We love it, but people frequently ask us to talk about the things we don’t like or are an adjustment from what most Americans imagine. Here it is!
Download our Move-to-France Resources guide: https://unique-writer-5502.ck.page/85c59d782f
About Us:
We are an American family of 3 who moved to France for an extended stay adventure in 2022.
We wanted to experience Europe as more than rushed tourists on a 10-day vacation. To dive into the culture, learn a new language, experience daily life, and truly know what it was like to work and live somewhere other than the US.
In France, we set up a business, enrolled in a middle school, found housing, and even got our cat a European passport!
While in the US preparing to leave, the information we found about staying in France for longer than a short vacation was directed at college students, young & single digital nomads, or retirees. Where was the useful information for families like us?
With a year under our belts in France, we created Baguette Bound to pass on what we have learned. We hope to make it easier and inspire other families who are interested in experiencing a long stay or moving to France with their families. Stay tuned for more information on French culture, local travel ideas, and the logistics of moving across the world.
Contact us or follow our journey @ https://baguettebound.com/
PLEASE NOTE: While we love hearing from viewers, we do not give personalized advice on moving to France by email.
If you’d like counsel specific to your situation, we offer 1:1 consultations that can be booked through our website www.baguettebound.com
#movetofrance #france #americansinfrance #expatlife #expatinfrance #baguettebound #movingtofrance #frenchlife #frenchlifestyle #frenchliving #frenchvlog #frenchcountryside #frenchcountry
43 Comments
Bonjour!! Please read:
We've realized based on the comments we gave NO context for this video! Especially for those of you who might be new.
To be clear: we LOVE living in the French countryside. But not everything is perfect…it never is, anywhere.
We make so many videos that are overwhelming positive about living in France, we thought it was fair to make a video about some things that are different than we know many of our fellow Americans imagine them to be and maybe even a little annoying, even if totally worth it.
We want our channel to be a place that is real about the experience of living in France, as much as can be when sharing only a few minutes of life here. That includes everything.
Thanks for watching! ❤ – Raina and Jason
The big spiders are called "Tégénaire" and are friendly, don't chase or hurt them. They'll never bite you, and are fearful. They are your best friend to keep your home clean of mosquito, fly, bug.
⏩⏩⏩Actually, in France, it's usually said that having common spiders inside your home means your house has a healthy environnment because these spiders don't like too much humidity and polluted environnments. Moreover, they can help you regulate other unwanted bugs. 😉
Come on! If those "complaints" were not facetious they were trite, à la a Seinfeld episode.
One must mention South west of France is known to be a remote place, either to retire, for holidays, enjoying doing nothing looking at landscapes, for foodies and tranquility seekers. A gorgeous place though. Some other countrysides have more services although it's true public services decreased everywhere in the recent decades.
It's true that if you are looking for a course or an activity, especially in the countryside, you have to ask either at the town hall, or at the tourist office which will guide you a little and then either in the associations that offer activities, or in music schools or others, Often the people who offer lessons leave a leaflet or talk about it (maybe not enough in your case) but don't have a lot of information. always a website. We're used to doing it like this, but it must be confusing for Americans who aren't used to it and don't know what to look like. How do you do it in the United States?
Hello Baguette bound. I live less than 3 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean in cape May NJ but not on the over developed island of CM itself. I live in a farm house built in 1890. Systems, electrics, plumbing, windows and structure have been upgraded but I still have a well and septic system. No sidewalks around here but ants, ticks, flees, hornets carpenter bees abound outside of winter. Beautiful sunset and fabulous tomatoes and vegetables everywhere in season.
I’ve been looking into buying a house in France perhaps in southwest Brittany, Rochechouart, or the Saint-Mathieu areas. You’re a family while I live alone. Still I’m trying to not be very discouraged by your post today. My point is everywhere there are downsides.
Please keep your posts coming and I appreciate your efforts to provide full disclosure.
Regrettably i had to postpone my exploratory trip due to severe sinus infection. Im planning on rescheduling sometime after the new year.
All best to the three of you. Joe and Gigi.
Actually, spiders will not stay in actually dirty place. And by dirty I don’t mean dusty. I mean like moist/greasy.
So yes, cleaning is not gonna help chase them away, they’ll just be like :
🕷️ : Awe thanks for cleaning up 😘
j aime beaucoup la critique sur le trottoir en france alors qu il y en a meme pas dans les grandes villes américaine 😂
Reality strikes back.
It's all in the details, isn't it Jason, you look tired😄.
Half of the comments is about spiders lol. People are funny.
thank you for this reality check. SO many of us are enamored with the picturesque scenes that we see in movies but it can be quite different when u actually get there!
😭😩😖😠🥴😡 sad sad
Thanks for getting real! I'm still in the States but spent a month in a little medieval town in the Southwest of France and experienced some of the things you mentioned. We are very spoiled here in the States with curbside trash pick-up weekly and biweekly recycling of both organic waste and hard goods (like plastic, glass, wood, and paper).
I am in Toulouse at the moment at the tail end of my 6 week exploration of France. I want to retire here and was hoping to get a feel for the type of location that would be right for me. And I have reached some clarity. I’m NOT a big city person. I’d rather live in a smaller town and visit cities when the need and mood strikes. But I have discovered the importance of being in or near a good size town that doesn’t ‘die’ in the off season. So far, Bergerac, Agen, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, are the types and sizes on my radar. I have learned a lot and now know that I will need a car even if I only use it once a week, that I will likely live on the edges of a bigger town or in a village with some services, and to NEVER drive in the bigger cities (not that much of an adrenaline junky!) your advice from previous vlogs about not placing too much importance on needing a Train station was good. However the train system is great, and I do want to be within 20-30 minutes from one…thanks for keeping it real!
Better Americans people stay in America!!
Il ne faut surtout pas tuer les araignees … En france elles ne sont pas dangereuses, mais surtout elles éliminent tous les insectes nuisibles (mouches, moustiques …etc. …) 😁👍
Ya 36000 communes en France imaginer il y a une gare dans chacune d entre elles semble etrange .Les fermiers utilisent des engins modernes pas des tracteurs du 19eme siele n a rien de surprenant. J ai l impression que cette video c est un peu chercher la petite bete histoire de faire une video.
I often watch your videos and you're always smiling and super positive about France and where you live so I think it's fair that you talk a little bit about the downside of living in the countryside 😊
and all of the points you made are true, that's also why a lot of french people don't want to live in a village so it's important to show to foreigners how it really is in the countryside !
Insects are part of a healthy ecosystem. A country where there were no insects would be worrying. A quick check on French sources says: "Without insects, humans would lose on average 30% of their global food crops. Vegetables and fruits such as apples, the cabbage family, cocoa, or strawberries would disappear." … "80% of plants depend on pollination." … "Insects are essential and have a major place in the proper functioning of our ecosystems. In France, 7,500 insects are affected by the agricultural sector, including 5,500 as direct help." About boulangerie, putting candies on top of pastries as 'decorations' is absolute cr*p, not qualitative at all.
I haven’t seen this mentioned by content creators yet- how religion is in your face in the US versus FR. How schools “indoctrinate” kids in the US with the daily morning pledge of allegiance, which contains the word God. I’m in MI and don’t feel this way but was in a debate with FR woman living in the US who seemed quite upset by Christianity being so prevalent in US politics/government . Pew statistics confirmed what she was saying which surprised me- 56% in US vs 11% in FR think religion is important to them. FR is far more secular.
It is not possible to have the same services in the countryside and in the city. The socio-economic context must be taken into account. The countryside has advantages and disadvantages, it's true that you have to be aware of them if you're a foreigner. If there aren't more bakeries outside the tourist season, I think it's because there aren't enough customers. The same goes for transport, etc. Small farmers have very low incomes and do what they can, they also have to adapt to their economic reality. Il n'est pas possible d'avoir les mêmes services à la campagne et en ville. Il faut tenir compte du contexte socioéconomique. La campagne a des avantages et des inconvénients , c'est vrai qu'il faut en être conscient si on est étranger. S'il n'y a pas plus de boulangeries hors saison touristique, je pense que c'est parce qu'il n'y a pas suffisamment de clients. Pareil pour les transports etc. Les petits agriculteurs ont des très petits revenus et font ce qu'ils peuvent, ils doivent aussi s'adapter à leur réalité économique.
I see that you’re living in the real countryside, somewhere in the southwest of France. From your description, not even in a village, but reasonably close to one. That usually means no real public transport system like in a city with high frequency buses. Fewer shopping choices. So,you’ll depend more on car driving than you probably expected. For that you’d have to live in large cities : in Paris, fewer than 20% households own a car nowadays.
And you trash situation seems very specific to your area : in mine, every house has regular and recycling trash cans, atty the garbage trucks come to collect every other week. For glass, yes, it’s usually a shared one you have to walk or drive to.
And spiders : well I’m sure you had some in the US. At least, you don’t have to worry about a rattlesnake. 😉
here you are …..french problems , french solutions and adapt . slowly but steadily you are more and more french ….your next stade you will complain in the streets ….lol
Don’t usually comment on YouTube, but basically what you are saying is “don’t behave like an American if you decide to live in rural France”?
Je m'aperçois que vous êtes en train de devenir Français !!! Vous râlez comme de vrais Français !!! 😆😅🤣😉
Aah, the charms of the countryside! You are lucky with the kind of farming in your area. Vineyards and orchards are rather pleasant compared to pig or dairy cattle breeding, sugar beet harvest gives also a potent smell . There are many funny (not for everyone) stories about French people from large cities, generally known as "parisiens" even if they don't come from Paris, moving into small villages, complaining about the noise of roosters, church bells, smells.
I think more than half of the struggles you mention in this video have to do with the fact that you're in a small village in a touristy area. Bakeries, trash/recycling, and extra-curricular activities for the kids are all pretty easy here in L'Aisne. Between San Quentin, Soissons, and Laon, we have enough population to draw a decent amount of and variety of shops and services.
(I used to live in a small village. Our house was directly across the road from the bakery. Breakfast was often purchased while in a dressing gown and slippers… unless they were closed for vacation. Then I had to go 7 or 8km to the next village.)
But websites … Yeah, they are often next to useless if they exist. I think that's a nation-wide condition. …And I do have my yoga class
-no kidding-in a 17th century abbey that is now a catholic school.🙂
Hi ! Thank you for all your videos. I would like to know more about your professional experiences, about work ethics, are your revenues higher or lower than in the US, and also : as the US are the most innovative nation in the world, were you afraid, or are you now, to be left behind in your whole career, I mean not being at the right place at the right moment ? Was this a question ?
Thanks for keeping it real😆
I could only put up with 2 minutes of whinging and whining from smiling snowflakes. At least you are not getting shot at and bombed. Then you would have something to complain about.
Yes, of course, Euros bills are not falling from trees and these villages and small town have to work with limited budgets, especially when there are no sizeable businesses bringing much needed local taxes.
Everything is a tradeoff: Having a big enough home with a good yard, at a low price often means being further away from more lively areas.
In French countryside, you definitely need a car.
If you could do the move to France all over again, what you do anything differently? I bet you learned a lot along the way, so anything you learned but didn't expect?
je n'avais encore jamais vu ce système de poubelles en France …
Petit conseil si vous voulez faire une activité sportive ou artistique dans votre région : allez au forum des associations de votre commune et celui de la grand commune la plus proche, ça a lieu à la rentrée de septembre le plus souvent. C'est le moment où toutes les associations présentent leurs activités et prennent les inscriptions pour les cours.
Moi, je suis une étrangère ici en France et pour moi, la meilleure chooses, c’est les gens ! 😊
"Living in the French countryside is different from living small town USA"? Really? So you have never lived in small town Arizona. Despite having a recent high-end house , here is the list of what we find outside and inside the house, despite the window and french doors screens: scorpions, black windows, brown recluses, tarantulas (harmless but huge), cockroaches, fire ants, carpenter ants, wasps, giant centipedes, small snakes, and all kinds of hideous and dangerous spiders you find only in Arizona. The list is smaller for small town California or Texas, but still pretty creepy. More you spray, more you nuke these and more you destabilize the natural balance. Have some clear plastic containers, a piece of cardboard, catch them and release them gently far from your home. You will never be bitten or stung. There is Intelligence in Nature.
There are "industrial" bakeries, who buy frozen pastries from a catalogue or a representative, and artisanal bakeries and patisseries, who make everything themselves from scratch. The latest cost more and are found were money is, where high-end tourism is and where real estate is expensive. Same for spas, yoga studios, charming boutiques, easy walk-able places, and recycle pick-ups, you will find them in villages and small towns where real estate starts at 1 or 2 millions of euros.. Very funny for me, French, to listen to your video. Like most Americans, you have been taken by the illusion of a certain France, which exists only in videos, or in places where live the ultra-rich. France and French society are still very stratified, with many invisible codes, yet very present and tenacious.
C'est bon, c'est toujours comme ça avec les anglosaxons … J'ai vécu sur Aix en Pce, ils pullulent … Au début, ils adorent, ils sont sympas c'est magnifique … Puis, petit à petit, ils commencent à critiquer gentiment, au bout de quelques années, ils nous traitent de communistes … On ne peut rien en tirer … Bises
Vous devez vous convaincre que vous allez vous enfoncer en faisant ce genre de vidéo car vous n'avez pas la légitimité … Je vous le dis en toute amitié …
Vous venez expliquer à vos compatriotes qu'en France il y a de vilaines araignées. Vous êtes sérieux ? Vous venez d'un continent rempli de serpents immondes, de bestioles qui surgissent d'un sous-bois pour vous bouffer avant d'échapper à une tuerie généré par un adolescent en mal de vivre … et vous expliquez les vilaines araignées, au demeurant, parfaitement inoffensives. Dans quel monde vivez vous ? Pas en France, mais dans votre imaginaire ..? Un peu de sérieux ..
New car ? Or second one ?