropping.
Parisian life = metro, boulot, dodo.
Reading Fifty Shades of Grey, or Cinquante Nuances de Gris, on the metro in front of everyone is apparently widely acceptable.
Outdoor food markets can be the most delightfully French places in the world.5
For a country that’s very polite and private about sex, there’s sex shops bloomin everywhere. #pigalle.
In France you can walk over to a special car, pop your credit card in, pay about 80 euros and drive around for the day. #Autolib
When it’s the Sales the shopping centres are packed and you can get some amazing deals!4
People in France really do believe that celebrities’ private lives are private. Look how quickly and nonchalantly they all got over Hollande’s affair!
Pollution: I’ve never lived in a big city before, so I don’t know if it’s like this everywhere, but some days I can’t see to the end of my street. When it got really bad the French government made all public transport free- woohooo!
At the first sight of a tiny problem, French people go on strike.
Children don’t have school uniform.
The Christmas Markets are worth travelling here for. I got some really nice presents in December.
The Cultural differences between France and the UK in terms of jokes/what’s funny/ what’s acceptable/ what’s wrong etc are huge.
French children are generally much better behaved than British children.
You can only really integrate into a country and become fully accepted once you’ve mastered the language. Otherwise, you just can’t be yourself.
Everyone in France loves Primark and longs for one. (Opening this Friday in the North of the Ile de France!!)
Sometimes it’s really great to take a camera and a bright pair of trainers and pretend to be a tourist.
French cinemas aren’t like ours. Often the seats are all on the same level and you can barely see anything.
Love Lock bridges are everywhere and are actually pretty cute.3
There’s graffiti everywhere, but it’s kind of cool.
French car parking involves reversing your car until you bump the car behind and then driving forward until you hit the car in front.
It’s totally acceptable here to go to dinner / a show / the cinema / a museum, alone- something I wouldn’t even think about doing in Wales for fear of someone seeing me and thinking I’d been stood up…
Onesies haven’t quite made it out here yet.
In Paris you either go out for drinks at bars and get a metro back, or stay out the whole night at bars and clubs until the first metro in the morning about half six. Trust me, the night bus is not like in Harry Potter. No one wants that vommy shit.
Life outside of Paris is so laid back and chilled and relaxed and wonderful.
Guinness does not taste like Guinness.
Pétanque and Palet are the cutest traditional little games ever, and it’s totally acceptable for young people to play.
France is huge. No matter how many trips you take, there will always be something beautiful to discover.
and finally… France is 100% full of surprises!
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