Yes, that’s right – the French visa court was so moved by our appeal that, after only a year of deliberation, they decided to grant us our long-stay visas. We picked them up last month, and now we’re good to go. We’ll be moving sometime between Febrary and April, 2008, but we’re not sure where yet. Originally, we planned to go back to Toulouse, since we loved it so much. But then I started thinking about how nice it would be to live near the beach, so Nice and Marseille started looking good. And then we wondered about living all over – spending a month or so in a dozen different cities, and that’s what we’re leaning toward right now. There are several problems with that:
- It’s expensive to move once, let alone 12 times
- It’d be a pain to find a new apartment every month
- I would need a (likely expensive) wireless internet connection, because many French rentals don’t have fixed phones
I’ve got some good leads on number 3, so now I’m doing some research on number 2 – maybe we could find a rental agent who could help us find a place in each city, something like that.
In any case, it’s still all way up in the air, but at least now we know for sure that in just a few months we’ll be moving to France for a year – something I’ve been wanting to do for more than half my life.
Hi Just found your site and your Blog as my wife and i are desperately trying to learn French as we moved here a year ago.
Why not think about renting a large Cave/Garage for your things and buying a CampingCar/RV/Motorhome for moving about. France is fantastic for motorhoming as there are very many free aire de repose, it is the best way to find out where you want to live. That’s how we found our house in Langeudoc in the Black Mountains between Narbonne & Carcasonne.
Best of luck though and thanks for the site.
Steve
Congratulations Laura!
Great to hear your french plans are finally going ahead.
I have to warn you though (if your experience is anything like ours) you will have to go through the whole procedure again within your first few months in France. Unbelievable bureaucracy!
My partner and I (from New Zealand) have been here in France all year and are sadly about to return home in just 3 weeks. We have had a truly wonderful time, and we’ll definitely be back one day, for sure.
I have really enjoyed your regular newsletter posts and lessons. Thank you very much.
If you are interested in a peek at our year here in Provence, you can view our blog here: http://www.frog.co.nz/france
It has been quite an amazing adventure!
Looking forward to following your adventures in France next year!
Amitiés de Saint Saturnin Les Apt.
John