Today, I’m sitting at the Museum of Roman Culture café, which has a perfect view of the world’s most well-preserved arena! There’s no feria¹ on the docket for today so I started this week’s blog post. In it, we’ll discuss another battleground: how to choose your ideal landing spot among the many small cities in France, and eventually why I chose Nîmes.

The obvious choice for someone who doesn’t speak French is to head to the nation’s capital – Paris. Coming from New York, I decided that changing metropolis for metropolis wasn’t why I moved. My main goal was to learn the language quickly and cheaply. And surviving in a lesser known city as a first time immigrant was in hindsight the best way to do it. That brings me to the next point – affordability. Using ChatGPT or a Google search will uncover the top 10 cheapest places to live in France by price per square meter. A large difference between the US and France outside of cost of living is – France has countless small cities that are all unique.

Seeing other Americans is it good, bad, or both? It depends on you. Nîmes is very French, so you won’t have many run-ins with us. It’s difficult to put my finger on why it has not absorbed its fair share. Speaking from experience I’d take a typical exchange with les nimois over les parisians.

On the other hand, the diversity is uncanny in Nîmes and in general in cities spread across the south.

Moroccans, Algerians, and Brazilians to name a few nationalities that I’m meeting constantly in Nîmes, the expat community is ramped. It also consists of family members of foreign legionnaires (1,300 officers and legionnaires based in Nîmes). These families can come from anywhere, but I noticed lots of South Americans from my 4 years here. Next you have retirees from all over Europe and US/Canadians. Finally Ukrainians, Iranians and don’t forget West Africans, islanders from Mauritius, Madagascar, Tahiti, Martinique. The amount of implants made me freak for such a small city ,~ 150,000. Very refreshing as an American from a mid-sized city in the southeast.

Visit first! Before booking a short-term Airbnb/Booking/VRBO in your dream city.

My arrival in Nîmes wasn’t my first time visiting. I had vacationed here several years ago and saw its vibrant, touristy charm. Comparably, I was living in Tennessee and I found its size perfect. My hometown had twice the population and didn’t hold a flame to the amount of interesting features like film/music festivals, roman days week, and the previously mentioned Feria.

The city really left a lasting impression on me and so several years later when I started to search around the region for a base camp while searching for my forever home, it was an easy decision. Even more so as I had experienced NYC (Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Jersey). Where I learned more about myself in 6 years than I had the previous 20+ years on this earth – I prefer to not be on a first name basis with everyone and run into acquaintances everywhere you go. It goes without saying its size was my main concern. Subsequently the cost of living was too affordable to turn down.

Also, the location made it a no brainer. Near the sea, mountains, and TGV stations make it a two-stop train to Paris Gare de Lyon. My wife loves being near the sea, and what that entails – eating fresh fish and seafood on-demand. Just take a 5-minute stroll to the best wet market in the south of France- Les Halles de Nîmes (photo taken recently picking up some fish with my family visiting from Tennessee).

You could argue bigger cities like Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeau, Nice, etc. had more to offer on the culinary front but for what I saw in the market of Nîmes flabbergasted me and was ultimately what won me over.

The earth rotates differently today, everything does, but me I stay the same.

That said, why I chose Nîmes doesn’t have much to do with why I am here 4 years later. That comes with living here and meeting the people, watching it improve year after year yet still maintaining its boutique charm. The value compared to other southern cities remains very unrivaled.

Why not Montpellier?

My wife’s parents were still living there at the time of our move. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the region. Nîmes is not far from Montpellier about a 45-minute drive, close enough to visit every once and awhile. The two cities have a colored past time fighting at every turn for relevance in changing times. Today it seems Montpellier, given its population explosion either won, or lost sight of the goal. I’d argue Nîmes was able to maintain its charm while Montpellier wasn’t. Sorry in advance, as you can see I’m starting to have a little biasness come out while writing this.

Back to it – the main highlight for me wasn’t the life Montpellier had to offer, but its proximity to the sandy beach cities that are not overrun with tourists – Palavas-les-Flots and La Grande Motte to name a few.

As far as an expat community goes, it’s there but not overflowing if you get what I mean. Since the university takes up a chunk of the population you won’t have any problem finding language exchanges. Which for me was a struggle in Nîmes. I love the climate. Hotter the better. Mild winters that rarely, if ever, see snow.

People seem fairly open minded. Voting more left. As someone who is married to a Montpellieraine, I might be biased. But there are barriers when meeting new people, like most bigger cities. As it is an area that receives lots of tourism, people come and go, but I think once you’ve established that you’re there and staying, people seem more endearing, warm.

Some more fun facts about Montpellier.

The TGV station connects you to bigger cities like Paris, Lyon, and Marseille.

Microsoft and Ubisoft have offices there.

No subway, but a tramway that can make life a hell of a lot easier.

In the beginning I seeked to immerse myself in the culture in every way. I wanted to blend in.  So when I came across Americans I initially tried to keep my distance and focus on my strict diet of being French. Of course I learned that this was short-sighted and seeing other Americans should have been warranted the opposite reaction.

This makes me think of a story. I saw an American lady at this very café that I’m writing this. She was checking out the arena, holding her phone in one hand and a glass of white wine in the other and speaking English. But the photo she was taking was actually pretty interesting. Here’s a recreation that she inspired me to do.

The moral of the story is that no matter where you land in France, you’ll find something to spark your interest and hopefully get your creative spirits flowing. Whether you like it or not, there will always be people, like this American lady who venture for what seems like trivial photo ops, and instead of gawking let’s spread positivity and who knows you might find a new cool perspective like I did. Plus, it’s another excuse to have a glass of Picpoul de Pinet, like you didn’t already need one.

1. Feria – an activity that occurs twice yearly (more if you’re a diehard) where the main boulevards/arteries of Nîmes become pedestrian filled with sangria and their stands, paella and gardianne de taureau (bull meat) (a plate that is similar to a boeuf bourguignon, served with rice). It’s a block party that lasts 4/5 days and nights with live music, bullfights, running with the bulls and lots of dancing to Gypsy Kings.
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