France/America couples

[RosaMystica7 0]

I don't know why, but I've been thrilled to meet other French/American couples here on VJ. I know there's a French-speaking thread here but lots of countries speak French... I'm curious to meet other couples where the foreign fiance(e) is in or came from France.

For the French/American couples here, where in France does/did the Frenchie live? Does the USC speak French, and if not, is (s)he learning? My fiance lives in Rambouillet. I managed to learn some French during his last visit but without having him pointing to things and being able to watch his mouth I'm just clueless... guess I'll have to wait til he's here again to learn. Written French is similar to Italian at times so I can figure some of it out. But spoken, hoo boy... I joke with my fiance a lot that the letter R needs to be obliterated from the French alphabet because I can't figure out how on earth to pronounce it!

[shayrene 0]

My fiance just arrived on Tuesday. He is originally from Togo, a francophone country in West Africa, but has lived in France for almost 10 years. He has lived in Paris, Lille and Caen. I am trying to learn French, but it has been difficult. I was with his family this past week and felt lost. But, it is ok because now I have a live-in tutor. LOL.

Check out the foreign embassy forum. I just placed a review of our experience with the Paris embassy.

[laetinusa 0]

Hi there Angilla and all the French/American couples.

Well I registered on VJ when I first started the K1 process and haven't really used it since then. But time has passed.

I have yet to learn how to post my timeline, sorry I've been pretty busy lately.

But just so people no more about me...

I'm the Frenchie of the couple. I live in the South-Western part of France (Pau to be more precise) and my fiancé is from Texas but currently lives in Tennessee.

I got my interview date with the US embassy in Paris a couple of days ago and I'm sooo excited.

I wish I could have spent Xmas break with my fiancé but I guess I'll have to wait because my interview is on the 3rd of January.

By the way, how long does it usually take to get the visa after the interview (if you've been approved of course!)?

Is the interview that stressful?! Personally, I don't feel too worried about it? Should I be?

My fiancé speaks French and has been studying in France for a semester a couple of years ago (that's when we met). I've also studied English so language has never really been a problem for us.

As for the French "r" Angilla, I wouldn't worry too much. I will probably never be able to pronunce the American "r" anyways!!! And American people speaking French with an accent is just so cute!

Well I guess that's all I can really say about me... I'll keep you all posted when I get approved and when I get MARRIED (man, I just can't wait!).

After the wedding we plan on filing for adjustment of status with the Dallas Program (even though my fiancé is in TN right now, we are going to live in TX). Hopefully that gets me a green card pretty fast so I can be free to plan a wedding with my family and friends in France.

laetinusa.

[kittykatwoman 0]

I'm the frenchie in our couple and I was borned and lived in Paris pretty much my whole life. My husband came to France and lived with me in Paris for 3 years before we moved to America.

He doesn't speak French and doesn't learn he just repeat a bunch of things I say all the time like "arrete", "je t'aime" or whatever comes to my nouth in French when it comes to strong feelings and emotions. Anyway I speak English all the time and i don't have the patience to teach French to him also to be honest I'd rather speak French with fluent people especialy since I'm in America.

You can see if there is a Alliance Francaise near you, they provide very good French lessons and have all kind of ressources about French culture you can call the local French consulate/embassy to send you a list of French organisations too.

laetinusa I received the visa about 10 days after the interview.

[groomit 0]

Hi frenchies!

I just moved from France 3 months ago exactly and been living in Chicago with my wife...Actually it is really cold comparing to the usual weather in Paris. With the current low temperatures, my poor feet are frozen all the time...LOL...

Well, that is great idea to creat a thread for couple like us... :thumbs: , so we can share our experiences.

As for me, I am now currently seeking a job, did not think it would take that long :wacko: But maybe I don't do it the right way...

Where do you other frenchies live in USA?

Good luck for all of you !!!

[emmysphere 0]

Hi all,

I am the frenchie in our marriage. Shawn is the american one... We got my green card August 2005! YAY! That was the biggest relief in my life when I got this priceless card in the mail...

anyway I'm glad to see that I'm not the only french woman to marry a gringo!

You guys keep in touch!

-Em

[sleepless in OR 2]

My fiance just arrived on Tuesday. He is originally from Togo, a francophone country in West Africa, but has lived in France for almost 10 years. He has lived in Paris, Lille and Caen. I am trying to learn French, but it has been difficult. I was with his family this past week and felt lost. But, it is ok because now I have a live-in tutor. LOL.

Check out the foreign embassy forum. I just placed a review of our experience with the Paris embassy.

Chouette!!!! I'm jealous, Shayrene - you're guy is here already. But mine will be in PORTLAND IN A FEW HOURS. He's in the air right now. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm taking a couple weeks off and we're going to Vegas to get married. He is the francophone, a native of the Comores islands off the coast of Mozambique. He's been in France 15 years, split between Paris & Marseille. We met June 2995 while my sister and I were vacationing. Language has been interesting! I had some French in high school, he some english in high school. We communicated with my travel dictionary when we first met. Since then I've taken a course from Alliance Francaise here in Portland, and a couple more classes at the community college. I enjoy language so it's been fun. I'm also trying to pick up a few words of his comoran dialect. All in all this has been a life changing experience. Bonne chance to all still waiting.

[kittykatwoman 0]

I live in Washington state, moved here 3 months ago.

I don't really like living in the States and will move back to France as soon as I have the American citizenship, I don't know what I was thinking when I moved here :-/ I guess because my husband doesn't speak French we thought it would be easier for me to find jobs in America but still it doesn't work for me, I never felt depressed like this in my whole life, it's pretty bad *sigh*

Edited December 8, 2006 by kittykatwoman

[claire d 0]

Hi!

I am so happy to read other couples' stories! Angilla, creating this forum was a great idea!

I am also the Frenchie in the marriage. My fiancé and I met 4 years ago at school in Virginia. We decided to get married in June, went through all the process... waited and waited... and finally got rewarded: I received my visa 2 weeks ago!! I am soooo excited (and cannot wait until I leave in January!!) I can now concentrate on planning the legal wedding in the US and the reception in France.

I know some more paper work is waiting for us, sounding like adjustment of status, advance parole.. yum-yum

Laetitia, I have a dumb question: you said you were going to apply for your AOS with the Dallas Program and hopefully it will be fast. Is the Dallas Program known to be faster than others? Would you have any piece of advice to make the process quicker?

Well, this is about it for now.

Good luck to everyone!!!

[severinep 0]

Hi I am the Frenchie of the couple too.

My husband is currently in Iraq for an 18 month tour. It's hard sometimes but we both work and save most of our paycheck so that we can work on hour house in Minnesota and not be too stressed before I find a job.

I am very happy to see lots of couples from France! One actually live in the same city as me! it's a small world.

[RosaMystica7 0]

My fiance just arrived on Tuesday. He is originally from Togo, a francophone country in West Africa, but has lived in France for almost 10 years. He has lived in Paris, Lille and Caen. I am trying to learn French, but it has been difficult. I was with his family this past week and felt lost. But, it is ok because now I have a live-in tutor. LOL.

Check out the foreign embassy forum. I just placed a review of our experience with the Paris embassy.

Congrats on his arrival! I bet that must feel good!

What does "francophone" mean? Live-in tutor, that's a great point, I never thought of that!

My fiance's family lived in England for 2 years so at least most of them speak fairly good English. His mom is going to get the internet soon so I'm hoping to be able to talk to her over MSN a bit. I've chatted with his sister over MSN... when she hacked into his MSN to get my e-mail address and talked to me trying to convince me to convince him of something. Needless to say, I don't exactly like her. Heh. I've told him that I definately want him to take me to France, show me around, and introduce me to his friends/family. Just need to be able to afford it and get the time off from work, first.

I have yet to learn how to post my timeline, sorry I've been pretty busy lately.

Oh that's okay. Click on "immigration timelines" up at the top. Then on the left under "Timeline Functions" click on "Edit / Add my Entry" to set up or edit your timeline.

I got my interview date with the US embassy in Paris a couple of days ago and I'm sooo excited. ... By the way, how long does it usually take to get the visa after the interview (if you've been approved of course!)? Is the interview that stressful?! Personally, I don't feel too worried about it? Should I be?

That's great! Congratulations! You'll do great, I know it. Let us know what the interview is like so we can have an idea of what to expect! I don't know how long it takes to get your visa afterwards, but read Shayrene's Paris interview experience post if you haven't already. Don't get nervous/worried - it is what it is, you answer questions and swear you're telling the truth and provide any additional evidence that you want to. Make sure you know a lot about your fiance - what kind of work your fiance does, how you met, etc.

As for the French "r" Angilla, I wouldn't worry too much. I will probably never be able to pronunce the American "r" anyways!!! And American people speaking French with an accent is just so cute!

That's what he tells me, too! He said the way I pronounce the French R is cute. I'm embarassed, though, and when he tries to teach me a word with an R in it I jokingly groan and protest.

You can see if there is a Alliance Francaise near you, they provide very good French lessons and have all kind of ressources about French culture you can call the local French consulate/embassy to send you a list of French organisations too.

Thanks! I checked and the closest one is 50 miles away in NYC. I'll check to see if there's others around here that have free/cheap lessons as I can't affod much. I would sort of prefer to have him move here and teach me, though. As bad as it is... I don't like the French language. I love languages and always wanted to learn more EXCEPT French and German. And now I'm engaged to a French guy who wants our kids to be bi-lingual, and I want our kids to know all about their French heritage too (but I want to teach them about their Italian side of it also), so... time for me to start liking French! I think I'll like it a lot more once he's here because he just sounds so sweet when he's speaking it. My 85 year old grandma told him that he has a sexy voice, LOL, so maybe that has something to do with it!

As for me, I am now currently seeking a job, did not think it would take that long :wacko: But maybe I don't do it the right way...

Where do you other frenchies live in USA?

I'm American and it took me 2 months of interviewing to find a good job. Before that it took me another 1 or 2 months of interviewing to find a bad job that I had to quit. So... it's tough these days. If you'd like, send me a PM and I'll give you my e-mail address. Send me a copy of your resume and cover letter and I'll see if I can suggest any changes. Are you sending thank you letters after interviews? If so, send me a copy of that too. If not, I'll send you the one I sent out after all my interviews.

I live in New York, by the way.

Hi all,

I am the frenchie in our marriage. Shawn is the american one... We got my green card August 2005! YAY! That was the biggest relief in my life when I got this priceless card in the mail...

anyway I'm glad to see that I'm not the only french woman to marry a gringo!

You guys keep in touch!

-Em

Congrats on the marriage and green card!

Okay I have to get ready for work, I leave in 10 minutes and am still in my pajamas... lol... I'll respond to the rest of you when I get home later.

[sheigh87 0]

Hi I'm Sheigh,

I'm the USC in our couple, my husband is french. We've been married since 1999 and are in the process of doing a DCF, we just got our interview date last week.

We live in the north of the Bouches-du- Rhone and I've been here for over 10 years. We also have 2 lil boys (3yrs and 7mos).

We'll be moving at first into the SoCal region (not L.A., but South Orange County) and staying with my mom a year, the time it takes to get on our feet.

We're a bit nervous about the move though starting over from zero and all. But we'll see...We just bought our plane tickets today, sicne there's four of us we didn't want to risk having to pay too much so we bought them in advance, but it's still more than 1 1/2 mos after the interview, so it should work.

Good luck to all,

Sheigh

[Cécy 44]

I'm the Frenchy too

I'm from the South West as well, I've lived most of my life in the middle of the Pyrenées and some time in Toulouse too.

The only difference compare to all of you is that we are not engaged yet. But it's a thought, and I'm trying to figure out how things work.

We met in August 2004. His cousin who is also my godfather's wife, decided to do match making and to our biggest surprised it worked. I already spoke fluent English at the time because I spent 10 months in Texas with my godparents after high-school. He doesn't speak French, well appart from "oui", "non", "merci" and "à tes souhaits" (we always say that instead of bless you). I really want him to learn though, I've been trying too, but I think he lacks the curiosity to ask for words so I feel like I'm pushing him and I end up not trying to for a while.

I lived with him 5 months last year, while I was doing an internship to finish College, then I came again for Christmas, and after 7month1/2 (that felt like an eternity ) I saved enough money to come under my B1/B2 tourism visa, to stay 6 months with him and try to look for a job. It's not working so far, so I'm opening to other options as I don't plan on being away from him for that long again, it's too hard on us and on my family (I'm a pain in the ### when away from him).

My family doesn't know him yet, so that's something I would like to do, hopefully in 2007.

I love the area where he lives and don't have any problems imagining myself living here.

Anyway,wa have until february to decide what we do. And I think this forum is going to be very helpful. It's great to know other couples in the same situation and share what we go through.

oh and Angilla

francophone means a person who speaks French (they can be from any country).

Cheers.

[adelaarsvaren 0]

Hello all,

I'm the USC here, although I hope to be French soon as well (married for more than 2 years, one of which was in France, and speak the language).

My wife is from Essone (91), and I lived there with her for a year and a half.

France is an interesting place. I did a lot of cycling while I was there, so I fell like I really got to learn it.

Luckily, the 24 hour supermarket down the street from me here in Seattle has Bleu de Causses, Roquefort Papillion, and Sel de Ile de Re. I just wish I could find some of that Bretagne butter....

[sarahandroland 0]

Hi!

I'm the American of the couple (from Atlanta), and Roland is from a city just outside of Lyon, France. We met while I was studying there, and his mother was my program coordinator for exchange students. She was the one to introduce the two of us. I speak French, and he also speaks English and German fluently because his family is a mix of cultures as well.

We started the K-1 process in October, and he is visiting me for Christmas. Thanks for starting this group! It's great to have support from people with similar experiences.

Happy Holidays!