15 Things you wish you knew before living in France #1

They have an interestingly complete knowledge of pharmacy drugs.  The paramacies here are the best in the world and they're everywhere; you can buy everything from cool glasses and makeup to massage seats.  

You must always say hello and goodbye to store keepers.

You can get discounts for being a student at lots of places, including movie theaters, train tickets and museums.  

Les Soldes- by law there can only be two real sales a year, going back to government regulted guilds.  Use those times of the year wisely, one is the end of January to early February. 

French door latches are ridiculous, it takes your full weight to pull a door closed, even though you don't want to hurt them because they are beautiful.  In America they would be considered broken, here they are considered difficult.

Keep bread fresh in a cotton cloth.  

The pizza is not good.  Just because they live side by side with the Italians does not make them good at making pizza.  Do not expect much from French made pizza other than a thin layer of tomatoe sauce from a jar and cheese, lots of cheese, oh and a sprinkle of oregano on top for good measure.  

Grafetti- you can not escape it, mountainsides will have grafetti on them, faces will appear on walls, and doors will blend into walls.  Sometimes it's artistic most of the time it's ugly.  

Phones plans are cheaper here, and there are some great prepaid plans.  (subject to change, Bouygues just bought out SFR so the monopoly might raise prices)

Markets are most of the time the most expensive places to buy food unless they cater to locals, keep an eye on the prices and opt to buy your cheeses and lettuce elsewhere.

Trying to find a foot pump for a bicycle is like a search and locate mission; instead they fill up at gas stations and top off with a hand pump.

The wine is the best in the world and it's cheap, but French women don't drink ironically.  

As the French are very social, if something goes wrong they can be very confrontational

The use of microchips in credit cards here and not the magnetic swip makes it difficult or impossible to use your credit card, always have backup cash.  

It's normal to have an appetizer and aperitif (before meal drink like muscat, pastis, port, the like), it gives you more time to talk with the people you're eating with.  

There were no interesting vegetables so this week it's a melon called Charentais