Why France?
With any big life change, everyone always asks, “why did you decide to do that?”. I’ve been asked so many times, I’ve got my sound bites ready to go.
“Have you been to France?! Do you like wine and cheese?!”
“France is so beautiful! I love the history, art, and architecture!”
“I wanted to live somewhere where I don’t need to shovel snow”
“I don’t want to live in a big city anymore"“
“It was a midlife crisis”
“I want to live in a country that is easy to travel to other places”
Those are all true statements, but it’s not the whole story.
I’ve been dreaming about living in Europe for many years. After attending university in the UK, I loved the idea of living abroad. But as is wont to happen, life got in the way. Between finding a career path, adopting a dog, playing competitive sports….there never seemed to be a good time to pull up roots.
Cut to 2020…yeah. As we all experienced, the pandemic disrupted our lives. Everything that we considered routine and rote, was gone. Our work life, hobbies, friendships, and family were interrupted and ofter never went back to ‘normal’. I struggled personally with my mental health not having my regular outlets for stress. Work and home life became uncomfortably intertwined as I worked from home. I started to question if I was actually happy with my choices and if now was the time for a big change.
After watching countless episodes of Chateau DIY (formerly Escape to the Chateau: DIY), I started to look at French properties online…you know, just for fun.
We all know how the housing prices in major Canadian cities has gone a bit bonkers. So when I was looking at prices of properties in France, I was astonished to find what I could (potentially) afford. *Note - I was looking for a house in the countryside.
When the idea started to solidify in my mind, I needed to figure out what I would do for work. I don’t speak French and I wasn’t particularly interested in doing the same thing, just in a different place. I wanted a BIG change. I figured that if I could find a beautiful property, I could rent it on AirBnB and make a living that way. So with that in mind, I started looking seriously for about 9 months. Unlike in Toronto, where properties sell within a few days, French properties are often for sale for years. Especially the ones that require more TLC.
In early 2021, I found THE ONE. It was perfect. It took me a few months to gird my loins and make that somewhat irreversible decision, but in June 2021 I gave notice at my job and started the process of putting my house on the market. In August, I travelled to France with my best friend and saw the house for the first time in person. It was in WAY WORSE condition than the photos showed. It had been vacant for 5 years and there had been some water damage along the way.
We looked at a couple other properties while we in France, but that house had my heart. I emailed the realtor the next day and made an offer. The next number of months were not easy or clear (perhaps another post about that), but I eventually made it to France.
So I’m not sure what to say when people ask, “Why France?”. There were a lot contributing factors, but I guess the real answer, is that I always dreamed of living THIS life.
