So I'm in France guys....been for a few weeks now. Not much to say about it so far, been exploring the city a bit but obviously I've been working almost every day and it's dark by the time I'm done with work, so yeah. Been building up a pantry and dealing with the practical aspects of moving abroad like getting all the utilities in order. Will do more exploring this weekend...it's not a huge city (at least the centre) so I do it on foot, which is one of the best ways to get your bearings and get a sense of the distances. A metro doesn't help much to get to know the city beyond where the metro stops are.

First impressions of France:

- They love their bureaucracy here jesus
- Food is so ridiculously cheap in supermarkets. I don't know how it's possible. Even a basic shitty frozen pizza, same brand and size and everything as in Malta is about half the price. I don't know what to spend my money on!
- They have this "restaurant card" as a work benefit here which is...interesting. Basically they (employer) take 4.5 euros from my salary every day I work and match it with 4.5 euros, for a total of 9 euros earned per work day. Which can then be used to buy food with (but not alcohol, raw meat/fish, non food stuff etc) in supermarkets, or pay for in restaurants...except for on Sundays. And there is a maximum spend limit of 19 euros a day. It's really damn annoying because it's a great benefit but I got way more money on it then I ever need for my basic for my basic food shopping (see the point above). And it's not like I can blow it on a fancy dinner in an expensive restaurant given the daily limit...it seems like French people are really expected to go to restaurants a lot more than I do.


It's also a bit weird to be able to speak French but to live in the country for the first time. By that I mean that a lot everyday stuff that normal people living here find very normal is still new to me, so I look like a weirdo when I can explain myself fluently but don't know the exact words for a specific concept (say, phone credit) or don't know how something works. Ironically, people would probably find me less of a weirdo/moron and treat me nicer if they could see I'm just a foreigner who's new to everything.

Just wear a cap "I love USA", problem solved.

I might have to butcher the accent a bit more for that

Yup. The locals would rather be set on fire before they do this.

Haha it's gonna be interesting to see how you find France as a working person, as I only have my view of it as a true tourist and my parents as retired immigrants! Plus you're in a different area to them, more north I think, so stuff will be different regionally.

Haha yeah, so far I've mostly noticed how much freaking leave they have...it's insane. So what I have understood:

- 5 weeks of paid leave
- 1.5 weeks of so-called RTT (it's basically a compensation for working longer days than the usual working week - it adds up to a separate 'paid leave' pool)
- Around 15 public holidays (of course not all of them fall on work days, but the majority does)

Obviously I don't make use of many other related leaves like parental or maternity leave but those are quite generous too.

Oh and you can get even more leave if you don't take all of your holidays during the summer! I gues it's to prevent everyone from being off at the same time. Basically you need to have X amount of paid holidays left after October 31st, and in exchange you get 1 or 2 additional days of paid leave.

I know, it's crazy. After several years of being technically self-employed and almost never taking any days off (and no public holidays) I will have to get used to having so much of it...but we're almost in April and I haven't taken a single day of leave yet haha. What I am going to do with all this abundance?!

Work of course.

Sadly probably true. Especially now that I'm more or less stuck in here anyway...

Oh yeah, I swear they have a public holiday every week! And the thing is they have the official day of holiday but most of the time the days either side of it are unofficial holidays too

Yep! Used to annoy the shit out of me when I was still self-employed but now I'm like....yes please!

1 Jan Wed New Year's Day
13 Apr Mon Easter Monday
1 May Fri Labour Day
8 May Fri Victory Day
21 May Thu Ascension Day
31 May Sun Whit Sunday
1 Jun Mon Whit Monday
14 Jul Tue Bastille Day
15 Aug Sat Assumption Day
1 Nov Sun All Saints' Day
11 Nov Wed Armistice Day
25 Dec Fri Christmas Day

That's all of them for this year! Notice how May in particular is a long weekend almost every weekend...company closes for the 22nd of May as well to make it a 4-day weekend. And on 13th of July for the same reason.

It's gonna be a challenge to spend all my leave this year with the quarantine situation tbh. Assuming it will last well into April (maybe longer) I will have all my leave left for the entire year, as well as some extra days off that I got for my move. :-/ Honestly, being stuck inside the ability to keep working is one of the things that makes it easier to cope. You got something to plan your day around and have a routine.

Man, you Euros have it made.

I actually began actively looking for a job a few weeks ago. Got a few bites from recruiters, was asked to give a phone interview... the Covid-19 hit and I decided it may make sense to stick with my current job until shit got a little less real.

But man, Ox, it sounds like you're rocking it. I'm really jealous.

Haha thanks! I still kinda hate my job (or more precisely the company's management decisions and other departments) but I can't deny that it is a good employer beyond that. But like you I was seriously thinking about sending a few CVs a week or two ago and then this happened, and I was like...maybe I should be happy if I have a job once this is over. So right there with you.

Being one of the lucky people who can work from home and isn't furloughed, I also noticed that I'm saving a lot of money. I can't spend it on anything but food and a few indulgences, so yeah...getting drunk in your own house sure is a lot cheaper than going out to a bar or eat at a restaurant!

Yea, there are definitely benefits to working from home. I used to spend an hour and a half commuting every day. Now I don't spent any... I can sleep in longer, no wear and tear on the cars, no gas, no tolls from the toll roads. I always brought all my food, so no real savings there. I just wish my boss didn't feel like we need to work our asses off so we can try to exploit the Covid situation to make sales.

Bloody hell I've never seen the holidays listed out like that before, just sometimes (in May apparently!) it seems every week my parents are mentioning some national holiday.

In comparison we usually get:
New Year's Day
Good Friday/Easter Monday whenever they fall
1st Mon of May - May Day
Last Mon of May - no clue what this is for
Last Mon of August - again no clue what it's for
Christmas Eve - not usually a holiday but early closing for most offices and even some shops
Christmas Day
Boxing Day

I'm sure those jobs will still be there after all this blows over Satis. Maybe even the competition will have been thinned

Our company just announced voluntary redundancies again a few weeks ago. They did it maybe 3 years ago when I was very tempted, got talked out of it by my parents and regretted it. This was before I knew I was sick. So now I just ignored it because (this was before Covid all kicked off properly) I am getting sick pay from them still as I need, they're being understanding with medical appointments, I can work from home on reduced hours and there's no way mentally or physically I could go out and learn something new right now. Still hate the job though. Once I'm well I'll definitely be looking for something else.

I love how half of the UK holidays are just...holidays. Haha. No religious or historic meaning, just "that's when we close the banks and stuff".

Re: voluntary redundancy, some people that used to work for the same company I work for (and had been for 10 years) were offered the same when they restructured and they got payouts of well over a year's wages. So jealous. Most of them were still young and employable so they took the money, took a long holiday and found a new job a month or two later.

I'm currently researching what the law here says about what the company can/should give me because I'm a fully home based employee. I'm talking contributing to my electricity bill (for heating) or my internet bills, or paying for a good desk and office chair. I already asked HR about it but they are famously lazy so I don't expect them to come up with much on their own accord. So I will find some legal provisions and just put those at their feet.