I could go on for DAYS about this topic!

When you moved to France, what was the most difficult part of settling in there? all the paperwork to get an apartment and a bank account and the things concerning the carte de sejour and the lack of information about what is needed document wise.

How much difficulty did you have with culture shock in France? it came and went. I will say that for our first 6 months or so, at 6pm every evening, my husband and I became EXTREMELY cranky, like that was all the French we had in us and everyone could just bite us! The hardest parts of culture shock were actually on the days when I decided I liked France, because I would start feeling guilty and disloyal and un-patriotic.

What would be the best, single piece of advice you'd give to an expat
(or soon to be expat) in France? If you have any way at all to hook up with an expat in the area where you will be living, DO IT. It really depends on how long you plan to be in France. If you are short term (~2-3 yrs or less), you probably won't invest as much in language-learning and 'integration', so you'd probably be very grateful to get involved in your city's American Club. If you are here for the long haul and have kids, putting them in the local village school is the quickest way to make friends in the what's seen as an impenetrable network, the French village! Before you leave, read "French or Foe" by Polly Platt first, and if you like that kind of book, Culture Shock:France is good. If you are coming to work here, "Au Contraire" is an EXCELLENT resource for figuring out how the French office works (it's like French or Foe, but targeted more towards the work side of France).

I guess how to best handle culture shock and how it manifests itself depends mostly on why you are here. Someone who is transferred here for work isn't going to necessarily feel the same sorts of things that someone who chose to move here would feel. That isn't to say one is better or worse, more valid or not than the other, just different.

Laugh a lot, get used to feeling stupid, throw yourself on the mercy of the French people around you and you will have a much better time!

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