Our First 3 Months in France – Surprises, Challenges and What We Miss!

Our First 3 Months in France – Surprises, Challenges and What We Miss!

I mean, we gave up a lot to come here, but we have gained so much. Hi, we’re Brandy and Todd. Last year, we quit our jobs, sold our house and most of our belongings. Despite not having been to France in over 30 years, we applied for a longay visa and got it. Now, we live in Nice, France with a 3-year lease on an unfernished apartment. And here’s our honest take of what the first three months have really been like. Hi everybody and welcome back. Uh we have now been in Nice for three months and honestly it’s been amazing. It’s really been uh just a great experience. Now, I know we’re in the honeymoon phase and I know uh we’re probably going to get frustrated as we move forward, but today we’re going to share with you some of the things that uh maybe surprised us or challenged us and what’s different. Now, as we talk about this, some of the things may come off as slightly negative. It’s not negative, it’s just different. And that’s one of the reasons we decided to move is to experience um a different culture and a different way of life. Yes, we did not move to Nice to make our lives easier. That’s not why you move abroad. We are telling you this with a in a spirit of gratitude. So Brandy, let let me ask you uh what has been the biggest challenge that you have faced here in the first three months in Nice. There hasn’t been one big challenge but there’s been a lot of little little challenges and I think they all roll up under this umbrella of convenience. Okay. And that is in the US everything is built around convenience. Stores are open late. You can get anything that’s getting out of your car. Amazon will deliver anything to your doorstep sometimes the same day. The US is built around convenience. Yes. And that’s not true here. Nope. Stores are often closed for a couple hours at lunch. Yes. Um they may close early or not be open at all on Sunday. Deliveries are a big struggle. I’ve tried to order from Amazon five times now and I’ve received two of those deliveries. Things just aren’t set up in around convenience in the same way that you find in the States. And you just may have to work and plan for things a little bit more. Yes. And don’t forget that many of the restaurants close down for all of August. Some of the places that we that we want to go and have gone, they shut down for three or four weeks in August because, you know, cuz they’re on vacation. What do you miss the most from living in the United States? That is an easy question to answer and you already know what the answer is. Oh my god, big coffee. I made the system work, right? But it’s just very unfrench to want big coffee. How do you live without the enjoyment of sitting and having a really big piping hot mug of coffee or two or three in the morning when you when you’re sitting out at the cafe? How are these little teeny tiny coffees? How is that really satisfying your need for caffeine? I need like 12 of these things. So anyway, I have made it work, but that is definitely the thing that I miss the most. Brandy, what is the biggest surprise that you’ve run into when here? I didn’t expect so many things to do. A lot of a lot of stuff to do. Stuff to do. There’s always a festival. It seems like there’s always a new art exhibit and people go to these art exhibits and talk about the art exhibits. Yes, there’s a a really vibrant expat community and there’s brunches and there’s happy hours and we almost have the problem of there’s too many things to do and trying to fit it all in. So, my biggest surprise was the the fact that when we moved into the apartment, the AC didn’t work. But but it actually it’s a bigger surprise than that because we found out that it’s not just the AC was broke. No, it was never hooked up. Remember that our uh that our apartment was newly renovated. They had never even connected the AC unit. But you know, I was also so surprised people who are the AC techs, they were so nice. People really have been a lot nicer in Nice than we expected, which which makes the lack of convenience not so bad, right? Because they’re so nice and polite about it. And you’re like, I want to be mad at you, but you’re like, oh, I’ll be there, you know, in a couple of weeks to fix it. And when I’m there, you know, everything will go just fine. But by and large, people have been very nice. We’ve got great neighbors who have been very supportive and very helpful. Very helpful. That’s been a surprise is just how really quite friendly the French people are. Okay, so what do you miss the least about living in the United States? Oh my gosh, that is so easy. I love not having a car. Yeah, I didn’t like to drive in the first place. She didn’t. Uh so I love not having a car. I love being able to walk down the street to the grocery store. I love being able to walk around the corner to the bonerie or the cafe. We’re close to a tram station, so we can get anywhere in the city very easily. Very easily and quickly. I like being able to walk along the prom to get home. It’s It’s a great lifestyle. One of the things I love the most about the public transportation here is they have a little boat that’ll take you from one side of the port to the other side of the port. Brandy loves the boat. That is her favorite thing about the whole experience. So tell me what is the the most French thing that you do now that you didn’t do before? The most French thing I have really adopted the French way of eating. Um in the States for me lunch was always a meal you did on the go. So you ate it in your car or you grabbed something and you were eating it on your way to somewhere else. And uh the French do not eat and walk at the same time. And uh I no longer eat and walk at the same time. And for lunch, I will go and sit down and have a lovely relaxed lunch at a cafe and enjoy the scenery and enjoy my food. Uh and I love it. And what do you do if you have to eat on the go? So every now and then, every now and then you’re late for something and you’re hungry and you’ve got it. And I will hide it in my purse and I’ll just take little nibbles of it so nobody sees me because that’s because it’s very very unfrench to eat on me. No, no, no, no, no. That is No, you don’t. While walking. Yeah, you don’t. How about you? What’s the most French thing you do now? What is the most French? You know, I do get to go swimming in the Med, which is just absolutely wonderful. The sea is great and I’m out there with other, you know, with other locals that are swimming and that feels very local. that feels very French and I’m so glad I have the opportunity to do that. That was one of the things I wanted to do. Those are some of our first impressions after our first 3 months living in Nice. It’s been an amazing experience. It’s amazing. We’ll get back to you, you know, in another 3 months or so. And I’m sure we’ll have other frustrations or things uh we have found inconvenient or ways in which we have begun to be Frenchified. We are so appreciative of having the opportunity to live in these. Again, thank you for coming along with us. Abento. Habento.

We quit our jobs and sold everything to move to Nice, France! After three months, we’re sharing our honest thoughts on expat life. Despite giving up a lot, we have gained so much, and we are excited to share our journey of living in France. Moving to France has been an amazing adventure!

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 – First 3 Months in France
01:30 – Biggest Challenge
02:56 – Miss The Most
03:43 – Biggest Surprise
05:18 – Miss The Least
06:05 – The Most French Thing

💬 ABOUT THIS CHANNEL We’re Brandie and Todd. We moved from Houston, Texas to Nice, France three months ago. Follow us to see how we settle in to our new life in France.

📺 WATCH NEXT
▶️ What we got wrong about Nice, France https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-5Fjx-Q1a4&t=30s ▶️ Why we chose Nice, France for Retirement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXpgCWIMphg

#Movingtofrance #ExpatVlog #LifeInFrance #NiceFrance #ExpatLife