Lesson one from this whole Paris gig: next time, get paid in Euros.
At the time of this post, 10€ = $13.2 dollars. I was listening to BBC World in my hotel room a few nights ago, and one of the stories was "The Dollar is at an all-time low against the Euro." This is not what you want to hear as an expat.
Basically, when I say a price, add 30% to it to be in the ballpark in Dollars. Everything over there is a fortune compared to here, not just because of the exchange rate, though that definitely exacerbates it.
One piece of good news -- wine is cheaper than food and water. And it's ok to have a glass with lunch. When I mentioned to one of my co-workers that in the US, it's a rather large no-no to drink during a business lunch, he said "I don't know why Americans are so prudish about alcohol, and yet not about guns!"
That seemed like something of a non-sequitur, but, it was funny.
--Aimee
At the time of this post, 10€ = $13.2 dollars. I was listening to BBC World in my hotel room a few nights ago, and one of the stories was "The Dollar is at an all-time low against the Euro." This is not what you want to hear as an expat.
Basically, when I say a price, add 30% to it to be in the ballpark in Dollars. Everything over there is a fortune compared to here, not just because of the exchange rate, though that definitely exacerbates it.
One piece of good news -- wine is cheaper than food and water. And it's ok to have a glass with lunch. When I mentioned to one of my co-workers that in the US, it's a rather large no-no to drink during a business lunch, he said "I don't know why Americans are so prudish about alcohol, and yet not about guns!"
That seemed like something of a non-sequitur, but, it was funny.
--Aimee
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- I'm off2paris
- From Paris, France
- off2paris at wonky point org
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