Is Expat Life in Perpignan REALLY as Good as Everyone Says

Is Expat Life in Perpignan really as good as everyone says? I get that question quite a bit now that I have been in Perpignan in the South of France for a year. My apologies for the shakiness of the video at times…I really need to not lean on the desk when I am filming/talking. Just wanted to make sure there was enough room for Freya to jump up on her cat tree and she does that a couple of times.

More videos coming out soon! The unseasonably hot weather over the next couple of weeks will keep me inside most of the time, but hopefully that means I can get some video captures of the elusive kitty.

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Language Learning
👉I use italki to improve my French but they cover many languages—1-on-1 w/a native speaker and scheduled at your convenience. You get a $10 credit if you sign up using my link: https://www.italki.com/affshare?ref=af27926719

Expat Insurance Needs in France
👉 I used this company for my initial 12-month expat insurance policy required to obtain a long-stay visa to enter France. I also use them now for my mutuelle and other insurance needs. They handle home, auto, and rental insurance, too. They are a great group of folks, and they guarantee that their health insurance packages will be approved for your visa application.
👉 Fab Insurance – Email JEFF@FABEXPAT.COM requesting a quote or to talk with someone about insurance options. No fees are associated with getting insurance quotes. And they speak excellent English. To clarify, you are not emailing me, and I do not work for them. This was the simplest way for them to track where the request came from.

Official French Translation Needs
👉 Several documents need to be translated into French for obtaining your Carte Vitale and exchanging your driver’s license, and potentially other tasks like setting up a bank account (needs vary). This company is one of the officially licensed translators accepted by the French government and local government agencies. And they also speak excellent English. My necessary documents were translated with no issues.
👉 Go to https://www.trad24.com and use the coupon code “ExpatJeff” for 3€ off your translation quote.

Real Estate Concierge in France
👉 Send an email to Valérie Jenkins at VILLAIN623@GMAIL.COM. Val speaks excellent English, and she has been my resource for finding rental properties here in Perpignan. She knows the trouble foreigners can have with obtaining a rental and works hard to find something that will work for you. She can tap into her network around France if it turns out that you are not looking for this region of the country. All I ask is that you mention that Jeff the Expat sent you so she knows I am working to help her grow her business.

Insta360 GO 3 Camera
👉This small camera has made filming my vlogs much easier – it has a detachable small lens attachment that is magnetized and can be attached to your shirt (and possibly a jacket) so you can record whatever you want to record handsfree. You can keep the camera in one piece and use it as a “normal” handheld device. It has an app that allows you to download directly to your phone. My affiliate link provides you with a free accessory (w/purchase). I bought my Insta360 GO 3 on my own, it was not sent to me. https://www.insta360.com/sal/go-3?utm_term=INRFZFW

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– Help to support the channel – money used to upgrade equipment and keep Freya in snacks.
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ExpatJeff

🎶 MUSIC:
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#expatlife #expatinfrance #jefftheexpat #southoffrance #perpignan

bonjour y’all it’s jeff that just want to check in um i’m sitting over here kind of i’m in my office but uh uh in front of the cat tree here so in case miss freya decides to join when seems like every time i start talking is when she wants to come in and and have attention paid to her so any case hopefully she does pop in here so y’all can get a chance to see her again um just wanted to come in get a lot of questions a lot of people contacting me which is great i mean i’m just i’m still dumbfounded by how many people reach out but the uh but it’s just it’s been awesome uh but it just um asking me about you know what it’s like to live there and you know can you do a video on you know what what your experiences have been and so i figured well it’s my technically it’s my one-y year anniversary uh so i you know i’ve been living here now in perpon for a year uh i don’t let’s see i think i’ve been approved for the renewal of my long-stay visa uh but i don’t have my residency card yet so i should get that well i’ll get some notification at some point in time and make an appointment to go down to the perfeure here in perinon and pick it up uh but the friend of mine uh that i’m here with uh he got the notification about his renewal and i think it’s on june 30th is when he goes in and picks up his card so mine should be soon and i’ve also submitted my paperwork oh there she is i’ve also submitted my paperwork for uh the renewal of my driver’s license or not the renewal but the um swap of my exchange of my driver’s license and so that’s in uh they say it takes 6 to 8 months uh for it to get processed so like everything else it’s just a matter of waiting so she’s decided she’s going to she’s going to attack the bird here so that uh but in any case uh there’s miss fr and there she goes um but any case i thought this would be an opportunity to come on and just talk about what it’s been like for the first year and uh you know kind of pros and kind of do kind of a pros and cons approach to it so first off just kind of overall i’m thrilled to have done it i don’t you know i don’t regret the decision one bit i just uh uh i’ve enjoyed living here enjoyed getting kind of more into the culture although i’ve got quite a ways to go i mean i’m not going to sugarclaws it it’s not sugarcoat it it’s not you know i’m not in you know into the community yet so but i am getting more and more comfortable with communicating with people and uh working on my language skills and you just have to it’s it’s a lifelong learning thing i know that i’ll never be french i know that i’ll never be fluent but as long as i can communicate with people that’s really all that’s that’s important to do you know get through daily daily needs so um so what do i think about living here in france you know had been here for a year now and i and and just like this is probably just going to be true as if you moved anywhere you know whether it’s another country here in europe or if it’s if you’re moving from europe to the united states etc it just the biggest thing is is like they they a lot of people will tell you it’s just pack your patience it’s not uh nothing happens fast here um it’s it’s it’s a france relies and maybe maybe more so than most other european countries but relies a lot on snail mail and so you know you’ll provide emails there are some things you can do online now which is great but uh for the most part it still relies heavily on snail mail for you to get notification of things so it’s not nothing’s fast with with it whether you whether you’re getting your card vital or obviously the driver’s license thing they they say it’s going to take six to eight months it’s like well okay you know so i’ve submitted the paperwork but i don’t even know if they’re satisfied with what i’ve submitted so that could take another couple of months before i hear back anything with with that so um but nonetheless things take a while so you just have to kind of be able to roll with it it’s not if you’re the type that’s just like i have to know exactly what’s going on i need to have this tracked i need to do this this is not going to be for you this is not going to be for you it’s not you know just just kind of stay where you are it’s not it’s a it there’s nobody it doesn’t matter how much you talk to anybody if you want to yell at somebody if you want to do anything else none of that’s going to do anything to expedite any process here so um it’s a nice small city it’s a probably about 130,000 peopleish um i don’t know if that’s maybe me including metro uh certainly very walkable uh and when you get in city center i can walk from my house to city center it takes about 40 well not 40 minutes takes me about 45 minutes to get to the train station uh to get to city center probably about 20 25 minutes walk from here um but i you know i don’t know that perpendicone is going to be my final destination here in france uh maybe looking to explore some other cities just to see if maybe i’ll you know i kind of want a bigger city than this um i know that i don’t want to go smaller i don’t want i don’t want you know maybe like a village life and all that cuz i i just think that that’s going to make me require a car and have to have a car and while i would love to have that kind of more idealic surrounding um realistically you know i think i’m going to have to stick with looking at the other cities you know or or stay in beon you know just it’s it’s it’s not a for you know a foregone conclusion that i’m going to be moving it’s just that you know i do have the opportunity to explore other areas and i’m going to look into doing that um it’s nice that this is probably and i don’t know that this is you know this is going to be somewhat of a generalization but uh this area of the of the country this region of the country is one of the most affordable areas of it so you know it’s um you know you can get an apartment a one-bedroom apartment uh in city center no lift i mean it’ll probably be like a third or fourth floor fifth floor apartment and all that but you can still get something for like 600 or 700 and maybe even less if it’s unfernished uh you know so it’s it’s considering other areas of europe and considering you know other regions here in france you know that’s pretty reasonable pretty reasonable price for it so um and the weather’s nice now right now we’re going through a bit of a heat wave uh so it’s in the let’s see i think today is supposed to be and this is uh this is friday uh so june 20th friday june 20th and uh i think it’s supposed to be like 93 or 94 degrees today something like that so i am very fortunate that i have air conditioning so each of the rooms has a little splitter unit uh so of course the downside of that it’s also very expensive to run so we’ll see what that does to the uh utility bill uh you know next month but nonetheless uh it’s much more tolerable with with that going on especially especially since this is the top floor of the house well second floor it’s it’s the well technically the first floor in europe second floor in the us uh of the house and uh it just gets warm in this room i’m i kind of face to the west and uh you know so it’s not like it’s super hot it just uh you know the house is made of some sort of stone or brick and uh it it really does keep it relatively cool at night uh but during the day uh you know with that sun beating down and there’s no i don’t we don’t have tall enough trees in the back to to shade the house so um it just gets full sun and and uh so it does get warm but uh nonetheless with the air conditioning that makes it very tolerable we’ll just see we’ll see if i have to sell a kidney in order to keep running the air conditioner this summer so uh but in any case and and of course with the with the pace of life here in france and uh it’s just it’s so much slower than in the us and i’m enjoying that i’ve been a workaholic most of my life and to finally be able to and it’s taking me a while i mean and i still maybe have a little ways to go but it’s um you know i’m enjoying the fact that people don’t typically rush things you know it’s not uh you know when you go out especially when you go out to eat uh people here really treat that with a lot of respect it’s not just a slap dash you know you’ll see every once in rare to see anybody trying to eat a sandwich or something like that uh while they’re walking it’s generally that you know people take it outside and sit at a bench or something like that but it uh very rarely will you try to see anybody that’s like you know just i’ve got to get this thing done and i’m trying to get between places or whatever sort of thing so that’s been nice so um now to go over some of the culture shocks of uh of the the move here to france um and i and and not that any of these were something brand new i didn’t come here you know with my eyes shut you know i did watch a lot of youtube videos i did do some research on things before making the move but uh let me see if i can get of course there’s i’m going to move the camera she decides to jump off um but the uh the thing the the major one is is trying to plan around uh lunchtime shutdowns uh most businesses although you but but a lot of pharmacy my pharmacy the pharmacy i go to now uh pharmacy notodam here in in peream uh doesn’t typically shut down at lunch i think they shut down the lunch on saturdays but monday through friday they i think they’re open non-stop sort of thing but but most other places mostarmacies most other businesses uh will shut down now restaurants obviously don’t shut down for that period of time but uh if they’re open for lunch they’re certainly not going to be shut down then but the uh uh it’s just that but and it’s usually between like 12:30 and 2 so if you need to go someplace and you’re trying to time it you do have some restrictions on that you know you need to get there by then the other thing is restaurants typically don’t open for dinner until 7 and so if you are like like nicer places you know if you if you just going for kebab or you’re going for something else that’s going to be more simplistic a lot of those places will either be open non-stop from lunch or they open at like 6 you know 5:30 6:00 and so it’s a little bit earlier the downsides where i live right now with that timing of the restaurants is that the buses the the bus the bus line that comes closest to my house uh so obviously making the most convenient stops running around 7:30 p.m for about 9 months out of the year now the new schedule is going to be coming out july 5th uh and that should go through mid to late august i think is when maybe late august is when or early september whenever school starts up again uh so we’ll have a different schedule coming up so i and i’ll look at that to see if the times get extended uh during the summertime but kind of the drawback that i have is most of my friends live uh in city center and so to meet up with them for dinner at 7:00 you know either i’m ubering or walking back to or taking a taxi back to the house so it’s uh it’s a little expensive to be doing that uh and it’s unfortunate the buses don’t run later uh that would certainly be much more convenient but they don’t so and the other culture shock that i found out was on on and because i got here may 1st last year um and then had the driver bring me up from barcelona to the the apartment in perpo uh i didn’t experience this because i just was so dead tired from not getting any sleep worrying about bringing freya and all that hoo-ha that was as it turned out to be completely unnecessary uh she traveled better than i did uh the um uh but so on so i got here on may 1st so i didn’t really notice it but on may 1st of this year i did notice it is that uh it’s a labor day here and like no bus service the trains run i believe the trains run so if you’re if you’re going someplace like paris or aen or bordeaux or wherever type thing or barcelona the trains do run but um uh but local bus service uh as it turns out does not and so uh made arrangements with some friends to meet up with them for lunch and uh found out that the bus services were not running so i got my steps in that day it you know it uh it was a 45minute walk uh to the restaurant and um and i think on the way back yeah i believe on the way back uh rented one of those u city bikes that you can get uh pony is a service here that can get the electric scooters and uh bicycles and um i am not i’m not built for that bicycle it’s been many many decades probably since i’ve ridden a bike but the uh um not a particularly comfortable ride on the way back but it was €6 and it saved me from doing another 45m minute walk so you know and i probably got about 15 minutes of walk in to until we got to the bikes but the u uh nonetheless tried them out uh if i needed to do it i could do it again since i have the app now so it’s very easy to just get over to the thing scan it either the bike or the scooter and just take off on it type thing it’s just that they are limited as to where you can park them uh in order to turn off the the meter so uh and it turns out that was probably about a/4 mile to a third of a mile away from the house which not bad you know i mean it’s you know maybe a 5 minute 7 minute walk something like that so in any case wasn’t that bad to come back but um the other thing that was a big shock to me was how reliant because i did not really rely the public transportation here in pinome uh and i think it’s also i encountered narbon as well so i’m assuming maybe in most cities in france this is the case but um kids that are going to school and college whether it’s college kids or high school or middle school um ride the public bus and so during the week during the day it’s astounding to me how many kids are on that bus uh just you know and being dropped off of campus or whatever so i mean it’s it’s great to see because obviously that reduces the amount of cars on the road but on the other hand as somebody who’s trying to get around town to go run errands and all that it’s like uh this is you know we need to run some more buses or we need to do something here to to get this to be not so crowded all the time but in any case you know you just get kind of used to it but that was something that was a bit of a shock to me was how much they’re used by kids which you know great for the system all that sort of but it’s just a little little bit of a pain to deal with when you’re just trying to get some errands run things like that so um in this region of france there’s not a not a lot of english spoken but some people do speak some english it’s not even the young people and even those that do speak english uh somewhat are a little afraid probably just like most people are in trying to speak the language that it’s not native to them you know that they’re just afraid to speak it because they’re just afraid to make mistakes and things of that sort so uh but i i have found that there are some people here that do speak english uh and and speak it pretty pretty pretty good that uh just it’s a but there’s a number of people who don’t and so you rely heavily on translate app and learning the language and things of that sort so uh the other thing too is the um and this is very much a european thing because utilities are so expensive comparatively to the us here uh no no real dryer like i have a dryer here at the house um it’s not very good it it’s not very good so i don’t use it that often maybe in the winter when it’s like it might be rainy or cool outside so you’re not going to be putting anything outside and i’ve got like some towels or jeans that i need to get you know cleaned and dried i may run them in the dryer for that but the dryer is not particularly efficient and doesn’t do a great job it does eventually dry but you know you just think it’s like probably spending a lot of money on running that thing for that so and now like now during the summer you you can put your clothes out and then an hour two hours later they’re they’re bone dry you know just it’s a nice little nice little breeze or if we get the trauma coming through which is the high winds uh obviously maybe in 15 minutes your clothes will all be completely dry but but uh in any case it’s it’s not that bad but it’s just something you have to get used to it’s just dryers are not common here so you’re going to be hanging up your clothes and it’s very much a throwback to me when when i was a kid that you know my my mom even though we had a dryer at the house uh during the summer time we lived out in the country and so during the summertime she would almost always hang out you know jeans and towels and linens and things like that out on the clothes line so so anyway kind of a throwback to that but you know minor minor minor inconvenience but kind of an interesting thing to encounter with that um and the last thing i want to talk about for the kind of the culture differences is the amount of coins now a lot of places take cards you know so if you want to use your bank debit card credit card uh you know a lot of places take that and you know and then some of them might have some minimums on like you have to spend at least five euros some don’t you know where if you’d spent €2 you two or three euros you can put it on a card you know type thing to run it through the system the uh um but if you pay cash the moment you start to pay cash probably within 10 or 15 minutes you’re going to have like four pounds of coins in your bag that just it’s like i it’s just astounding to me how much these coins weigh and how quickly they accumulate so you really have to stay on top once you start getting coins you really have to stay on top of them to be able like okay i need to start spending some of these things because they just they just accumulate you know just rapidly you know just uh and various denominations i mean it’s all simple you know it’s still the concept of a 100 s teams inside of our i’m not sure what the unit of measure is but there’s a a hundred of whatever it is in a euro and so it’s the same as a dollar and the the pennies you know so you nickels and dimes and quarters kind of similar concept here with the number of you know they used to be s teams i don’t know probably should have looked that up before talking about this but um but any case it so you know you can tell on the coin the coins what denomination they are and all that sort of thing so it’s not like it’s something that’s like super complex to deal with but man oh man oh man those accumulate quick type thing so just to go over a couple of things with that i and maybe what i’ll do is i’ll save that for another video i’ll do the pros and cons in a different video because it seems like that’s going to make it much more probably palatable for people to to watch that um nonetheless i just wanted to come on here it’s been a year that i’ve lived here i’ve been very happy it’s my first time in 45 years not having a car and uh maybe longer than that uh not having a car and um i’m happy as a clam without it i don’t i don’t mind not having the expense or uh concerns or worries if i get a flat tire or if something happens and get a breakdown or what am i going to do with that and uh you know and the people here have all been super well for the most part i’m sure there’s some people you maybe not so thrilled about my french but uh but overall people have been very very supportive very very kind and uh um just very very nice you know the neighbors have been nice um you know met some people here some other expats some of the locals and um you know it’s just right now of course now this is kind of festival season kicking in and uh but we’ve had this this heat wave kick in and it’s been abnormally hot uh for this time of year and uh so it’s a little limiting on for for me to get out and about cuz i don’t want to you know i’m going to have to get a a shampoo here for me and i’ll just have to find something that’s going to cover this big head and uh you know provide some you know protection other than the sunscreen that i put on but uh uh nonetheless uh you know i’ve enjoyed every bit of it i don’t have any regrets leaving the us uh you know it’s just that uh you know obviously i’ve got friends and you know some family back there but but it’s not something that i you know especially right now i don’t miss it at all uh you know it’s just um just happy to be here working on continue to try to assimilate uh you know and you know kind of living living life as best i can so in any case it’s all been good you know just well some things maybe you have to work through through some things but i’ll say that nothing has been insurmountable here you know the healthc care has been great uh the people have been great you just you know that you go through the processes uh but once you get your cart fatal you get these things set up eventually i’ll get my driver’s license exchanged u but that’s not a big rush on it it’s not you know if it takes eight months you know okay you know that’s fine i haven’t turned in my us one yet until until i think it gets approved and then one of the last steps you do is you have to send in your your current us uh driver’s license but you know so i still have that and uh you know just in case i have to fly back to the us of course i have my passport too but um you know so it’s all good you know i don’t have any complaints it’s not uh um you know aside from the heat but you know certainly in the in atlanta and austin it’s uh it’s not like it’s a cool summer there so um you know in any case i hope everyone’s doing well and we’ll look forward to seeing you all in the next video awan