Italian by birth, Chiara Orlandi moved from the heart of the country, near Umbria’s capital Perugia, to the somewhat rainy, northern city of Edinburgh, in Scotland. According to Chiara, “I’ve always had a passion for travelling, learning new languages and experiencing different cultures.” While in Scotland, she worked with the …

When you have an appointment at the prefecture to renew your French expat visa, you’d better show up. Rain, shine … or flu! Today was the day to update my 12-month French expat visa — or carte de séjour. The event seems to come around much faster each year. I …

Sometimes you wake up suddenly from a dream only for it to disappear from grasp, but in other cases, that vision becomes clearer with time. What if your dream was to live in Provence? Over 25 years ago, Julie Whitmarsh and her husband Andy visited the Vaucluse for the first …

Jane Dunning is addicted to France. “I’m a real Francophile and have stayed in more than one hundred towns, cities, villages and hamlets in France. Twenty-two of these have been in Provence, the shortest for one night, the longest for four months.” The Dunnings’ four-month stay was as acting caretakers …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: What a mess the town centre is right now what with the travaux for the new bus route and the simultaneous archaeological dig and renovations at the Place des Precheurs. But then no pain no gain…no omelettes without breaking eggs, and all that good stuff.The bus …

Learning a second language is never easy, and as a uni-lingual adult, the long “road” to mastering French is daunting. Even native French speakers agree that there are more exceptions to the language’s rules than necessary, and let’s not even begin to talk about verbs. Marina Depoorter is the founder …

Since arriving back in the UK after Christmas it seems that it hasn’t stopped raining and most days we appear to have moved directly from dawn to dusk with what appears to be no actual sunlight in between. It just hasn’t got light and to be honest it’s felt as …

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time to renew the French Expat Visa. It’s a gift from France that keeps on giving. I wish that I could say that everything about living in France is wonderful. But when it comes to dealing with French bureaucracy, frankly, it can be …

You may well have found your dream location in Provence, but eventually life has a tendency to kick in wherever you are & that’s when Life Coaching can be useful. Coaching can be expensive and not everyone feels comfortable in a one to one situation, that’s only a couple of …

Life in France as an Expat Part II Life as an immigrant in another country is never easy. A friend of mine recently managed to mix up the French work to cook “faire cuire” with to drive “conduire.” This resulted in her explaining to the butcher how she was going …