What I miss now that I live abroad

4 years after leaving France, a small anthology of those things that every normally constituted French person misses from the mother country.

• I have only 2 words to say: Picard and Monop'

No comment, I think any self-respecting French expat here will recognize themselves in this.

Buy everything in supermarkets, even alcohol, hygiene products, etc.

• Super rich and healthy gastronomy

Buy everything in supermarkets, even alcohol, hygiene products, etc.

Large selection of products

Super affordable wine and cheese.

And all this without having to add taxes please, isn't that great?

• French Culture - French Humor .

I have been watching almost exclusively French programs for some time (before I could mock what was being done in TV fiction but when I see the level here, I quickly changed my mind)

• Access to different types of landscapes in a short time – TGV, plane, even car. In 1 hour, you can be at the sea or in the mountains and fully recharge your batteries by taking a real break from your daily life. The journey does not take up much of your weekend, still enough time to enjoy it.

• The climate

Even if the winter is rainy and gray (I speak from experience, originally from Brittany and its legendary Breton drizzle, and 7 years in Paris before coming here), spring starts at the beginning of March in France with super pleasant temperatures. Negative temperatures are more frequent as the years go by in France but are still quite rare over the entire duration of a winter. 

Summers are much more bearable than our humid summers, where as soon as you get out of the shower, you're good to go back in, the slightest movement and you're soaked.

• The beauty of architecture (Haussmannian apartments, big city architecture)

My dream remains to live again in a Haussmannian apartment with its moldings, its typical ceilings and its false fireplaces. I was lucky to have this type of apartment during my last years in Paris, nothing more beautiful in my eyes, this charm of the old mixed with modern furniture.

• The luxury health system

We are truly privileged in France, we only realize it when we are confronted with other systems elsewhere.

Everything costs a fortune here, and unless you have good private insurance with your job, you get very little reimbursement for your care.

Not to mention that access to a family doctor is almost impossible without a stroke of luck. I have been on the waiting list since I arrived 4 years ago to get one...

Making an appointment to see a specialist requires that you first see a family doctor in order to obtain a prescription to be able to consult a specialist… But if you don’t have one, welcome to the world of walk-ins that aren’t one. Basically, for the walk-in system, you have to make an appointment online from a set time every day, very logical you might say. Kamoulox!

And you never show up on time for these appointments of course, even if you see a doctor, he rarely becomes your family doctor after this consultation. You are just another number.

If you go to the emergency room, you are not guaranteed to get through before sometimes 12 hours or more, everyone going there does not have a doctor assigned to take care of them. You have time to die ... it always makes me hallucinate their health system and their lack of means.

It is not for lack of having thousands of health people coming on PVT or other visas each year.

• Phone/internet packages that cost an arm and a leg

I talked about this in another article about the exorbitant costs of phone and internet plans here

We are far from the Free packages at 2 euros per month.

• Know your power of seduction

Even though guys can be really annoying in France, not being hit on or approached at all is annoying.

Even a smile is complicated, you'd think that women scare men in this matriarchal society. Women wear the pants here and guys don't wear their balls. Very frustrating on a daily basis

Even if I don't forget that harassment exists a lot in France and that women are still afraid of going home alone at a certain time in the evening, or of their way of dressing, here it doesn't exist because women are the stronger sex and the city is safe. But in terms of meetings it is very hard, unless you have that flirtatious and vulgar side that Quebec women can have...

And we can't say that there's much to get our teeth into on the Quebec side. They are strong, have thick features, no style, lumberjacks for the most part (there are exceptions of course, like everywhere).

There are a lot of expats, you might say, but either when you see one, his girlfriend is not far behind (a lot of expats arrive as couples already) or they have gotten used to Quebec customs and are waiting for the woman to make the first move (after all, they no longer have to do the work or are too used to being turned down in their flirting in France, so they let it happen).

• Friendliness – Simplified reporting/meetings without fuss

Contact with people is easy overall (for example, I made friends with a girl while visiting an apartment even though we were competitors in that regard and we became friends)

Well, on the relationship/friendship side, it's more done with French people.

But the relaxed side of Quebecers makes them very approachable and easy to get along with. Relationships will remain superficial or platonic with them but you can have "moments" of life with them.

• Heated Parisian terraces with mixed boards, wines galore and come away with a bill of less than 50 euros (without having to add taxes or tips)

Nothing to add...

• Friends and family of course 

Last but not least

• Fashion

Being able to dress elegantly, accessorize my shoes with my coat or my bag (several bags and shoes possible, not one for an entire season). 

Any normal French woman will recognize herself in this, I think.