COST: Around £2000 (£13.07 a day)

CURRENCY: Euro €

DATE: 29th December 2020 - 30rd May 2021

DURATION: 153 days

AGE: 19/20

TOP APPS: Google translate/Cake

I lived in Montpellier, a city in the South of France, in a banlieue with my ex (Stan) and his family. Aside from time here, we visited Lyon, Normandy and Paris.

Living for 5 months in France taught me a lot. Yet, unlike, my other adventures, due to covid there was not much opportunity to travel, but what more can I ask for? I got to experience more or less a year abroad of uni while many other students in the UK lived at home. I count myself very lucky.

This adventure will describe some insights and challenges, as well as a few highlights. So without further ado, here is my experience française:

🔵 Montpellier in the blue
🔴 Lyon in the pink region
🟡 Normandy/Paris up the top

Insights

Understanding French culture:
I started to make a list of quintessential French things (l’argot, les bisous, l’apéro) but then realised you can’t reduce a whole culture into words. The language, the mannerisms, the jokes, the food - the impalpable vibe is impossible to adequately describe with words. So i’m not going to try + I don’t just want to propagate stereotypes (but yes I did eat a lot of baguettes 🥖🥐). My advice? if you want to understand a culture, live it. Also, if you want to piss of the French, cut up their potatoes while making raclette ;)
A historical window to the French past and a deeper understanding of the present:
Before living in France I had little idea of France’s colonial past, the Paris attacks/Islamophobia or how any of these factors make modern France the ‘Republic’ it is today. Being able to better understand these factors has helped my awareness of issues shaping France and ultimately the current state of world affairs.
Understanding works of art
By works of art I mean not just paintings (which France has lots of), but movies such as Madame Claude, singers from Edith Piaf to Bon Entendeur or Pomme, philosophers such as Blaise Pascal, not to mention the patisserie which I believe to be works of art in their own right.
Perceiving how the other countries in Europe view the UK:
Whenever I overheard ‘l’anglais’ (the english), I would always make sure to listen in. From what I heard, Brits are viewed as folks who drink a lot, are polite, and the girls think the guys have cute accents.

Challenges

Isolation: living in France made me really understand how British I am. Picture the UK on a map, surrounded by water. This is often how I felt in France. A sole island, surrounded by a language I didn’t yet understand, just bobbing around making the best of things. Mais c’est la vie!
Coronavirus :( enough said.
Difficulty making friends (see above)
The French language, because:
a) everything is gendered
b) the order of people are switched, so ‘I told you’ becomes ‘je te dit’ (I you said)
and c) the above point is especially true when you miss someone or something e.g. I miss the pub = Le pub me manque (literally, the pub misses me)
Aside from that, once you get past the pronunciation, conjugation and grammar, you’re sorted! 😭

Moments

The European vibes; scooters - architecture - heritage - ciggaretes
Mille-feuille and other ridiculously good pâtisseries
The park and lake near the 17 story apartment block where I lived. I loved having this space as my back garden when I needed to breathe, go for a walk, practice yoga or run. I would have lost my mind without this.
Exploring les rues of Montpellier
Runs along the river Rhône in Lyon
Visiting good friends from Thabarwa in Normandy and seeing the regional difference between the sunny, cosmopolitan, South and the rural, rainier, North

Staying at a friend’s 100-year-old chateaux just South of Paris; seeing the cellar (where they make wine), the grounds (where we saw deer), reading books (written in the 1880s) and seeing rooms where prisoners were kept when the Nazis occupied the house!
Raclette
Getting a part-time job (trying) to teach a little girl some English
Spending Valentine’s day in a hotel in the city centre
Wandering around markets, back streets and churches (especially on my b-day when I also bought some fabulous rum)
The tiramisu Stan’s mum makes
Going to the beach 🏖️