Originally Posted by pseudoreality
I'm currently on a train to Switzerland and thought it might be a good time to give an update on my family's adventures so far. We are going to do some touring and then watch the Spangler Cup in Davos.
Getting our our visas was very stressful. We started the process three months ahead of the planned move, which was the earliest the system would let me. However, the process still took almost four months and a family flight to Ottawa to sort things out. It really sucked because I rented out my house and pre-sold my vehicle based on our planned departure. So we had to stay at a friends house and borrow a vehicle for a few weeks. If anyone else is planning something like this, PM me and I can give some insider trips that might give you a better experience than me.
Getting into France later than anticipated put us behind the eight ball with things like school registration and getting a car sorted out of here. I was hoping to live car free, but that just turned out not to be feasible in a small town, especially if you want to see the local area and go anywhere you get invited to.
The kids hated school at first, especially the oldest, but they are coming around now as they make friends. The school system is more intense than Canada with a lot more expectations. We found out pretty quick that the french our kids learned Canadian French Immersion is pretty far the level a student in France would have at the same age. Overall the schools are really good for my kids. However, the system might not be that great if you child has any learning difficulties. We have an app that lets us see everything the kids are doing, class schedules, homework assignments, marks, and class averages. My oldest is second overall in her class, which isn't bad for a foreigner who's french wasn't that great coming in.
The family's french is coming around. I made the decision last week to stop being embarrassed about my bad french. I used to just say the bare minimum to get by (transactional french), but now I go out of my way to talk to people. No one is going to think I'm a native, so I just needed to embrace being a foreigner, but a foreigner who wants to learn.
For the first school break (Toussaints), we did a Mediterranean Cruise out of Barcelona that hit Canne which we used to access Nice, three ports in Italy that we used to access Pisa, Florance, Rome, Napels, Sorento, and Pompei, and two Spanish islands. It was busy, but we knocked off a few bucket items on that trip.
There are some interesting cultural quicks over here, but I like how the cafes and restaurants work in my little town. I can get a coffee for 1.50 euros in the town square and sit there for three hours chatting. For dinner, when you get a table, you have it for the night. They don't rush you and they don't keep pushing drinks. If you want something else, you flag them down, but other than that, they leave you alone.
Overall it has been a great experience so far, and I think it will be even better after the New Year as I continue to get my bearings and improve my french.
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