Oradour-sur-Glane – the French Village Frozen in Time
When my dad first told me about Oradour-sur-Glane, I knew at once it was a place I would like to visit. My dad and I share a passion for history, particularly anything involving the Second World War. This made the French village, located in the…
How to Apply for French Nationality Part Five – I’m French but What Now?
For 18 long months I waited. Waited to see my name up in lights. Then, at 1am on the morning of the 15th of November my friend Gemma called me to tell me my name was in the JO. I finally got my French nationality.…
Joanna Bate – An artist à decouvrir!
Joanna divides her time as much as possible between living in Woodford and France and has done two local art exhibitions. She is mainly self taught and has a HND in Retail Design from the University of the Arts London. A happy fault in a project,…
An Evening With Le Cheese Geek
Anyone who knows me, even a little, knows how much I love cheese. Even before I lived in France, my love affair with cheese had already begun. It was just, well, a bit limited. I’d mostly eaten English cheddar, English stilton and a variety of…
How to Apply for French Nationality Part Two – The French Test
As some of you may know, and if you’ve already read my first article How to Apply for French Nationality – Part One, I am currently in the process of applying to become a French citizen through naturalisation. After you’ve followed the steps in my…
7 Things I wish I’d Known Before I Moved Abroad
It’s ironic really, my blog’s name is My Life Living Abroad but I’ve never actually written a post about how I moved abroad and more specifically, how on earth I managed to get all my stuff over here! It was a bit of a logistical…
How to apply for French Nationality Part One – The Paperwork
Find out if you’re eligible to apply for Nationality First things first, if you want to apply for French nationality you need to find out if you are eligible. This information can be found on the servicepublic.fr website but, it’s only in French, so here’s…
French Films You Need to Watch
Before I moved to France the only French film I had ever seen was Amélie. I didn’t know of other French films, nor the names of any famous French actors and I’m ashamed to say that it stayed this way for a very long time!…
The French You Don’t Learn at School – Part Five
The French you Don’t Learn at School is back and I can’t wait to share some new expressions with you! The goal of these posts is to help anyone learning French understand some well known and popular phrases that you definitely won’t learn at school…
What Happens When You’re Sick in France
I often pride myself on the fact that I can answer a lot of administrative questions about life in France. I know how to get a social security number, how to rent an apartment, how to pay taxes, how to open a bank account and…
