CNN
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They’d always loved being close to the mountains, but Jennie Vercouteren and her husband, Ward, never imagined that they’d end up living in the French Pyrenees.
The couple, who met while they were both working in Colorado, however, longed for a “quieter life” in Europe.
“We started coming to the south of France on vacation after we met,” Jennie tells CNN Travel, explaining that she and Ward, who is from Belgium, both had a lot of affection for the European country.
Quieter life
Jennie, who ran a co-working space for ecological entrepreneurs, found that being in France offered “such a contrast to the stress of city life,” and that she “preferred the culture in Europe.”
“I was stressed out 24 hours a day with business,” says Jennie, who is originally from Minnesota. “So I was just looking around, thinking, ‘This is like a dream. These people are just relaxed.’ It was so beautiful and calm.”
The prospect of actually relocating to the European country felt like an unreachable dream then.
But the couple, who’ve been married since 2014, began rethinking things when looking at real estate in Denver and realizing that they could only afford to buy a property that was located at least 40 minutes from the city.
“We’d be so far from anything, and it would take us 20 years to pay off,” says Jennie.
“So it really started to weigh on us — if we should really buy a house in the United States, when our longterm goal was to move to Europe, or actually just look at making the transition and buy a house in Europe at that point.”
Two things were holding them back: they wanted to bring their two dogs, Hobbes and Athena, with them, and they wanted to travel by boat.
Only one major cruise ship — The Queen Mary 2 — allows dogs and cats to travel with their owners on transatlantic crossings from the US to Europe.
“We’d been looking at that online, and it was a two-year wait list (for two dogs),” explains Jennie. “And they suddenly had an availability for two dogs.”
They decided to take a leap of faith and purchase the tickets, despite not really having a firm plan at that stage.
The couple went on to sell their holiday home in Colorado mountain resort Crested Butte, where they had been working remotely, shortly before setting off for France.
On December 8, 2016, they boarded the Queen Mary 2 in New York with their dogs in tow.
Shaky start
They arrived in the UK seven days later, before making their way to France.
As the wife of a European citizen, Jennie was able to enter on a Carte de Sejour, a French residence permit allowing foreign nationals to remain in the country.
The couple then began searching for their own home in the Aubeterre area of southwestern France.
“There we could afford to buy a house in cash,” adds Jennie, explaining that they planned to use the money from the sale of their business and holiday home to help establish themselves.
“And it’s a really beautiful area.”
But it was far from smooth sailing initially for the pair, and Jennie says she quickly realized that the life she’d envisioned was very different from the reality that they were experiencing.
“I had the dream of France … But the dream was not as easy as I thought at all,” she says.
One reason stands out: “Because I didn’t speak French. And I think that’s very, very difficult to be in a foreign country and not speak the language. You don’t understand anything that’s going on.”
Jennie, who went on to take a year-long intensive French course, describes their first few months in France as “very lonely” and “scary.”
“I didn’t really understand the country at all,” she says. “I didn’t really understand the customs. It’s a really different culture than the United States.”
Since Ward spoke French, Jennie relied on him to communicate for both of them.
“I had him translate everything,” she admits, “because I really like to know what’s going on.”
She adds, “So I think that was also hard for him. Because everything anyone said, I was like, ‘What did they say?’”
Ward echoes this sentiment, admitting that he struggled with being “the only point of reference” and didn’t necessarily find the process any easier than Jennie did.
“Obviously I did speak French and I could connect with people …” he notes. “It was a different experience, that’s for sure.”
Jennie also found it hard to get used to the schedule in France, especially the fact that most businesses were closed on Sundays.
“Now I love that,” she says. “But in the beginning it was just very jarring. It’s like, ‘Wait, nothing’s open on Sunday?’
“There’s a lot of boundaries that were hard for me to adjust to, that made life feel more lonely and a little bit harder at first.”
The couple eventually bought a three-bedroom house in the village of Saint Séverin for 120,000 euros (around $136,000) and embarked on their life in southern France.
However, while they’d felt as though they knew the area relatively well before, they’d only really visited in summer or spring, and life was very different during the colder months.
Business venture
“In the winter time, it’s not that lively,” says Jennie. “So after living in that area for a year, we realized it actually was not the right place.
“And we had this vision of setting up Airbnbs or some type of business like that.”
Feeling as though they needed to try a new location, the couple took a trip to the Pyrenees mountains, and spent some time in an ancient village named Luz-Saint-Sauveur, which is about 200 miles south of where they’d been living.
“We actually went on vacation, not really expecting to buy a building,” she adds.
The couple were drawn to the idea of living in the mountains once again, and decided to see what type of properties were available there.
Ward did a search for buildings in the area priced under 100,000 euros (around $114,000) and came across a building that had been empty for several years, and which seemed like an ideal location for apartments.
“We were like, ‘This place is unbelievable, and it’s a year-round market,’” says Jennie.
They hired a construction expert to survey the building, which is situated next to an ancient church, to ensure it was stable, then the couple decided to purchase it and renovate it into two apartments.
“We first demolished everything in the building and then worked with a local construction company to rewire and plumb the place and put in all new walls and windows,” says Jennie.
“We did a lot of the work ourselves, the demolition and the finishes.”
As time went on and they got to know the local community, Jennie and Ward began to make more and more friends.
Jennie says her confidence grew while studying French, and eventually she became fluent.
Grounding experience
“It was really thanks to that program,” she adds, describing the language course she took as “a pathway to connecting to French culture here.”
She explains, “Because I found it hard to learn French on my own. Then I also met friends through that program that were expats from different countries, so we all could share our experiences.”
“It was a very grounding experience to go to the university program, learn from the teachers about the culture,” she adds.
Reflecting on their initial struggles, Jennie admits that she hadn’t realized how difficult it would be without the support of friends and family in the United States.
“Even if you move cities, you still have connections,” she reflects. “And it’s really easy to meet people and connect.
“Whereas in France … we didn’t know anyone. And so it’s a really harsh process at first.”
Ward had only lived in the US for around three years before they moved to France, but says he found it much easier to make friends there.
“In the United States, things go very quickly,” he says. “And that’s really a charming thing… You can instantly become friends with people.
“You meet someone at a bar, next thing you know, the next week you’re hanging out with them.
“It’s a very unique phenomenon to the United States. It’s kind of a quick pace. No barriers. I really like that about the United States. In France, it’s a bit more reserved. So things will move a lot slower.”
While forming friendships has definitely been harder in France, the couple feels that the bonds they’ve built there are more meaningful.
“The friendships I found that I’ve made tend to be a lot deeper,” says Jennie. “Because you have a lot more time to get to know each other.”
She goes on, “And there’s a sense of really investing in friendships for the long term and in things for the long term, too.”
Jennie and Ward were able to build a third apartment in the attic of the building, which they named Chez Lolette, once they’d sold their country home and bought an apartment in Lourdes, a market town situated close to Luz-Saint-Sauveur in the Pyrenees, in 2023.
The entire renovation come to a total of around 170,000 euros (about $193,000.)
The couple are now very settled in Lourdes and love that the town is filled with people “from all over France that enjoy mountain living,” along with families who’ve lived there for years and a few entrepreneurs who’ve moved there more recently.
“It’s a really inexpensive place to live that’s really connected,” explains Jennie.
Slower pace
Although the slower pace of life in France proved to be frustrating for them at first, the couple now appreciates the fact that this allows “you to spend more time on thinking and figuring out who you are, what you like, what makes sense.”
“So you’re never really making on-the-spot decisions,” adds Ward.
As for the cost of living, Jennie and Ward say that France is “way more affordable” for them.
“The cost of housing is much less,” says Jennie. “The cost of food is much less. We can get really good food, and then health care is included.”
She adds, “You can walk everywhere too, so you don’t have pay for a car and gas to go everywhere. So just the overall lifestyle, I think it’s at least half the price for us from the US, and we live just as well. It’s a really nice lifestyle.”
Looking back on her life in Colorado, Jennie now recognizes that she had “this very American perspective,” despite the fact that her mother is originally from Denmark.
“Coming to France and getting connected to all these different cultures around the world, it’s given me a much more global perspective,” she says. “So I really feel more connected to the rest of the world.”
Jennie also feels that she’s developed a stronger connection to her Danish roots, as the culture in France is “similar to Denmark.”
“I’ve started to learn Danish again,” she says. “These are things I just would never have time for in the United States.”
But there’s at least one aspect of French culture that she’s never managed to adapt to — long “boring” dinners.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, we still have to sit at dinner? They haven’t done the cheese yet?’ jokes Jennie, adding that she sometimes misses the spontaneity of having a last-minute barbecue, rather than dinner being “a whole thing.”
“I think honestly that has been a little bit harder to get used to. Just how serious the customs can be, especially as an American.”
Although she initially had a Carte de Sejour, Jennie has since obtained an entrepreneur visa, which allows foreign nationals to establish a business in France, and she’s begun to apply for Danish citizenship.
Now that they’re settled in France, and are able to run Chez Lolette remotely, Jennie and Ward have a lot more free time and their life in France finally resembles the dream that they originally had many years ago.
Jennie spends a lot of time working on pottery, a hobby she’s taken up since living in France, and is in the process of launching a website focused on eco-gardening in the south of France.
“That’s my passion,” she adds.
Their beloved dogs, Hobbes and Athena, have since passed away, and the couple now have a Jack Russell named Teddy.
Although their time in France got off to a shaky start, Jennie and Ward say they are very happy about how things turned out, and can’t see themselves returning to the US.
“We don’t regret making the decision,” says Jennie. “We’re really happy that we did.”
She admits, though, that “you can lose the vision” for a moment.
“A couple times, I was like, ‘Wait, what are we doing? I can’t totally see the vision right now,’” she says, adding, “but then you get back to it.”
Jennie and Ward now enjoy small things like going for walks, heading to the local butcher for meat, picking up vegetables from the farmer’s market, and the fact that everyone in the village knows each other.
“I love how beautiful and calm life here is and how much time there is for friendship and enjoying daily life,” Jennie says.