Live in France? Join us for a gentil thread

[TheAccidentalExhibitionist]

So how about a lovely supportive, information sharing thread for us mumsnetters living in France?
I've been here for two years, this is my second time living here so 4 years in total.
I have my moans about France, the paperwork, the driving but other than that I love it

Funnily enough I was just discussing this subject with my Dutch friend who lives in the same village here - she's on the APEL at school & is still enthusiastic enough to try & sell Dutch cheeses & cakes at the school Xmas market (unlike me who is way too jaded to try & introduce anything "English" again) we were musing over the reluctance of most neighbours to try such "foreign" food

I find cake does go down well. Flapjacks, Millionaire's Shortbread and above all Chocolate Refrigerator Cake have been a great success at the May day picnic.

Are they positive comments emilyalice? My French neigbours don't even like garlic

Probably along the lines of, "it smells delicious, but don't ask me to eat it"....

Oh and everyone wants us to cook tergoule in the cooling bread oven... Trouble is I don't like rice pudding. It reminds me of my granny's Monday night puddings (nice and warming after the cold joint).

I make a point of cooking British food for French dinner guests. Then if I fuck it up they can blame English food and dine off the anecdotes for years to come. Don't think anything has not gone down well though. Maybe just v polite guests :o

I can't really relate to these tales of gastronomic parochialism. There's a Thai restaurant near here, and in town there are several really good Italian pizzerias, an excellent Indian restaurant, four or five Chinese/Vietnamese ones, 2 sushi places, and a Tex-Mex that's always heaving with people. For a "bourg" in the rural backwaters of Provence, we're doing quite well..
Bread oven makes me .

Well an Indian restaurant makes me though happily we are near enough to the Channel ports to get a Waitrose curry in a box back safely.
The bread oven is fun, but a bit alarming. OH is very flash with his paddles, mops and scrapers and I have to leap out of the way as hot pizza flashes past my ear....

hattymattie - a question about the Lycée International - does the university applications team share the pupils' predicted OIB grades with them or not? I help lots of Terminale pupils in French schools with individual UCAS applications and I have come across a school that doesn't want to share them. I have never come across this before.

Bonsoir Yes - for the US section, and I'm assuming the British Section do the same (they operate separately). The pupils' need to know their prédictions so they can target the the universities effectively. Maybe tell your school that in the UK this is normal.

I meant to ask - how's it going with your DS in the UK - is he enjoying himself? My DD is in the middle of her UCAS applications at the moment.

Thanks! I needed the data point from the Lycée International to prove my point! Nice reliable credible sort of source!

My DSS1 is thrilled! He's at Bristol - has met several ex-Lycée International students.

Bonsoir - my DD's applied there for law, we're at that horrible point where we're waiting for news - I think it's going to be a long wait!

You may be right, hattymattie. DSS1 didn't get his Bristol offer through until mid-April!

Does your DD have a firm preference for a particular university or are there several she would be happy to go to?

Just checked, my nearest section internationale is in Nancy. That's about two hours away.

Mid April! - I'm going to tell her to stop checking her messages every 5 minutes. She's chosen five uni's and any one of them would be good but none of them are known for their quick responses.

The waiting is a nightmare, but since she got her application in very early (Oxbridge?) she might hear back sooner than DSS1, who sent his in dangerously close to the deadline...

I think the lack of options and modernity is typified in Brittany. Don't get me wrong, I love crêpes. But wherever you go in Brittany they are the same:

Beurre
Beurre sucre
Chocolat
Nutella
Caramel beurre sâlé (out of a jar)
Etc.

Never any fresh ingredients. I would love a crêpes with red berries and ice cream. Or peaches and nectarines in some delicious alcoholic tipple. Or white chocolate sauce. Or a sort of pear crumble crêpe. Or pistachio cream.

But no. Pomme caramel is about as adventurous as it gets and it's stewed apple and industrialised caramel.

Have been to Brittany twice. I don't like savoury pancakes. It was hard.

Why is hatty your DD not wanting to read law in France? There are good courses which combine the French qualifications with the LLB but on French prices re fees. Am out of date but Sheffield Hallam and Kings College London used to do LLB/Maitrise joint programmes. Apologies if I have missed an explanation upthread

And I can't remember which but one was partnered with the Sorbonne. The proper one. V good dual qualification to have. But the last time I researched it was mid 90s

Greythorne, I could bring the Normany puddings of tergoule and apple crumble over and we could put them into crepes. Got to be a winner.

PetiteRaleuse - the French version of UCAS (APB) through which applications to read law in France are made doesn't open until the New Year. The Double Law degrees of which you write are much harder to get offers for via APB than via UCAS.

On the food conservatism theme I remember being scolded by another customer at my local fishmongers. I asked for the fish to be prepared a particular way and justified my request by giving a detail of the recipe I was going to follow. The lady behind me in the queue threw up her arms in the air and said "Le bar ne se mange pas comme ça!".

Oh so many of you in France! I live in the Vienne 86 for some years now and love it.

Greythorne - are you hatching up a new crepe concept? I can see little outlets all over city centers... And then you sell to McDonalds and make your fortune