Why I Moved from California to the South of France
A slower pace, better food, and a life that finally feels like mine.
My parents immigrated to the US from Finland and Holland, and I was born in Southern California, growing up in the oceanside city of Ventura. The first in my family to attend college, I didn't have a lot of money to travel until I was in my late 20s.
At that time, I started making short trips to Mexico, discovering wonderful places like Oaxaca, Merida, and captivating San Miguel de Allende. With each trip, I felt a sense of peace and relaxation. Whenever I could put a little money aside, and secure some vacation time, I researched a new area to discover "down south."
Although I loved my job (as the director for a program that helped first-generation college students), life in Southern California felt a bit overwhelming. I had the impression that I was never doing enough. My friends felt the same way. We were all working long hours, pursuing ongoing professional development or additional degrees, and trying to manage a social life plus family obligations.
Most mornings, I ate breakfast in my car during my commute to work, and late-night dinners frequently consisted of a jar of Prego sauce mixed with a box of spaghetti.
Nothing against Prego... food just had never been a priority in my life.
Of course, there were great times too. Like happy hours with colleagues and many Taco Tuesdays swapping stories over strawberry margaritas.
Turning 30 was a big transformational point for me. I knew that if I stayed a year or two more at the university, I would probably be there until retirement. Nothing was terrible, but nothing felt really wonderful either.
Right around that time, I took my first trip to Europe... and everything changed.
I was lucky enough to get three glorious weeks off work and I decided to take a small guided tour through Italy, Switzerland, and France.
When my feet touched down in Rome, I felt like I might never leave. The city was incredibly beautiful and inspiring, but what really impressed me was the lifestyle. No one seemed to be in a hurry. Of course, people were working, but they were also having long lunches, drinking a glass or two of Pinot Grigio, and savoring each other's company.
It seemed light years away from my Prego routine.
The more I saw of Europe, the more I liked. Each destination was more captivating than the next, and easy to get around—what the French would call taille humaine, human-sized. Even though I was only in Europe for those few short weeks, I could sense the strong community ties in every town and village, even in the neighborhoods of larger cities like Paris. I yearned to have that sense of belonging, where others cared about you and, most importantly, had the time to do so.
Then there was the food. When I'd lived in Los Angeles during my studies, my "foodie" friends had taken me to a few higher-end French and Italian restaurants. The food was exquisite, but the bill left me with sticker shock. Out the door with an $80 tab wasn't sustainable for me in the long run.
Not so in Italy and France.
We dined on fresh, seasonal products that were delicately prepared for a fraction of what I'd paid in California. Margherita pizzas with drizzles of olive oil and crinkled fresh basil, served hot directly from the stone oven—for around $8, $10 maximum. Heaping bowls of penne pasta arrabiata, cacio e pepe, or my personal favorite, carbonara. Those chucks of fresh guanciale ham with cream sent me straight to the moon.
In France, it was all about the sauce. Incredibly tender chicken breasts served with melt-in-your-mouth garlicky potato gratins in a mushroom reduction sauce. The boeuf bourguignon stew I tasted in its homeland of Burgundy became my favorite dish of all time—and remains so to this day. Dish of the day specials in France were around $14 to $16.
I was sold... on all of it! The food, the culture, the European lifestyle. It took me three years to prepare, but at 33 I left my job and moved to Italy and then later to France. There were incredibly wonderful things about both countries, but France was ultimately a better fit for me for several reasons.
I found that the French lifestyle mimicked a lot of what I'd loved about the US. Things were, generally speaking, quite efficient—be it transportation, banking, or healthcare—and the French had a transparent approach to living. They were reserved when you met them in the beginning, but then very open and genuine—what you saw was what you got.
Currently, we live just outside of the southeastern city of Toulon and I earn (as the manager of a language school) less than half of what I made in my US job—but am definitely living twice as well. Rents are currently 49% less than the US, and housing overall is 34% cheaper.
Those extra savings go into shopping at the local farmers markets and long lunches along the seaside, and romantic trips around France from our home in belle Provence.
— Tuula Rampont, IL’s France Correspondent
P.S. Want to see more of what inspired my big move? Click below to watch my short video on why I chose France.
I hope my video gives you a little inspiration. When you’re ready for more, start here…