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Ok, it would be a lie to say Paris is cheap, but over 10 million people are living in the greater Paris region, they aren't all millionaires or living miserable lives in tiny, dirty ****holes. If you have a job, life in Paris isn't much more expensive than in other large cities, because jobs pay more than in other places. If you are a student, yes life is very expensive and you will have troubles affording an apartment. As somebody already said anything under 500 euros in Paris intra-muros is rather unrealistic.
I went to Paris to teach english after my BA, I knew French, but I was still struggling with the subjonctif and not nearly prepared to live among francophones, but after a few months I had no problems at all. If you know french grammar and have a somewhat solid knowledge of the vocabulary you'll have absolutely no problems whatsoever after a few weeks. And contrary to what everybody tells you, french people, especially Parisians, usually do know english, often surprisingly well.
From my experience Paris is very different from what you imagine it to be, it's a huge, and often quite gritty place, but it still has places that make you feel like you're in Disneyland or a romantic movie, it never stops surprising you. If you can get a visa, you have basic knowledge of french and a job GO FOR IT! When it comes to other cities in France, Toulouse is also extremely nice (especially the climate!) but if you compare income and cost living you're probably better off in Paris. Strasbourg is also nice, but despite what peope there think their city is, it is a small town, I've heard Lyon is great, but only been there for 2 days, so can't really say anything from more than a tourist's point of view, Marseille is really fun to go to as a tourist, but very expensive and low paying and has a lot of crime.
The biggest expense of Paris "intra muros" is housing. The latest real estate figures show that Paris is 100-200% more expensive that just about any other French city. And even when you are just renting, the cost gets passed down to you. It is not too difficult to find a place to live in the suburbs for a reasonable price, but you lose a big part of the savings in time and money because of the hassle of commuting. And you don't have the charm of having Paris right outside your window.
As a Parisian property owner, I know that I am one of the most privileged people in the world even if I am not rich. If I owned a place in Manhattan, London or Tokyo, I would feel the same.
kerouac is quite right , the standard of living of the average Parisian white collar worker (I'm not speaking of expats here, because I guess situations must be very different , depending if you are hired as a ceo for a big corporation or if you are trying to make it as a freelancer) is not too bad : take me , as a civil servant (hired at College level) of low/middle rank , after years in the "rank and file", I'm earning monthly 3000€ (= at today's September 14th, 2010 exchange rate 3.851$), with many advantages : a whooping 42 days of vacations (44 days if you take at least 10 days in winter), the 3- course lunch (very good and plentiful, featuring from time to time "the German day", "the Southwest day" with yummy)me 3,49€, that's 4,48$!
and I pay 51 € (that's 65,50$)monthly in Social Security, recently I had a hip operation, everything (including the private room at the hospital) was paid by the SS-only not the ambulance, which cost me about 70$, which is not so expensive anyway.
And last but not least, I'm the owner of my flat , not big it's true (about 700 sqft), but in a hcol area, it means expensive (worth about 250.000 $)-and no mortgage since it's paid off now. The only "hinch" is that the local taxes are quite high (but I've heard thru the grapevine that it is also often the case stateside) : about 1.500€/year (= 1927 $). So I can understand that some foreigners want to try it here.
Ah, that's the advantage of living in the slums -- my residence tax is only 98€ and my property tax is 250€ for my 70m² (I am at metro Marx Dormoy, which is unfortunately becoming bobo-ized). I bought my place for 100,000€ in 1992 and the latest estimation is 315,000€.
And I could go on and on with our privileges :
- work schedule : 9-1 , 2-5 (that's a 35-hour...week!)
- if we are tired of our "excruciating" day, there's a Gym on the premises (fee : 150$...a year!)
- now, brace yourself for more to come :
* advancement is automatic : every 3 years, rain or shine, we climb a level in the ladder, with a % (varying) pay increase
* last but not least : the Retirement scheme. Now that's the cherry on the cake.
After our "exhausting" career, we deserve to get our pensions at the ripe old age of...62! (our syndicates are screaming bloody murder because under the Socialist governments it was and the Conservatives, taking into account an abysmal public deficit, decided to change the law to the outcry of many).
OH, and of course I forgot the essential : WE CAN'T BE fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you our Chinese, German, US friends , in lending money to the French state to finance our lavish lifestyle , in working for us! (the public budget deficit of the French state is 1 trillion 500 million euros but who cares ? thank you Standard's and Poor and other rating agencies for always giving a AAA Rate to the French public borrowers!)
Yes, it's working just fine. Did you forget your medication, pigeonhole? You know that French productivity is the highest in the world, so we are just getting our well deserved reward for it. Actually, I am in the private sector, and I have 49 days leave per year. It's a shame you only have 44. I also get a compensatory day for every holiday that falls on a weekend, and there have been PLENTY this year.
Oh yes it's working just fine, then why are the unions constantly taking to the streets? "jamais contents" says the (French) proverb, how true!
I , for myself, am ashamed to be living off the sweat of hard-working people worldwide because non nation has the balls to stand
You do know of course that France is the least unionized country in the developed world?
The people taking to the streets are the hard working people of France, and from what I have been reading in the press, the other workers of Europe are keeping their fingers crossed, because there is hope that the banks will no longer run the world and pay themselves billions of dollars in bonuses for... what exactly? Creating more wealth for shareholders by firing people from companies that are already making profits?
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