Resources for expats in France

Chantecoles - Songs in French

essonneimage — 2008-11-29T12:06:23Z

Under construction

Contact

essonneimage — 2008-11-01T12:43:07Z

If you would like to know more about reciprocal link exchanges, advertising, social get togethers in the Paris area or indeed about anything you've read on our site and sister sites; please use this handy form to contact us!

RSS Feeds

essonneimage — 2008-10-22T16:28:01Z

Here you will find all the RSS feeds for this site and all groups and blogs that we are involved with. You can subscribe to these feeds using a reader.

Just click one of the links below:

Essonne Image
Images of France
English Speakers in France Google Group
English Speakers in France Photo Album
Anglophones in Essonne Google Group
Bye by England... Off to France... Blog
English Pere Au Foyer in France Blog
Leicester & Leicestershire Google Group
www.busphotosforsale.com

English Speakers in France Facebook Page

essonneimage — 2008-10-17T23:10:32Z

On the popular networking site we have our very own English Speakers in France page, which is proving popular. If you wish to network with fellow Anglophone residents of France, why not pay us a visit?

Find English Speakers in France

essonneimage — 2008-10-17T10:20:13Z

Here you will find an interactive fan map for our Facebook Page.

ADD YOUR LOCATION ON THE MAP: Click "Join" and then search for your location. Remember to add your email address if you want to be contacted directly!

CONNECT WITH PEOPLE ON THE MAP: You can email those on the map by clicking their icon, if they haven't left an email you can leave a message on the map itself.

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France from an Armchair

essonneimage — 2008-10-12T09:36:26Z
- Holidaying

Meet Up Photo Album

essonneimage — 2008-10-11T11:04:52Z

Here you can view a Flickr album of photos taken at our numerous group meet ups from the year 2000 until the present day. Check out the English Speakers in France Google group if you'd like to know more.

Wifi Zones

essonneimage — 2008-10-09T07:56:10Z

Wifi Hotspot Search Engine

Wifi access in France is growing a-pace, but due to the rural nature of much of the country there are plenty of places where a connection doesn't exist. For example, we recently passed our holidays in St Pons de Thomières in the Hérault. There was no Wifi at all, and most households there were still running on 512k "bas debit" ADSL.

La Mairie de Paris has started a programme of blanket Wifi - the idea being that you can connect literally everywhere. But for everyone else access is available in most hotels, at the cheaper end of the market Premier Classe offer "free" Wifi. Otherwise there is McDonalds, Starbucks and some of the local mairies.

Travelling through France on the autoroute network there are very few "stations service" that have Wifi access.

In the coming years hopefully things will improve, keep an eye on our site for any changes.

Hotspot Locator

Address

Zip Code / Post Code

State / Province

Country

City

Distance Radius (Miles)

Links

essonneimage — 2008-10-08T12:19:43Z

If you have a France related home page, we'd love to exchange links with you. In this section you can do just that - we have a DIY service or you can contact us about exchanging sites by using the link at the top of this page.

Yes, up there above the title...

Interview

essonneimage — 2008-10-05T21:28:33Z

John with Isabelle & their son Rémy.

Where were you born? Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England.

In which country and city are you living now? Near Evry in the Essonne, about 40km south of Paris, France.

Are you living alone or with your family? Living with my French girlfriend, our son Rémy (born 19/05/07) and our batty dog, Chipie.

How long have you been living there?
Since August 1997.

When did you come up with the idea of living in France (and what factors helped your decision)? I met my French girlfriend in 1996 and after a year of us both "commuting" between England and France to see each other, I decided to quit my job and move in with her.

Do you speak French and do you think it's important to speak it?
Yes I now speak French - however, the process of learning the language while living in a foreign country is very difficult. In particular not being able to understand what people are saying/joining in a conversation. You have to really persevere with it. Personally I find it **very** important to speak French here. English speakers have a bad reputation as it is, expecting the French to speak English to them. Admittedly there are quite a few French people that do like speaking English, but believe it or not, not all French people can actually speak it. Living in France means you should integrate as much as possible - whether that be celebrating fêtes, eating French food or in life in general. Generally I do as the French do - however, here in the home we share both English and French cultures. It's really like I'm French outside and English at home. Having said that, I rarely speak English these days - unless I see English speaking friends.

Do you miss home and family sometimes?
Yes I miss my home country to an extent, and get to go back there once a year to every 18 months. My family have never visited me in France, so I think that is one thing that has disappointed me. But it's great to at least see them on my infrequent visits. Aside from my family I miss English TV, because French television is so terrible, foodstuffs that you can't get in France, and the countryside back home.

Do you have other plans for the future?
Just to be happy here with our little family and learn to be a good Home Dad.

What do you think about the locals (also how they treat foreigners)? In the Paris and île de France area, people are quite introverted. They go to work and then they come home and are generally very "family" orientated. My village is one where there are no shops, and during the day it's very much dead. Back home in the UK I was so used to seeing crowds of people everywhere, something I don't see to the same volume here in my local area. I've found that people are in general quite friendly, but making friends does seem to take a lot of time. The French friends I have, I know I can rely on.

What are the positive and negative aspects of living in France? For me, the negative points have been difficulty in getting employment from nothing and in general so many jobs seem to only pay the minimum wage, known as the "SMIC". Getting through paperwork can be quite a challenge. The lifestyle in France is much better than in the UK, and why I think so many English people move to France to live. Admittedly life outside of the greater Paris area is a lot better. Food is far more interesting despite my love of basic English cuisine - I love French cheese and food in general - the variety is amazing. The climate, even in the Paris area, is better than back home and the great thing about France is that there is so much you can see and do in it's diverse regions. I love going on holiday here - it's a lot cheaper than taking holidays in the UK.

Do you have any tips for readers about living in France? Make sure you can at least speak passable French and have a job to come to.

Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about anything related to France and/or living there?
I run a group for expats called
English Speakers in France.
My blogs are...
Bye Bye England... Off to France
Pere au Foyer in France

You can find further expat groups and sites by clicking here.

Updated 1 October 2008.

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