Survey Result for StrasbourgSurvey Number - 47

Survey Date: 18 Jan 2004

Personal Info
Nationality: American
Native Language: English

Location Info
Survey Location: Strasbourg
Department: Bas-Rhin (67)
Time Spent in Location: 4 years

Please rate location on the following criteria:
Civil Servants (Préfecture, Mairie…): Good
Quality of Life: Excellent
Job Opportunities: No Opinion
Find Housing (buy or rent): Below Average
Movies/Books in your native language: Good
Friendliness of Locals: Good
Expat Support/Community: Excellent
Things to Do: Excellent
Cost of Living: High
Personal Safety: Good
Native Language Professionals (Bankers, Doctors, Builders…): No Opinion
Native Language Schooling: Good
Overall Rating (In general how would you rate this location as an expat): Excellent
Would you recommend this location to a potential expat? Yes

Best Plus: The location and the international atmosphere. We have the Council of Europe and several other international institutions and companies. Hearing foreign languages is routine. We're on the border with Germany and can shop there for items cheaper or not available in France. It's such a multi-cultural society, being an expat here, you just blend right in. We have almost the same resources as Paris in a city the fraction the size. 250,000 with 2 million in the region is ideal for raising a family. We're 3 hours drive from a whole list of cities (Freiburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Brussels, Luxembourg, Zurich, Basel, etc.)

Biggest Drawback: Housing for families is tough here. Anything more than 3 bedrooms is going to cost a fortune. The autoroutes are not well-designed. Strasbourg has to host traffic that could be rerouted so even those who live close, have long commutes in the morning. There are some nice villages but you quickly become a slave to your car. Finding a house near the city is a very competitive market. Very little available and probably lots of work needed. Not ideal if your stay is temporary.

Comments: I've also lived in Angers and Paris and I prefer this region by far. Being Californian, perhaps the climate is a bit tough for me but I'd really feel like a foreigner in the South.

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