how expensive is living in france?

[gaijin]

electricity, water, phone, etc. everything is more expensive in france.

for food it depends, i've resorted to eating at kebab/fallafel places now which are cheaper than cafes and are better.

Where are you staying?

[gaijin]

+ good city
+ cheapish anementies
+ everything you could ever want
+ good night out
+ free, excellent healthcare

- expensive rent
- traffic
- dangerous quartiers
- taxes

+ belles nanas :D ;)

[sl7vk]

+ food

[ilv2]

Where are you staying?

Paris, 12eme arrondissement.

about safety, every night i've been out i haven't felt threatened at all even when walking alone. Our orientaion problem felt the need to warn us about not taking the metro too late because apparently the "mood" changes, but really its just filled with people going back home after a night out. Of course, it depends which metro stop you're going to, but in the center-middle of the city, its pretty safe (knock on wood).

about the belles nanas, there sure are plenty, but they tend to come in one particular mold (at least in paris).

[Pierre-Henri]

about safety, every night i've been out i haven't felt threatened at all even when walking alone. Our orientaion problem felt the need to warn us about not taking the metro too late because apparently the "mood" changes, but really its just filled with people going back home after a night out. Of course, it depends which metro stop you're going to, but in the center-middle of the city, its pretty safe (knock on wood).


"every night i've been out" ? Aren't you supposed to be a brilliant student working hard in a mind-challenging environment ? Of course, it could mean that you're actually spending all your time in libraries, and travel late after a difficult day at work...

[guignol]

And you don't even pay our taxes yet ! :)yes he does! he pays the TVA (sales tax) which is really what makes overall taxes in france high. and he's probably already paying taxe d'habitation and taxe foncière in his rent.

as for income taxes, i pay loads less than i would in the states; i know the exact figures because i fill out a 1040 every year. of course, that's for a couple w/ 2 kids; a bachelor probably gets hit harder.

as for living, you have to compare apples to apples. paris (75) is dear, but less than manhattan i reckon. i know lyon is lightyears cheaper than SF, in fact it's cheaper than anywhere in california. i'll bet indiana etc. are different. how's utah, sl17vk?

[guignol]

"every night i've been out" ? Aren't you supposed to be a brilliant student working hard in a mind-challenging environment ? Of course, it could mean that you're actually spending all your time in libraries, and travel late after a difficult day at work... at aix, we americans started wih special classes in august, to get 6 weeks of intensive french in before the rentrée...

one teacher use to cut classes short and tell us to clear out and go hang in cafés, it was more useful than the classroom.:p

[Fulham Fan]

What is the typical street fare (food) in France (different cities), and is it inexpensive and is it really possible to survive on that to a good extent? i heard that in the more crowded places young people almost never cook for themselves.

[guignol]

What is the typical street fare (food) in France (different cities), and is it inexpensive and is it really possible to survive on that to a good extent? i heard that in the more crowded places young people almost never cook for themselves.there's kebab, almost always 4€. the same places generally do sandwiches with merguez sausages and chips for 3€.

in aix pizza by the slice was everywhere, in lyon we don't have that.

crêpes are cheap, between 1€ and 2€ depending on what you want on it.

not very healthy to live on this...:rolleyes:

[sl7vk]

Ou.... In Marseille they have these pizza's that they roll.... 25 francs in 98.... Too freakin good!

[Pierre-Henri]

http://www.paroles.net/chansons/21018.htm

http://ledockyz.free.fr/video/K700i/les_inconnus/lucras-concras-et-carbalas.JPG

"Salut mec, ça va, tu vas bien
On se présente, mais non tu nous connais
On est là pour te pomper
T'imposer sans répit et sans repos
Pour te sucer ton flouze
Ton oseille
Ton pognon
Ton pèze
Ton fric
Ton blé [...]"

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

http://www.paroles.net/chansons/21018.htm

http://ledockyz.free.fr/video/K700i/les_inconnus/lucras-concras-et-carbalas.JPG

"Salut mec, ça va, tu vas bien
On se présente, mais non tu nous connais
On est là pour te pomper
T'imposer sans répit et sans repos
Pour te sucer ton flouze
Ton oseille
Ton pognon
Ton pèze
Ton fric
Ton blé [...]"

haha 1 of the best skits ive ever seen in my life... ahhhh les inconnus...

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

ilv2, you a student studying abroad? what school do you go to? just curious

i studied abroad in paris last year (spring 2005) and had season tickets for psg... also went to see lyon rock breme 7-2 (took the TGV down with my girl-friend, she wanted to come so she came along) in champions league... one of the best semester of my life! enjoy it man seriously!

[crashpo]

healthcare free? does it include medicine too? if so, France must be really crazy. I mean I heard that France economy is not doing very well. They have pretty high unemployment and also a lot of debt. I heard that they try to "delay" the legal retirment age. Also, I heard that they try to extend the legal working hours( from 35 hours to 45 a week? I am not sure about that).

[sl7vk]

healthcare free? does it include medicine too? if so, France must be really crazy. I mean I heard that France economy is not doing very well. They have pretty high unemployment and also a lot of debt. I heard that they try to "delay" the legal retirment age. Also, I heard that they try to extend the legal working hours( from 35 hours to 45 a week? I am not sure about that).

And where do you live? Just trying to guage how I should compare the French system to your Utopia.

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

healthcare free? does it include medicine too? if so, France must be really crazy. I mean I heard that France economy is not doing very well. They have pretty high unemployment and also a lot of debt. I heard that they try to "delay" the legal retirment age. Also, I heard that they try to extend the legal working hours( from 35 hours to 45 a week? I am not sure about that).

1) depends... but most healthcare is free and i'm pretty sure you can get some medicine free (depends though, you pay a good amount of the time

2) france's economy is not doing great... it is growing faster than the avg of the EU and will grow a little faster this year (2-2.5% in 2006)

3) the unemployment has dropped from over 10% to about 9.5% in 6-8 months which is nice... there's still a lot more needed... but with the economy recovering, baby-boomers retiring, analysts believe the unemplyoment will drop to about 9% by the end of the year...

4) france is very much in debt... but the u.s. ain't in any better shape... the u.s. is running a budget defecit of almost 4% compared to france's 3%... but yes, france is not in great shape and they have set up committees to figure out what they should do (as in, the best way to reduce excessive spending)

5) i forget the retirement age in france, but they should increase it... they will have too soon otherwise france will find itself in worse shape...

6) its staying at 35 hours... it won't be changing... but the current gov't is smart enough to be changing the law around because france has been up at an disadvantage with the other economies in the world as a result... in any case, not many people in france really work only 35 hours... its basically those that have labor jobs like in factories etc...

hope that clarifies a few things... for the others, i'd be glad if people could add on to what i've wrote because i may be a little off on a certain things...

[guignol]

healthcare free? does it include medicine too? if so, France must be really crazy. I mean I heard that France economy is not doing very well. They have pretty high unemployment and also a lot of debt. I heard that they try to "delay" the legal retirment age. Also, I heard that they try to extend the legal working hours (from 35 hours to 45 a week? I am not sure about that).crashpo, it's interesting to read a view from china (i believe that's where you live) about france. it doesn't seem much different from a certain image that is peddled in the states by faux news, in the UK by the daily mail, and by a 100 other malevolent sources: basically that the old europe is a decrepit old place coming apart at the seams, with government, economy and society all going to hell in a handbasket.:eek:

i'm a born and bred american who's been living in france for 15 years, and i can tell you nothing is more ludicrous. sure there are problems here, just like in the US, or japan, or china. no worse, and for lots of things, much better; that's why my wife and i moved here when it came time to raise a family! it wasn't for honeymooning down by the seine, it was for health care, good schools, safer streets...

i think there's a hidden agenda behind the badmouthing of our social welfare system. it's so when americans complain about their ills, the government and their mouthpieces can say "but look at how horrible things are in france; you don't want that, now do you?":(

[Nanbawan]

http://www.paroles.net/chansons/21018.htm

http://ledockyz.free.fr/video/K700i/les_inconnus/lucras-concras-et-carbalas.JPG

"Salut mec, ça va, tu vas bien
On se présente, mais non tu nous connais
On est là pour te pomper
T'imposer sans répit et sans repos
Pour te sucer ton flouze
Ton oseille
Ton pognon
Ton pèze
Ton fric
Ton blé [...]"

avé la musique (http://www.dailymotion.com/search/inconnus/video/26498) !


Note : I may give the impression that I'm spamming this site, but what do you want they have awesome ressources (looks like the place had been taken over by fellow francophones). And I do not have stakes in it...:-"

[Nanbawan]

crashpo, it's interesting to read a view from china (i believe that's where you live) about france. it doesn't seem much different from a certain image that is peddled in the states by faux news, in the UK by the daily mail, and by a 100 other malevolent sources: basically that the old europe is a decrepit old place coming apart at the seams, with government, economy and society all going to hell in a handbasket.:eek:



Well it is ! Just look at this insightful documentary (http://www.dailymotion.com/search/r%C3%A9mi/video/32075)on the current situation in France ! :eek: ;)

PS : My generation was watching these as youngsters and you wonder why we do not think positive ! LOL !

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

[QUOTE=Nanbawan]avé la musique (http://www.dailymotion.com/search/inconnus/video/26498) !

bravo! ca faisait longtemps haha!!