Moving to France: How Andrew & Sam Transformed Their Lives in Bordeaux 🇫🇷

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Thinking about moving to France? 🏡✨ Discover how Andrew and Sam left Texas behind to embrace a new life in the beautiful city of Bordeaux.

In this inspiring story, they share:
✅ Why they chose France for their fresh start
✅ How they adapted to French culture and language
✅ The joys and challenges of expat life
✅ Essential tips for anyone planning to relocate

Andrew and Sam also reveal how French Connections HCB made their transition smooth – from securing visas and managing insurance to opening a French bank account and navigating complex admin tasks.

If you’re considering a move to France, this video is packed with valuable insights to help you take the leap with confidence. 🌍💬

00:00 – Introduction
01:11 – Moving to Bordeaux
02:16 – Life in Bordeaux
03:35 – Reasons for moving
06:07 – Cultural Differences
07:33 – Language challenges
09:23 – Moving Process
10:49 – Settling in
14:39 – Life in Bordeaux
18:36 – Weekend Activities
21:04 – Encouragement to move
23:04 – Conclusion

If you’d like to learn more about life in France, feel free to contact us!
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Thank you for watching!

#MovingToFrance #ExpatLife #LifeInFrance #RelocatingToFrance #BordeauxFrance #LivingAbroad #FranceLifestyle #FrenchConnectionsHCB #UKToFrance #DreamLifeInFrance

hello and welcome back to real French connections we are here in the beautiful city of Bordeaux to talk to Sam and Andrew who moved here from Texas let’s go and meet them we moved here from Dallas Texas it was the first place that we saw and we fell in love with it we can step out of our front door uh the tram is a half a block down the street that way and there’s restaurants and shops uh literally at our doorstep I think I’ve been surprised very pleasantly by just how um uh accommodating people are how friendly they are the culture here is different and then I think it’s a little bit more formal I would say jat may A J Demi uh Demi so um so in French the a rough translation of that is I used to be an avocado but now I’m partially dead so um The Fear Factor is it it’s understandable but I want something else I want something new I want to learn more things that I’d never seen before are suddenly part of my everyday life so thank you for having us to talk to you and first We’re In This Magnificent apartment tell us about it Sam why don’t you start because you’re the one who picked the sound well um we about a year ago we came to Bordeaux to uh look for apartments and we saw this one online I think it had been an Airbnb prior to um it becoming a regular rental um but we looked at it it was the first place that we saw and we fell in love with it instantly instantly um it in fact it was we were like okay these ceilings these windows uh three bedrooms and so we thought okay this is fine and our purpose in coming to Bordeaux last year was to find an apartment and we found it and was that because you were moving here or was that because you needed a permanent address it was a com U you we obviously had to have a permanent address for a lot of the paperwork um but the um uh we had already made the decision to move here and we’re in the process of uh getting all the paperwork together so that we could make the move and where were you coming from we moved here from Dallas Texas so a very outgoing City a very dynamic city a very large city 7 million people in the Dallas Fort Worth area it’s a very very big city also very spread out uh so it was nice to come to a place uh and one of the things we like about this apartment is that it is in the center of the city and we can step out of our front door uh the tram is a half a block down the street that way and there’s restaurants and shops uh literally at our doorstep it has everything doesn’t it really oh it does and the tram so what a difference a City built on trams with so little traffic to where you came from well that is one of the big differences from uh our life in the States versus here uh in Dallas you had to drive everywhere you I lived in an apartment there years ago where I had to drive to take the trash to the the dumpster seriously seriously you didn’t do anything without the car and which it’s a whole different way of life but uh you know we love Dallas we loved our time there but you know you just notice these differences that uh make a big difference in your quality of life so then that begs the question what made you come what was the decision process that actually made you leave a life where you were clearly happy and come over here well there’s there’s a bunch of reasons first is we like to travel we’ve traveled all over the world we’ve been blessed in that respect uh but one of the things we kept finding is we kept returning to France uh we love the culture we love the people we love the language the food of course right and so we had talked about it for many years uh that you know hey when we retire um you know we let’s try to live in France for a little bit and and I think with as with a lot of other people uh the pandemic really kind of sent home a message that you know you only get one trip uh on this on this planet and so that kind of accelerated our plans and uh we started doing our research and visiting different cities here in France and we just kind of fell in love with bordeau how old were you when you first visited BR that is I was 43 I didn’t visit Europe the first time when I was 42 no 43 43 because it was it was Ireland yeah yeah 2000 um but oh also my dad was a soldier here during World War II and way was he based uh he traveled all over France um he you know like many American soldiers of that era he didn’t talk too much about uh the war part what he talked about mostly was that n France and that was the way he always pronounced it he oh yeah that e France but his uh experience there was he was on RNR uh from you know whatever but he just loved the idea of you know his experiences there but you know my dad was 19 at the time you know and you think about that kind of experience when you’re 19 20 years old and do you have similar connections or what is your what Drew you to France apart from both of you well I like this guy so you know so I’m going to follow him wherever he goes but um no we have a similar you know we’ve always had a similar passion for the French culture and when we brought we in addition bringing his mom here we brought my parents here in I want to say 2007 2008 the fall of 2007 and before we brought him here I did some genealogy on my father’s side of the family which is uh a French heritage because my last name is foron and um what we found is we have an ancestor who was born near Lon France yeah uh he was born in 1620 1621 and he immigrated from there to uh New France Quebec Quebec City was one of the first 80 or so people to to settle in in in the new world so now you’re here and having been here for a year have you been made to feel welcomed I think I’ve been surprised very pleasantly by just how um uh accommodating people are how friendly they are um there’re not necessarily A warmth you know I think a lot of people feel that there’s a little bit of a standoffishness just because you know people aren’t going to hey how you doing buddy I like you know you would back in the States you know the culture here is different and then I think it’s a little bit more formal um it’s not um you know Texas is people in Texas are so nice they’re very gregarious um and very loud and you know as soon as you meet somebody you’re instantly their friend and they’re just an open book for for you and it’s a little different here um you know but it is there’s a formality of when you go in a store you don’t start with I want this and this and this you go in you’re like good morning good day good evening and you know I think for me um Sam’s French is much better than mine um so I’m still kind of climbing that learning curve um but they’re patient uh they’re they’re they’re they’re very patient with that um they will help you with that yeah um you know you could very easily move here without French language skills and probably get by but I think if you’re going to embrace the whole of the experience of living in this country and respecting that culture than having a minimum set of French skills and then dealing with the government or dealing with you know a doctor or or or something like that that that the French skills will come in handy so have you had any funny incidents involving language yes uh a few right because uh Sam’s French is much farther along than mine but uh I’m working on it and I’m not afraid of just putting myself out there right because that’s what you have to do so um in my previous life in the United States I was an executive and a lawyer and um so when people here would ask me you know where are you from oh I’m you know from uh and what did you do I would say um just avocat which as you know is I’m an avocado so um I would say jocat Demi uh Demi so um so in French the a rough translation of that is I used to be an avocado but now I’m partially dead so um you know so uh and people would just look at me and um they’ be very polite um you know and but that’s you know the the the nuances right like like you know J avocad I am a lawyer right but if you add an article then it becomes an avocado um but it’s okay because I like avocados so it just that’s a lovely story and I think people like you for that anyway don’t they that’s part of the that’s they won’t forget you next time no absolutely not you know I think for me one of the bigger breakthroughs I had is and and you’ve experienced this in your life here is the day I stopped into my local TBA to buy the newspaper and and you know a Diet Coke or whatever and um and he asked me sa right and he started making small talk um because I go to the same store you know to get the paper and to get that stuff and and that’s when I think we really knew we kind of had a breakthrough and absolutely lovely some of the locals here refer to us as the Tex Texans yeah did you need help with anything during your move here how did the process uh work cuz presumably you needed a a Visa mhm um did you bring a car did you no we did not bring a car but you bring up a good question is when and and I think this is maybe a hurdle for a lot of people who are thinking about doing what we did yeah is there’s a lot of paperwork involved the French government is known yeah for the bureaucracy and the paperwork and mailing things and mailing them back and um when we were going through that process we were sort of overwhelmed with getting our life in order right we had a we had a house to sell we had to have an estate sale and get rid of all our stuff and sell our cars and um you know uh separate from our work and and and talk to our families and so when we were going through that process we wanted to embrace our dream and we didn’t really want to get bogged down in the paperwork yeah and that’s where we uh doing our research came across French connections um and so we were lucky to engage with Richard and the team there uh and has been uh I think a lifesaver and allowed us really to focus on living our Dream here and not being need in paperwork that’s a lovely way of putting it and I’m sure that was very helpful at the time because that’s a lot you did to actually leave Texas wasn’t it let alone the the part of the story where you’re arriving here well the other thing that that French connections did was they laid out kind of the the whole here’s all the things that you’re going to need you need a card to be to going to need a visa you’re going to need to apply for a c sour you’re going to need to uh consider health insurance you know all these things that we may or may not have had that list complete um and it was such a relief to be able to we can depend on them they know what they’re doing they’re you know on the ground um they helped us with opening a bank account which is a very difficult particular and uh you know as soon as there they found an opportunity with uh B&P to open an account for us and we jumped on it we could do it from Texas so we had that even before you came right we had that all settled so that when we got here we could immediately search Euros we didn’t have to worry about banking issues and exchange rates and all that sort of thing so that was very helpful but all along the way uh whether it was through the driver’s license that Andrew mentioned or you know just the routine of here’s how you get your visa um we had a a fun story on that was you know these appointments that you have to go to that you know a French Connection set up for for us we were in Dallas the appointment was in Houston so we uh had scheduled a flight to Houston it’s about an hour flight um we were going to get there late afternoon the appointment was very early in the next morning so we thought we don’t want to miss this appointment we don’t so anyway we got on the plane in Dallas and we’re on the plane and the pilot announ say it’s going to be delayed oh and delayed and delayed and we’re thinking okay this could be a problem so we think okay we got to we got to take this in our own hands so we got off the plane went back home got in our car and drove to Houston oh drove the five five hours to Houston we made the appointment brother well there’s so much that can’t go wrong in the in the process there’s you know you’re doing government forms in a different language a language that may not be native to you um there’s a process that you need to follow and there are people who have been through it before and having the resources of and the team um to let us know you know hey here’s the documents we need from you um uh we’re going to send them out and then in a couple weeks you’ll hear this and if you don’t hear from us let us know um and when we did um work with them they really kind of gave us a menu of different things that we could do with very transparent pricing um and we’ve kind of worked our way through that list um and I think the biggest um surprise for me was you hear all the time about how long things take yes and I moved here in December and by mid April I had my cart F cart fatal in hand fantastic and you know I know past performance doesn’t guarantee future results but I think it’s a testament to the fact that the team at French connections knows the process yep they know where the pressure points are and who to contact if something gets stuck through that process that’s right and it really did free us up to focus on um integrating into our new environment and dealing with the the kind of the dissonance you experience when you go from one culture to a next absolutely yes they they were also helpful and you know some of the little details like this document needs to be translated into French yeah and they found us immediately you know do you want us to employers service to to do this and absolutely so that’s another thing I don’t need to find a certified French trans translator I don’t need to do any of that they already have that in in in hand it’s a turnkey team that knows the s knows the process knows the culture that allows us to focus on pursuing our Dream yeah that’s lovely and pursuing your dream you rented this beautiful apartment did you bring all this furniture with you no we uh this is all part of the the furnished apartment but we um everything back in the US we sold or gave away we now our possessions would fit in probably two suitcases four boxes and we have the cats and what about things about bordo that you particularly like it’s a beautiful city there’s so much to love um what is it what is it that makes you feel great about living here when you walk out of your front door well bordo is a very um livable City it’s very human scale you know we’re used to highways and you know large buildings and big downtowns and you know the the philosophy on on City Life here is that you should live in the city so you have all these you know ground floor businesses and shops and things like that and then people that live above them and so people take advantage of the proximity to these things there’s always some activity going on whether it’s you know down in the plastic an or you know some concert I mean when we had the the fet musique in in June here that was that was just lovely you know cuz it was all these little Street Corner performances uh in the gambetta park down here there were three or four I think that were there was a choir there was a guy playing the cello I mean it was really kind of lovely yeah but and a lot of these things are surprises you know we don’t necessarily you know we’re not attuned to all these different activities that are going to happen so You’ only just had the one year the surprises and things will turn around W they it’s second year by the third time you’ll be anticipating and we’re very much looking forward to Christmas this year we were here for Christmas last year but we were kind of spinny yeah but the day that he got here uh was the day that they lit up the upper house and the not just a coincidence it was because I arrived and they flipped a switch um but no it must have be magical as as Sam said this is a it’s a Charming City it’s known as The beldor miror Sleeping Beauty um it is um and why why is it known as that I do you know the story I don’t know the I think it’s because it’s kind of always underappreciated it’s I think it’s something to do with relationship to Paris let’s talk about that because in terms of architecture um wasn’t this the the mini Paris or the the first test of the the architecture I think the locals would say that Paris is the big Bordeaux right um as opposed to Bordeaux being in Paris but um Housman who is the man who um uh put his imprint on Paris with the grand boulevards and the and the Limestone architecture and all and you know the zinc roofs and all that stuff he was here first and so you know as you’re walking around the city it has a very similar feel to that with the grand buildings and the unique look right kind of harmonized look one of the other fun things about this you know living in this space is you wonder what has gone on here over the centuries you know I mean in the floor you can see where doors used to be or fireplaces or other things that that might have been divisions you know was this what was this but what’s amazing for us too is you know the United States is a very young country um and this building was built in the 1700s the building we live in and that was so it was probably built in the late 1700s so the United States was probably probably maybe a country when this was built um and if it was but it was a baby country right so so much history and you know and like Sam says sometimes we just think about you know what’s what’s going on in this building or what’s going on in the Square out front or whatever yeah so much so guys took me through a typical weekend here in buo well I don’t know if there’s a typical weekend I me there’s a lot of different things that we have going on you know Friday and Saturday we’ll probably get together with some friends um we made a a number of friends here that uh you know we hang out with um Sundays what we love to do is go to the the market on the K and Sh um um we started doing that God in January I guess um and at first it was a little bit intimidating you know because you go into a market like that and there’s all this activity and all these booths and it’s what are the rules you know where do I get into line what what what do I ask for how do they this all work do they all is this all cash is it you know do they take cards just the kind of questions that go through your head and of course it’s in another language so you’re a little bit intimidated but what we’d love to do is see what looks good um for dinner that night and we buy a bunch of stuff we both love to cook and so we you know put together a nice little dinner sometimes it we’ll just get you know cheese and bread and have a you know a nice lunch kind of thing but the the the market there are so many nice people there I mean there’s a a woman who uh has a raw cheese uh stand and she’s just friendly and lovely to be around and you know it’s just a pleasure to see her she’s always happy always smiling and she has really good cheese she has really great cheese doesn’t it and you know there are eat in places there too you can get oysters virtually any time of the year um and they’re they’re amazing and where do those oysters come from they come just from the Eran Bay right over here they’re it’s all locally source as fresh as fresh yeah could be yeah this is a big Seafood Town um between the Estuary of the garon and Aron which is a bay uh not too far away uh they have oyster farms and fishing fleets and so we get great oysters and great Seafood um and so that’s nice we like that plus but it’s not just Seafood we’ve got the dorone uh which is about an hour or two you know to the north North Northeast of us and they have you know that’s where they grow walnuts walnuts and fagra and fagra and of course Bordeaux wine and so um we just feel that we’re in this epicenter of Cuisine and fresh and local products and um it’s wonderful I think the difference is here it’s about quality of life not Quant quantity of Life yes Y and that’s just a nice change for us and what would you say because I think that’s a really valid point what would you say to people who who have perhaps always dreamed of coming to France or perhaps it’s a new idea but but don’t really feel able to move from the idea to the actual doing it what would you say to encourage those people wow well um you need to pursue your dreams right we only get one crack at life and uh it can be too short and what you’ll find is it’s a lot probably a lot more possible than you think it is especially when you have resources like French connections and when you get to a place especially here in France because the people are very accommodating and very helpful um if you’re not sure about it being sustainable as you talked about earlier um you know or you don’t want to be here for a long term you can come for six months if you want and give it a shot and stay in a long-term erab BNB and if you don’t like it you can go somewhere else right um but but give it a shot right would would would you agree with that or would your takee you absolutely I mean the the Fear Factor is it it’s understandable you know you’re going to give up everything that you’ve known for all your life and and suddenly you know try to embrace something that’s different um I’d look at it the other way around it’s like well I did that you know and that was fun fun and it was great and I still love the US and always will but I want something else I want something new I want to learn more and you know I think it’s important particularly you know I’m not I’m not getting any younger um to keep uh learning new things to be active to be you know stimulating your brain with uh you know this is a new language this is you know the new new uh experiences things that I’d never seen before are suddenly part of my everyday life and I think that that helps to you know keep you alive keep you vibrant and keep you uh you know on the on the right path being healthy just thank you both of you for the whole experience of talking to it’s so exciting to see you in such a beautiful place and having such a great time and I’m really excited to see what happens this time next year when your lease is uph whether you’ll stay I definitely would or whether you what whatever you’ll do next um I hope we can really keep in touch that’s