Sorry it’s been so long!

I left the United States on the biggest adventure of my life over seven weeks ago. While it seems like it was only yesterday, it also seems like a lifetime ago. I am very much a planner and, while I tried to plan as much as I could while I was still stateside, I have still found myself considerably overwhelmed by all of the roadblocks and surprises that I have encountered since my arrival in France. Now that things have settled down a bit, I hope to be able to start updating my blog regularly again, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share a list of observations I’ve made about daily life in the south of France.

These observations are in no particular order and are in no way meant to offend or disparage anyone. They’re just things that I’ve observed in day-to-day life that are different than the daily life I was used to in the US. Despite the difficulties, I’ve enjoyed overall the life I’m still in the process of making here. If you can think of anything I’ve missed or if you have any questions about any of these, please feel free to comment and let me know!

• When the men’s room at a store/restaurant is closed, such as for cleaning, the men just use the women’s room (right along with the women; I had to check and make sure I had entered the correct restroom!).
• French people typically don’t knock on a closed bathroom door to see if someone is already using it, they just try the handle or knob (make sure you lock that door!).
• There is dog poo EVERYWHERE. Apparently, there’s no mandate for dog owners to clean up after their dogs and they don’t feel any compulsion so to do.
• French drivers always stop at a yellow light (where I come from, it’s a running joke that a yellow light means go faster so you don’t have to wait at the red).
• French drivers (nearly) always stop for pedestrians trying to cross the road, especially those at a crosswalk.
• Many men, young and old, get up and offer their seats to pregnant or older women or to people carrying lots of things on a bus, tram, or subway (who said chivalry is dead?).
• The French drive like they’re the only ones on the road (they make Massholes look like Sunday drivers!).
• Merging onto the highway is fun; no one feels a need to move over (maybe because there always seems to be an exit immediately after an on-ramp) and everyone passes on both the right and the left.
• Highway exits seem to be right on top of each other and on top of on-ramps and are not well-marked.
• Speed limits on the highway and in town are pretty much adhered to.
• Roundabout lane lines are a joke. No matter where someone is in a roundabout, they still might veer off to the next exit, regardless of how many people they cut off to do so.
• There is a LOT of texting and driving here. There’s also a LOT of phone checking/texting at red lights. Especially given the observation above, I can’t believe there aren’t more accidents.
• French drivers tailgate like nobody’s business, no matter how fast (or slow) the driver ahead of them is going (again, I can’t believe there aren’t more accidents!).
• Motorcyclists drive pretty much however and wherever they want (except for on sidewalks), even on highways (isn’t that what the median and lane lines are for?).
• Bicyclists also drive pretty much however and wherever they want (including on sidewalks).
• Helmets are mandatory for motorcyclists and they all wear them.
• Helmets are supposedly mandatory for bicyclists, but hardly anyone wears them.
• Most cars, either to rent or to buy, have manual transmissions. You can find automatics, but they’re not very common (though I’m told they’re becoming more common here than they were).
• Pharmacies sell only medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. No magazines, candy, or groceries there!
• ONLY pharmacies sell medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. With the exception of basic band-aids, you can’t buy medical supplies or pharmaceuticals at grocery or convenience stores.
• The French love their pharmacies and apparently have over 22,000 of them. Pharmacies in France are like Burger Kings in Puerto Rico (if memory serves); there’s one on every corner. For a funny video about French pharmacies, watch this (warning: NSFW).
• A very large number of people seem to carry folding fans with them to help stave off the heat while waiting in a line, listening to a classroom lecture, or just standing and talking with friends.
• Air conditioning is very rare (the grocery store is probably starting to wonder why I spend so much time in the dairy section).
• Clothes dryers are even more rare than air conditioning.
• Practically the entire country goes on vacation in the month of August (and some in July). You can go up to a business randomly and see a piece of paper stuck to the door that says something along the lines of “on vacation – back on 26th August”.
• The French LOVE pencil cases. LOVE them. They shop for back-to-school pencil cases in the same way that Americans shop for back-to-school clothes!
• Cashiers at stores (at least at large stores) are seated, not standing for hours on end.
• You bring your bags to the store, buy reusable bags at the store, or try to juggle your items. Single-use plastic bags are never seen here and paper carry bags are really only used at food takeaways (like the bakery or McDonald’s).
• There are no screens on doors and windows, no matter how bad the bugs are (and the mosquitoes and tiger mosquitoes here can be VERY bad).
• Almost all doors and windows have metal or wooden shutters. Not only do they help keep out people, the metal shades (called “rolladen” in Germany or sometimes referred to as “roll shutters”) are often electronic and can be closed so tightly that they completely darken a room (truth be told, I don’t know why America hasn’t embraced these more. They’d be great for hurricane/storm areas and they’re perfect for night workers!).
• “Iced tea” comes in a bottle (from Lipton, Honest, or other commercial companies). “Thé glacé” is iced tea that is brewed there (at that restaurant or home). You get really funny looks if you ask if they made/brewed the iced tea.
• You can do very little in France without a French bank account and/or French debit card. Credit cards aren’t widely accepted (easily, anyway).
• “Lait fraîche” is milk that must be kept refrigerated and isn’t used very often. “Lait” is milk that doesn’t require refrigeration and is used much more commonly.
• Eggs aren’t refrigerated (or even necessarily washed off) and are individually stamped with their date of collection.
• There are an inordinate number of yogurt varieties and flavors in France. At the nearest large supermarket, there are three full aisles of just yogurt.
• Amazon.fr is like the redheaded stepsister of Amazon.com (US). There are over 562 million products available on Amazon.com, but “only” just over 200 million products available on Amazon.fr. Most of the items that I’ve looked for that I haven’t been able to find locally haven’t been available on Amazon.fr, either.
• Tipping at a restaurant is not customary here (and is a really hard habit to break).
• Your bank can also supply your home and car insurance.
• Hand sanitizer is very uncommon and really hard to find.
• Shopping carts require a 1€ coin (or plastic token that the store will give you) to release it from the cart before it. When you return the cart, you get your euro or token back (and it must work; in my whole time here, I’ve only seen one cart at the side of the road somewhere).
• The plastic shopping cart tokens also happen to work in lockers (such as at pools) that require a 1€ coin in order to release the key (and you get your token back when you insert the key and open the locker!).
• Pool locker rooms are unisex. There are small changing cubicles that you can go into and lock, but the locker rooms are unisex.
• Nothing here is designed for people much over about 5’8″ or 150 pounds; everything is tiny: roads, bathroom stalls, chairs, parking spaces…
• The largest package of ibuprofen I’ve found was 14 tablets (and that was only one time; since then, I’ve only been able to find packets of 10 tablets). No Sams Club-sized bottles of ibuprofen here!
• If you’re not home when a package delivery is attempted, they take it to a local store for you to pick up that evening.
• Apparently, Times New Roman (which I hate) is the font used for all professional correspondence.
• Most toilets are built into the wall (unlike most toilets in the US) and have separate “liquids” and “solids” flushes.
• Toilet bowls hold very little water and therefore nearly always require a brushing after a “solids deposit”.
• Outlets are always recessed (both in the walls or in power strips).
• Nearly 30% of the French population smokes (it’s around 11% in the US).
• A couple of years ago, a law was passed that bans smoking in restaurants, so now smokers smoke on the restaurant patios. Therefore, the non-smokers have to walk through the cloud of smoke to get into the restaurant’s interior, non-smoking area or have to sit in the cloud of smoke if they want to eat outside.
• Smokers have absolutely no qualms about smoking right next to their babies and children.
• The vast majority of places here are not in any way handicapped-accessible. Newer buildings tend to have elevators or escalators and at least one bathroom stall that is slightly larger, but with the number of very old buildings here, it’s not common. Additionally, many restaurants and businesses have public restrooms that are on the second floor or higher, often without an elevator (one of the local McDonald’s only has restrooms on the third floor, but at least they have an elevator).

Now that I have a bit more of a routine, I’ll try to post more pictures and stories of my travels soon. As always, thanks for reading this! I welcome your feedback or questions!

À la prochaine,

The Expat Maineiac

#expatmaineiac #intlteflacademy #movingtofrance