My best advice for anyone looking to move to France, or any other country, is to get lost. No seriously. Take a local bus to the end of the line and then walk around a bit. Get off at different stops and just wander. Pop into local shops, buy food at an outdoor market, take time to have a coffee and spend time soaking up the ambiance. Repeat this process every day for a week, each day going in a new and different direction. Get lost and find yourself.
First timer going to France this year on my own hoping to do the above and see if it's a real permanent option. Where would you recommend a starting off point, not sure what part of the country to begin this journey!
🇫🇷❤️Karen, I love your sharing from your heart with us the journey you have taken to marry to emigrate to France. At age 20, I traveled alone to France in the early 70s to live for a year. Self sufficient, I had to create an income, find a place to live and create a life. And go to University. I must say it wasnt easy, it took my all to find my way at such a young age. I return to France several times a year with so many memories of that young woman now 73 years old. and so glad I lived my dream which at times was so much work! I must say French bread and butter and pastries brought such daily joy as they still do on my trips. I appreciate and honor your journey.
What a marvelous comment from a clearly amazing woman! Brava! That is such an accomplishment. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you've shared a bit of your story here, and so much comes through in your reflection--the joy, the effort and the wisdom. Merci merci et bonne continuation :-)
Been to France (specifically Paris) I think 5 times, if I counted correctly. Last time was two years ago (2022) just before Christmas. My wife and I plan on retiring in a couple of years and moving to Europe. I'd prefer France; she'd prefer Germany, since she's German, has family there, and speaks German and no French. My French is much better than my German (I learned both in school oh so many years ago), and… the food. We tend not to do the typical touristy things, though we did go to the Eiffel Tower (again) last time, and did a Seine dinner cruise. But funny you mentioned doing “normal” things because we did a lot of that… going to two places (French only) to try to get a replacement laptop charger, trying to get my watch battery replaced (also French), going to a pharmacy a couple of times, buying sandwiches and baguettes (nearly every day) from a local place across the street, going Christmas shopping for relatives, or in 2019 when I had to go buy a new carry-on suitcase. And we both have Navigo Decouverte cards, so we kinda feel more like locals taking the Metro. I've never gone grocery shopping in France, but have multiple times elsewhere, like Germany. Amusingly, the differences are becoming fewer as more and more places in the US make you bag your own groceries, and more and more, you bring your own reusable bags. Funny thing is I don’t ever feel that culture shock. People are PEOPLE. Yeah there are minor differences in protocol, habits, attitudes, etc. But apart from just knowing, for instance, that you ALWAYS say hello to a shopkeeper when you walk in, or that you have to ask for the bill at a restaurant, I've never noticed huge differences. If you understand the slight differences… people are still people. I love Paris. Among the sheer beauty everywhere, it is a great place to be a home base to spend years traveling around the rest of Europe. And you can get just about anything you need or want. My wife doesn’t want to move there, partly because she says why move to a big city from another big city (we live in LA). She wants someplace smaller (though not microscopic) and closer to her family in the south of Germany. We’re thinking maybe Strasbourg, though neither of us have ever been there. Plus, Paris real estate is worse than LA and we just couldn’t afford even a smallish condo like we have here in LA (little over 100 sm). I've been trying to slowly improve (and remember) my French, but haven’t really put in serious effort because I just don’t have the time right now. I watch French videos and such, but little else. Thanks for a great video, and great seeing a new one after quite some time (you unfortunately don’t post often).
You make so many good points in this comment and it’s so great that you adopt the spirit of jumping right in. Strasbourg is WONDERFUL ! I was just there for the first time and loved it and it’s so close to so many things. Definitely recommend checking it out. Also, Paris real estate-I know what you mean!!! Keep going with your French and best of luck with your search 😃
I am in the best position: retired, easy visa process (well, apart from the bureaucracy!), and although i know I will need to get social connections soon, I am 100% an introvert and I am delighted to be able to merge into French society on my own timetable! The digs? I am already teaching them the French for meals, walks, treats, bedtime, etc. 🤣 My jump date is end of May!
Hi Karen Your comments are good. You don't know until you leave to live abroad whether it will work or not. As a Frenchman, I spent 25 days in America (Indiana). I met some wonderful people and discovered a fascinating country. However, I realized that I wasn't cut out for exile and I returned to France. I understood that I was in love with a dream and that I was running away from personal problems, and that by emigrating I was only making the situation worse. As you put it, I was leaving my “comfort zone”. Luckily, I understood this, and was able to work on myself and improve. Looking back, I'd say my experience in America was one of the most beneficial of my life. To sum up, there are three possible scenarios: 1. You emigrate and things go well, so much the better. 2. You emigrate, it goes badly, but you profit from your failure, so much the better. 3. You emigrate, it goes badly and you blame your failure on the natives. That's the worst. That's why your advice is so important: There are wise and they help cushion the blow.
Merci pour ce commentaire ! I love the way you summed it up. Also just saying, your English is flawless. As a French language learner myself, I give you so much respect for that accomplishment ! Also, knowing what you need is the key to everything, so Bravo!!
🇺🇸 🎄Hello Karen, thank you for sharing with your experience and good spirit. We are planning to visit France and now we have started to learn French from the very beginning - love and enjoy the process with little success 😅. With love 🌹🎄
Trying to make my dream to move to France from US be realized. But am working on how to get additional income so that I can live there comfortably. If you are seeking a jack-of-all trades experienced employee with a strong work ethic, I’d be so interested. And I do speak some French - learned it in middle school and now learning conversational French.
The work thing is probably the most challenging bc you’ll need a visa. I’d suggest checking out a website called expat in France and just get familiar w the options so you can plan. Thanks for being here!! Bonne continuation :-)
pour un américain anglophone, Il faut vraiment en avoir envie pour s'installer en france. Le plus simple serait d'aller en angleterre, ensuite, la belgique, ensuite, les pays anglo saxon comme l'allemagne et les pays du nord, suede, danemark, etc ... Mais pour le climat, la nourriture, la diversité des paysages, l'architecture, la culture ... Personnellement ... Il n'y a rien ... Dans le monde ... qui concentre tous ces aspect, que la france .... Je ne connait aucun pays qui, sur une surface aussi petite, concentre une telle diversité de micro climats, ça vient de la position de ce pays sur la carte du monde et de son relief ... C'est un pays qui est bordé par l'ocean l'atlantique, la mer du nord, et la méditerranée, il y a aussi des massifs montagneux qui bordent ses frontières, comme les alpes ou les pyrénnées ... Tout ça fait qu'en quelques kilomètres, tout change, l'architecture, le climat, les coutumes, la nourriture ... Je ne connais pas d'équivalent ailleurs ... 🤔🤔
Bravo ! Exactement - Elle est magnifique la France 🇫🇷 merci pour votre commentaire qui donne envie de tout découvrir de ce pays extraordinaire ✨Oui il y a des défis mais ça vaut la peine !
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My best advice for anyone looking to move to France, or any other country, is to get lost. No seriously. Take a local bus to the end of the line and then walk around a bit. Get off at different stops and just wander. Pop into local shops, buy food at an outdoor market, take time to have a coffee and spend time soaking up the ambiance. Repeat this process every day for a week, each day going in a new and different direction. Get lost and find yourself.
Fantastic advice! Thank you so much for sharing--I think it will help folks and it's exactly in the spirit intended :-)
First timer going to France this year on my own hoping to do the above and see if it's a real permanent option. Where would you recommend a starting off point, not sure what part of the country to begin this journey!
🇫🇷❤️Karen, I love your sharing from your heart with us the journey you have taken to marry to emigrate to France. At age 20, I traveled alone to France in the early 70s to live for a year. Self sufficient, I had to create an income, find a place to live and create a life. And go to University. I must say it wasnt easy, it took my all to find my way at such a young age. I return to France several times a year with so many memories of that young woman now 73 years old. and so glad I lived my dream which at times was so much work! I must say French bread and butter and pastries brought such daily joy as they still do on my trips. I appreciate and honor your journey.
What a marvelous comment from a clearly amazing woman! Brava! That is such an accomplishment. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you've shared a bit of your story here, and so much comes through in your reflection--the joy, the effort and the wisdom. Merci merci et bonne continuation :-)
Been to France (specifically Paris) I think 5 times, if I counted correctly. Last time was two years ago (2022) just before Christmas.
My wife and I plan on retiring in a couple of years and moving to Europe. I'd prefer France; she'd prefer Germany, since she's German, has family there, and speaks German and no French. My French is much better than my German (I learned both in school oh so many years ago), and… the food.
We tend not to do the typical touristy things, though we did go to the Eiffel Tower (again) last time, and did a Seine dinner cruise.
But funny you mentioned doing “normal” things because we did a lot of that… going to two places (French only) to try to get a replacement laptop charger, trying to get my watch battery replaced (also French), going to a pharmacy a couple of times, buying sandwiches and baguettes (nearly every day) from a local place across the street, going Christmas shopping for relatives, or in 2019 when I had to go buy a new carry-on suitcase. And we both have Navigo Decouverte cards, so we kinda feel more like locals taking the Metro.
I've never gone grocery shopping in France, but have multiple times elsewhere, like Germany. Amusingly, the differences are becoming fewer as more and more places in the US make you bag your own groceries, and more and more, you bring your own reusable bags.
Funny thing is I don’t ever feel that culture shock. People are PEOPLE. Yeah there are minor differences in protocol, habits, attitudes, etc. But apart from just knowing, for instance, that you ALWAYS say hello to a shopkeeper when you walk in, or that you have to ask for the bill at a restaurant, I've never noticed huge differences. If you understand the slight differences… people are still people.
I love Paris. Among the sheer beauty everywhere, it is a great place to be a home base to spend years traveling around the rest of Europe. And you can get just about anything you need or want. My wife doesn’t want to move there, partly because she says why move to a big city from another big city (we live in LA). She wants someplace smaller (though not microscopic) and closer to her family in the south of Germany. We’re thinking maybe Strasbourg, though neither of us have ever been there.
Plus, Paris real estate is worse than LA and we just couldn’t afford even a smallish condo like we have here in LA (little over 100 sm).
I've been trying to slowly improve (and remember) my French, but haven’t really put in serious effort because I just don’t have the time right now. I watch French videos and such, but little else.
Thanks for a great video, and great seeing a new one after quite some time (you unfortunately don’t post often).
You make so many good points in this comment and it’s so great that you adopt the spirit of jumping right in.
Strasbourg is WONDERFUL ! I was just there for the first time and loved it and it’s so close to so many things. Definitely recommend checking it out.
Also, Paris real estate-I know what you mean!!!
Keep going with your French and best of luck with your search 😃
YOUR SKIN LOOKS LOVELY KAREN!!!!
Merci !! It's the glow of happiness and the French pharmacy products hee hee
@karenbussen WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING, KEEP IT UP!!!!
I am in the best position: retired, easy visa process (well, apart from the bureaucracy!), and although i know I will need to get social connections soon, I am 100% an introvert and I am delighted to be able to merge into French society on my own timetable! The digs? I am already teaching them the French for meals, walks, treats, bedtime, etc. 🤣 My jump date is end of May!
So exciting ! Wishing you all the best and bienvenue en France 🇫🇷
Hi Karen
Your comments are good.
You don't know until you leave to live abroad whether it will work or not. As a Frenchman, I spent 25 days in America (Indiana). I met some wonderful people and discovered a fascinating country. However, I realized that I wasn't cut out for exile and I returned to France.
I understood that I was in love with a dream and that I was running away from personal problems, and that by emigrating I was only making the situation worse. As you put it, I was leaving my “comfort zone”.
Luckily, I understood this, and was able to work on myself and improve. Looking back, I'd say my experience in America was one of the most beneficial of my life.
To sum up, there are three possible scenarios: 1. You emigrate and things go well, so much the better. 2. You emigrate, it goes badly, but you profit from your failure, so much the better. 3. You emigrate, it goes badly and you blame your failure on the natives. That's the worst.
That's why your advice is so important: There are wise and they help cushion the blow.
Merci pour ce commentaire ! I love the way you summed it up. Also just saying, your English is flawless. As a French language learner myself, I give you so much respect for that accomplishment !
Also, knowing what you need is the key to everything, so Bravo!!
la France te réussit Karen, tu es radieuse littéralement, je te souhaite une super année 2025 à toi et ta famille dans notre beau pays =)
C'est vraiment gentil 😊 ! Belle et heureuse année à toi aussi. Beaucoup de choses à découvrir en 2025 :-)
Beautiful video! ❤ Just what I needed, wow! Thanks. ✨
You made my day. I really appreciate your taking the time to write, and so happy to know it might help you! Greetings from France :-)
I adore your videos! Merci beaucoup!! ❤
Merci à vous ! ✨
🇺🇸 🎄Hello Karen, thank you for sharing with your experience and good spirit. We are planning to visit France and now we have started to learn French from the very beginning - love and enjoy the process with little success 😅. With love 🌹🎄
Just keep going! Petit à petit and you'll get there. Bonne continuation :-)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
You too--bonnes fêtes !
Trying to make my dream to move to France from US be realized. But am working on how to get additional income so that I can live there comfortably. If you are seeking a jack-of-all trades experienced employee with a strong work ethic, I’d be so interested. And I do speak some French - learned it in middle school and now learning conversational French.
The work thing is probably the most challenging bc you’ll need a visa. I’d suggest checking out a website called expat in France and just get familiar w the options so you can plan. Thanks for being here!! Bonne continuation :-)
great advice
Thank you so much for watching and for your comment!
pour un américain anglophone, Il faut vraiment en avoir envie pour s'installer en france. Le plus simple serait d'aller en angleterre, ensuite, la belgique, ensuite, les pays anglo saxon comme l'allemagne et les pays du nord, suede, danemark, etc ... Mais pour le climat, la nourriture, la diversité des paysages, l'architecture, la culture ... Personnellement ... Il n'y a rien ... Dans le monde ... qui concentre tous ces aspect, que la france .... Je ne connait aucun pays qui, sur une surface aussi petite, concentre une telle diversité de micro climats, ça vient de la position de ce pays sur la carte du monde et de son relief ... C'est un pays qui est bordé par l'ocean l'atlantique, la mer du nord, et la méditerranée, il y a aussi des massifs montagneux qui bordent ses frontières, comme les alpes ou les pyrénnées ... Tout ça fait qu'en quelques kilomètres, tout change, l'architecture, le climat, les coutumes, la nourriture ... Je ne connais pas d'équivalent ailleurs ... 🤔🤔
Bravo ! Exactement - Elle est magnifique la France 🇫🇷 merci pour votre commentaire qui donne envie de tout découvrir de ce pays extraordinaire ✨Oui il y a des défis mais ça vaut la peine !