Introduce yourself here ...........

[Ruth Snelleman]

Hello!

My name is Ruth. I'm 30 years old and I currently live with my fiance in Melbourne, Australia.

After our wedding in March next year, my partner (who is British) and I are going to relocate to the Languedoc region in France.

Although my partner has lived in France before (in Never), I have never resided there, so I am feeling a little anxious about the move.

For the past eight or so years I have worked in media and communications roles, most recently for a Chinese owned mining company, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

I'd be really keen to receive any feedback/advice from anyone willing to share their experiences relocating to the Languedoc region, from another country. I'm also keen to know about any employment opportunities that there may be for English speaking expats in this area, or even volunteering opportunities. Having worked in the media and communications industry I'd be particularly keen to know of any opportunities that might be available in this area.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and I welcome any feedback or suggestions you may have to make the imminent move to France that little bit easier.

Have a great day,
Ruth.

[gurubarry]

Hello Ruth, life here is of a very good quality, there is a big AV industry in Montpellier . I am not in the work loop, but almost all of the people I know who have moved here enjoy the lifestyle and of course the climate . I have a neighbour who has a degree in a chinese dialect and he is finding work I believe . English wis widely used here I have found, and the French are very helpful towards English Speakers who adopt the Country and its customs and attempt the language! Hope your move is successful ...plenty of knowledge on this and other forums for you .

[alex hampshire]

Ruth unless you speak fluent French then working with a French firm would be very unlikely. Try and source employment with a multinational before you leave. Good luck.

[maxou]

Hiya all,

Long time lurker, about time that I shared some pearls of wisdom gleaned through the ages. Living a stone's throw away from that architectural marvel that is the Antigone, I have lived in and around town for over a decade now, but we (yes, a family, kids born here) are in the process of moving to a village just far enough out of town to avoid the trafic and the Agglo's taxes

[gurubarry]

Hello Maxou, we are considering it ourselves ....Laverune is starting an expansion programme...I think it will enjoy much success !

[David Rose]

Bonjour a tous! Okay, hi there everyone!
David and Mirabelle here. We registered on the Languedoc Pages years ago as house- and pet-sitters when looking after a cat and Buddhist retreat in the eastern Cevennes. Amazingly, and via everywhere else in Europe this last three years, we are back for a short while house-sitting cats in a vigneron undergoing restoration in the village of Causses et Veyran. Very nice it all is, especially the walks/cycling round about. Wish we had gone for house-sits here more often, rather than "exotic" Algarve or County Clare. It's all so civilized here ...

We're charmed, watching the birds (Mediterranean Warblers, we think) stripping the last of the noble rot as well as talking to all nationalities (with the occasional "bonjour") in the village. This includes an Irish pinstriper with a post-war Chevrolet delivery van. Pinstriper? You might well ask.

We are here until mid-December at the latest while the house-owner is sorting his hip out back in Blighty. Then we cross back over the divide for a Christmas/New Year house-sit looking after Apricot Poodles in the upper Tarn. After this is a small farm in Lot and Garonne. From the beginning of March we are, at the moment, not booked for house-sitting. If anyone is interested in what we do "professionally", though we don't charge for our services, I am happy to forward our travel site (actually, it's http://www.ramblingrose.eu) where mug shorts and pretty pictures complete, the picture. We live and work (as writers/publisher) in our motor home, though the postman finds it hard to find us and Internet is generally so awful around Europe we have had to wind this down.

Eh bien, if anyone is interested, and we certainly are interested in lingering in Languedoc, that would be great so we can cower down here to the Summer perhaps, from likely savage northern European weather.

Best Wishes to all,
David and Mirabelle (guardiennes extraordinaire)

[snoopycat]

Really nice blog and photos David. Have bookmarked for a good read.....off in our (old) campervan tomorrow for a couple of days. Nice to 'meet' you both!

[Anne Marie]

Hello,
My name is Anne-Marie, I am French. After living in the US, Germany, Switzerland, Nantes, Castres and Côte d'Azur, fate caught up on me and sent me back to Perpignan, my home turf. I am now retired and love to travel and to cook.

[peter]

Welcome Anne Marie.

You'll find some of your 66 neighbours posting here.

Peter

[catalanglais]

Hi Anne Marie

You'll find some of your 66 neighbours posting here.

I'm one of 'em.

If you are the Anne Marie who has been sending stuff to Peter for the 'What's on' section, I look forward to your input.

[Anne Marie]

Hello neighbour,
Yes, I am the same one.

[gurubarry]

Welcome Ann Marie .... and thank you for the previous information

[dimidu66]

Hi everybody! Firstly, I wish you a happy new year and all best things for you during 2012! I'm Dimitri alias dimidu66. I'm from Perpignan and I've created a fan page for Perpignan Airport! I'm studying Marketing in Dublin Business School this year and next year I'll be back in France. Later, I would like to become an airport manager or airline manager in da future. I will keep you informed about all news concerning Perpignan Airport for sure and I'll try my best to give you also all the news concerning Carcassonne airport too!

[peter]

Looking forward to that, Peter !

[gurubarry]

Welcome Dimitri and thank you for the info and friendly posts .

[dimidu66]

Thank you very much Gurubarry!

[sandw]

Hi everyone!

I'm Sandrine, I'm french but lived 12 years in England, first Brighton then Wales then Midlands (Stafford), married a brit, Andy, and we have 3 girls. We moved to France 2 years ago...mainly because I wanted to come back... I'm originally from Arles. We now live near in Redessan, near Nimes.
I'm a stay-at-home mum and my husband works in telecoms and is away a lot. We find it hard to settle and if it wasn't for the fact that I know it would break my mum's heart, I would seriously consider going back to the UK!!! I can't seem to be able to getting used to the southern french mentality again...I know it sounds weird coming from a southern french person but it's true...
Anyway, sorry for moaning...but it feels good to let it out!!!! I can hardly say that sort of thing outside the school gates!!! LOL!!!

[peter]

We are also a "mixed race" couple and have quite a few French born anti France rebel friends !

[hesfordj]

Sometimes its harder for a "native" to return and fit in than it is for total newcomers. I'm sure if you look at this forum enough you will find events and organisations that will help you mix with the anglophone society, n9ot sure about the French one though....

[gurubarry]

Hi Sandrine...the only advice I can give..which works for me although I'm English, is :
Detach yourself from the French Mentality, enjoy the bits you like, and suffer the "Weird" bits as an English person does, with our Black humour and sense of superiority ....The Whole is so much better than the parts here, I find.

Enjoy the good bits and raise your eyebrows at the bad bits ...On y Vas !

[DavidB46]

Hi there, english couple with a baby looking to emigrate to the Languedoc this autumn. I've spent most of my time in the East Midlands, she's from London - we currently live on the south coast (Hove).

Hoping that I can work semi remotely with my wife looking after our son. We met in France when we were working a ski season (Chatel, in the French alps) but have been to the Languedoc a few times (I have an uncle near Carcassone) and think it'll be a nice place to bring him up.

I'll post a question about good locations in the knowledge base and thanks in advance for the help, advice and info that this forum seems to be great for.

[gurubarry]

Welcome David B46, hope we can be of help, there is a great deal of knowledge on the forum ....they are very helpful people I find .

[BIGI]

Greetings. David and I are living in Congenies til the end of November. I am from Canada, David from USA where we live in North Carolina. We're the wardens the Quaker Center in Congenies -- a B&B with 5 rooms with a large meeting room and garden. In our former lives we worked with other nationalities: teachers getting an MA to teach ESL or students preparig to enter university. We' both lived in France when we were college aged, later worked in Algeria a couple of times. Like to get know a wide variety of folks while we are here. Want to get to know French folks and visit local sites.

[downbythebeach]

Hello everyone,
Just joined so though we'd introduce ourselves.

Nationality: Scottish and French.

Where from in home country: Glasgow and Allier.

Family situation: Married, French wife; we met in Glasgow, 2 kids born in Glasgow, came here when they were 11months and 3 years old.

Languedoc location: South of Montpellier, relatively near the beach, hence the name.

How long in Languedoc: 9 years now

Work status: Me, (D), IT Support for mainly English speaking clients. My wife (S) , after graduating in France moved to the UK (Bath and then Glasgow) and completed teacher training in Scotland. After 12 years of teaching there came to France and, eventually, passed the capes. We both commute to le Gard

Previous line of work: gosh, loads - Heavy Engineering, Hotel kitchens, Bars, night watchman then finally Uni and then into IT. ( my hands couldn't take being a plongeur any more)

Hobbies: Here mainly eating, reading, cooking, drinking wine, walking, following my football team on-line; sometimes when they play close by in Europe and occasionally fishing. Back in Scotland I would go see my team, loved trout fishing and Golf but I seemed to have dropped these since I came here.

What do you do here: Apparently work too many hours and drink too much wine. What I haven't done, to my internal shame, is integrate as well as I hoped. The house language is a Scottish variant of English, in work I tend to speak English and the few folks I know well are either Scottish, English or speak English well. My French is pants which I'm fairly embarrassed about.

When I showed this forum to my wife she was keen for us to sign up as our focus since we have arrived has been redeveloping our careers here in France and bringing up our kids, both are now well on the way so we thought we would join up, see what's happening and say hello to all. "We're fed up not knowing enough people like us" (S); she made me write that

I think we'll probably both sign in with this account and sign off as D of S, so... sorry for the long winded entry, but... hello to all.

D&S

[gurubarry]

Welcome ....this is a nice place ,