Before celebrating your one-year anniversary in France, you need to apply for a carte de séjour to ensure you can stay. What a lovely gift from the French government! However, the process of preparing begins many months before your visa expires.
Once you’ve lived in France for three months and established residency, you’re eligible for French national health coverage — Woohoo! But to reap all the benefits, you’ll first need a numero de securité sociale and a carte Vitale.
Everyone told me the first year in Paris is both the most exciting and most challenging. And no matter how much you try, things will never turn out how you expected. Having lived it myself now, I can say for certain that advice was right.
When the person you love comes from a different country, there are challenges to your relationship that most couples take for granted.
When eating at a fine restaurant in France, there is a silent code diners use with forks and knives to talk to waiters. A sort of sign language via le couteau and la fourchette.
As I learned, bouncing into your new job with your American working style and enthusiasm probably isn’t the best way to proceed. But good news, some of the differences are wonderful!
Moving across town is stressful. Moving to another continent will test your mental stability. Six months ago, my French husband and I made the jump from the United States to France, and let me tell you I learned some things!
Fact: Parisian women are beauty goals. And even if you aren’t French, just living in Paris you will find yourself picking up their beauty habits by proximity. I started adjusting to the local beauty norms quickly, even if it wasn’t always conscious.
As autumn took over Paris, my honeymoon period with the city continued. Five months in I’m still charmed by this city daily. But building a complete life is taking longer than I expected before boarding the plane in New York. Newsflash: It takes much more…
Some French baby names are very “en vogue” right now in America (Camille, Chloé, Olivier), and others are eternally chic (Juliette, Brigitte, Louis). But some interesting French names won’t be topping American baby name lists anytime soon.