Let's (try!) to Get a Driver's License ...in France!
Driving + the French language equals one anxiety producing hairball!
A little Background Information
I learned to drive at 18 in my small town of Fairfield, Connecticut. I waited so long to do this because, frankly, I had no need for driving. I had an older sister who, for some strange reason, didn’t mind driving me around town. I also think somewhere deep down, I was a little afraid of “getting behind the wheel”.
My mother was fond of saying “When you get your license, you have a license to kill”. This statement terrified me. And seeing how I never wanted to hurt anyone, I kept kicking the can further down the road until my older sister left for college. Then I was stranded.
My husband to this day, says I’m a horrible driver. He blames the “way” that I learned to drive for all my faults.
It was 1988. I lived in a small town, so there were no “Driving schools” with fancy cars and spiffy marketing messages coming to pick me up for driving lessons (like my daughter had back in L.A.).
All I had was an empty high school parking lot, and my Dad. Mom just didn’t have the stomach for it. She must have reasoned that this seemed like “Men’s Work” anyway.
My “Driving School”
So off we went every Sunday morning to practice driving in The Staples High School parking lot.
The slight snag in this strategy was that Dad isn’t what I’d call a traditional-teacher-type. He’s always been fond of the “trial and error” method of learning. “Just get out there and give it your best shot. I’ll be here on the sidelines and let you know if you’re doing it right”. That was his motto. And this could apply to just about anything; riding a bike, swimming, job interviewing or even cooking!
I truly think this is where my love of recipe development came from. I “learned to cook” from watching Dad, who rarely used recipes. In his mind, recipes were just a “suggestion” anyway.
He also, heaven help him, is a wildly creative individual and gets easily distracted when faced with the “mundane.” His mind is always working, and I think these driving lessons must have bored the man to tears.
So he’d settle into the passager seat with the Sunday Edition of the New York Times. I realize most of everything now is online, but if any of you remember how monstrous the Sunday Edition of the New York Times was back in the day…you would wonder, like me, what he thought he was doing? How the heck was he going to get through all that and teach me to drive? Well, it was a parking lot, so how much trouble could I get into?
Fast Forward 37 Years
I move to France and have to enroll in the local “auto-ecole” A.K.A French driving school and retake a test to get my French driver’s license. Which I hear is hard, like very hard. And not only because driving tests are designed “to be hard” to trip you up to prove you really should be given “a license to kill” but also hard for me because the whole thing is in French! And, let’s just say my journey learning French is still a work in progress. But time is running out (I’ll get to that part in a minute) so I collected all the documents and off we went!
Why Do I need to Go through This? Isn’t My American License Good Enough?
Exactly! That’s what I was thinking too!
Apparently not. See, as weird as this sounds, France recognizes some American driver’s licenses and not others. It all depends upon the state. So had I moved from Colorado, no problem, I wouldn’t need to do this. But since I’m coming from California, I do!
Personally, I think 30 years of driving in L.A. traffic should get me something, right? That is a skill that should not be looked upon lightly! But nope, in the eyes of the French law, I’m as green as the 18-year-old kid at the local Lycee. (The driving age in France is 18 for a license).
I’ve been driving in France for over 18 years, granted for just a few weeks a year, and now full-time. But that gets me nowhere, apparently.
And yes there are some differences to watch out for. Here’s a little video showing a few things!
So What’s The Process? What Am I In For?
So last week, at the auto-ecole, I learned that I needed to come back for an “evaluation,” which was essentially a little test on the computer. They would test my knowledge of the road (while simultaneously testing my level of French!) Last week, a Columbian woman couldn’t get through the test because she couldn’t understand it; the woman behind the counter was quick to point out. So the stakes were high!
So I took the test, which I admit was kinda fun! I was shown little videos and had to answer correctly. Granted I didn’t understand all the French (hence the sad faces!) but I guess did well enough to pass! My report card is below!
The Next Steps:
The woman behind the counter estimated I would need 22 hours (!?!) of driving instruction to get my French driver’s license!? I caught on pretty quickly, realizing this auto-ecole was a “business” and each hour was billed at 68-euros a pop.
We went back and forth, and after I explained that I had already been driving in the States for 37 years (unlike the kid from the Lycee!) and for several years in France without incident, she said, "OK," and she dropped it down to 8 hours. (If you don’t ask, you don’t get!)
She handed me the book to study, and told me to come back when I could easily get a 35/40 on their mock tests.
Here’s a little “look-see” of “the book” warning: it could give you an instant migraine. I also provide an example of the “videos” on the mock test, and yes they will also be part of the actual test! I kinda like the videos, as long as I stay focused and not get distracted by the pretty French countryside featured in them.
The High Stakes!
So apparently, I’m only supposed to drive without a French license for 6 months.
I’ve been flying under the radar for 10 months, but now that I’m registered “in the system”, so they are on to me.
If I fail this test, I won’t be able to drive until I pass it! So it’s a bit of a nail-biter!
Luckily, this town is small, the weather is warming up, and I have a bike!
So wish me luck! Ha!
Wow! That’s a lot!!Good luck-hope it goes well.
BTW I have made your Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake twice with graham cracker crust. Sorry about asking about the latter - you did address that in the video. The first time I forgot the secret ingredient and was worried, but the cheesecake was good. The second time I did not forget. I, at first, could not tell the difference but my husband who had some of both did say the second was creamier. It is a great recipe and my friends enjoyed it. Kudos!