Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

How come nobody mentions France in the comments? :)

I am French but have been working 12 years for a very large US company , spent a lot of time in the US, go friends there - an witnessed/helped several Americans moving to France.

Salary and healthcare were already covered. The fact that over a 3 days drive across Europe you visit 4 or 5 countries with vastly different cultures is a big plus. And by vastly I mean really vastly. We've been in constant wars for 2000+ years and this created a very nice and specific melting pot + cultural differences.

School will be very different. In France you will have a more formalized way of education (which is not a good thing), but also a very liberal one. Children will be drinking tap water starting at kindergarten and and stay like this their whole life. They won't (usually) go to school on Wednesday.

The office will be less politically correct. You will have people discussing politics and religion - though this became less outspoken the last 10 years or so.

You will have good baguettes and average bread - but still eons better than the average US bread.

Bureaucracy is mcu better than the stereotype. But not good either. You have to learn the power of the "pffff" sound you make with your eyebrows up - which means "I understand that this is the rule, but you know, I have to do/get/send that and it is a huge problem if I don't". Many foreigners foolishly assume that a "no" means "this is not possible".

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pae2AMnmUVA for the more scientific approach to how to be French when you are not.

How's southern France for long term tourists/expats? Would love to hear your thoughts.

What do you mean by "Children will be drinking tap water starting at kindergarten and and stay like this their whole life."? Is there some sort of subtext here? In general I think it's great if you can safely drink tap water, saves the hassle and waste of getting bottled water all the time.

> They won't (usually) go to school on Wednesday.

That’s very interesting. Do French people typically try to set up some care arrangement, or just leave the kids at home? When I grew up in Poland, if my school was doing that, my parents would most likely just have us stay at home alone (starting from grade 1), but I imagine this would be rather uncommon thing to do in US these days.

I moved from Australia to France back in September 2021. Bureaucracy is a sport here, but not much more than back home.

Would recommend/10, AMA.

I think it might be a euphemism, but I'm not positive.

Where are you in France? What was the biggest surprise? I have an EU passport and wouldn't mind spending a year or so in France to make the most of it.

Lyon.

I think the biggest shock was just how different classroom French and real-life French is. I studied up to B2.4 level French back in Sydney, and folks just speak so much faster here.

Also, the food is significantly higher quality than back home (even the supermarket processed crap)

This less politics and religion in workplace statement is due to the general disinterest in both, not because we stop discussing controversial topics.

No. It is literal. Tap water is generally healthy in Europe.

I think it's meant in contrast to kids drinking sodas from an early age.

Oh. I think it is in most of the US as well? Or at least, I haven't been anywhere in the US where it is unsafe. In some places it tastes kinda bad.

I have actually been to a couple of places in (Eastern) Europe where I was told not to drink the tap water.

Absolutely. Both your statements.

That's funny about the tap water. Remember my first visit to France as a kid (~late 70s) and the whole family wondering at the stuff floating in Paris tap water. We did not touch it, and drank bottled water. Btw, this was in a very nice rented flat near Etoile on Ave. Victor Hugo.

Mostly the water provided by the municipality is drinking water quality in Europe. But sometimes the building and its water pipes will be so old that the pipes leak metals into the water.

No metals, this was white fluffy stuff floating in the water. And it was relatively a luxury apartment. Again this was 1977 so that's almost ancient history.

Sorry - I mean that we are not used to drink anything else with meals. This starts early and when you go to a canteen in a company there will be tap water by default. Maybe 1/10 people would take something else than water.

Yes, exactly - sorry for not having been clear.

Well, it maybe depends where. I noticed that people are more sensitive to topics such as religion since about 2010.

Generally speaking, as a kid, I had a way, way more liberal education than today.

This is not normal. I was a kid at the same time and lived in Versailles. We only drank tap water and it was encouraged (the price of bottled water is about 300x the tap water one).

There must have been something seriously wrong with that water - water in France is classified as food and follows very strict regulations.

It is relatively common to have a parent (usually the mother) to work 4/5 days to account for the Wednesday day off.

There are also city-ran "youth centers" (centre de loisirs) where you can park your child for that day.

It was probably (hopefully?) just water scale from hard water building up mineral deposits on the insides of the pipes.

I spent a few months in France studying abroad when I was younger. I think I'd live there in a heartbeat if I had the opportunity.

I am not a big fan of southern France so I am biased.

PROS

- the weather if you like hot weather. It can be quite windy, but going for a picnic on the beach in February has its nice aspects

- there is a techhnopole at Sophia-Antipolis where they hire on a regular basis

- skiing: the Alps are close, or the Pyrenées - depending on where you are

- the views are really nice and vary a lot

CONS:

- the weather, it is too hot :)

- road communication is complicated, public transports are not great either

- prices of housing are high (depends on the place, obviously)

My preference would be places such as Nantes or Rennes (western part of France), or the western coast of the Atlantic (below Brittany: Charente Maritime, Vendée, ...)

Nobody mentions France because France is not as desirable as you think. Terrible weather, constantly gloomy, grumpy people, awful food (especially baguettes!), almost no artistic history. I honestly believe that the only ones who like France are french people.

What a depressing view. But hey, you are still welcome to visit us!

Common for apartments or houses that have been used for a while. Would be enough to let the water flow for a while.