Passing the French Driving Test–and weekly post picks.
Regular readers may have noticed that my blogging has been a bit erratic lately. This is in large part due to the fact that I got a sudden opportunity to take the driving test last week. I took several refresher courses with the local auto ecole to make sure that I was not to rusty with a stick shift (or with the treacherous right of way rules!!). Seeing as I am a rather. . .anxious person, I was a nervous wreck leading up to the test and in the days that followed.
Strangely, here in France, you receive the results of your driver’s test by mail–apparently, this is due to some altercations and fisticuffs that had begun to occur as people failed their driving tests. I struggle to imagine it at the local DMV back in California. The DMV generally scares me (or demoralizes me) into submission–how about you?
I got 26 of the 30 possible points–20 is passing. Even though at one point about five errant dogs blocked my path for several minutes, making me want to honk and swear, although it was technically illegal in an area with houses nearby. In true French fashion, the driving ‘inspector’ honked and yelled profanities in my place. I won’t say I passed with flying colors, but I don’t really care. I’m done jumping through one of the sets of hoops that comes with living in a foreign country. Now for that pesky nationality request. . .
I hope to get back to a more predictable posting schedule now that I have all that driving business behind me. In the meantime, you can check out my recent guest post on Well-Heeled Blog: Biggest Money Conflict Ever: is my career worth it? It discusses my (controversial?) decision that my former teaching career just isn’t worth it here in France.
A few more fun posts this week:
Could Bartering Replace Currency? at Frugal Zeitgeist
Is Greece the End of a Fiat Currency? at Money Energy
Line Drying the Laundry at Funny about Money
Pushing your agenda: good or bad? at Stress Warrior
And a few carnivals for your consideration:
Best of Money Carnival-the mother’s day edition at Eliminate the Muda!
Yakezi Carnifal–the travel edition at 151 days off.
The Festival of Frugality–the peer pressure edition at Live Real Now.
Congratulations !
Btw, I didn’t know that now they send the result by mail…
They used to give you a pink piece of paper and you had to go to the “prefecture” to receive our actual “permis de conduire” !
Does it really mean that you don’t know if you passed the exam at the end of the test ???
Well done!!
Felicitations !
Congratulations!
Congrats! That’s exciting!
Congrats!
Driving tests are so nerve wracking.
In Canada, we know right away if we pass or fail. And then (usually) explain to you in the car why.
w00t! You passed, after all that agony! Well done. From what you say, it sounds like 26 out of 30 IS flying colors.
Thanks for the link, BTW.
Thanks everyone for the congratulations!
Muriel–a lot of people here in France were surprised by that. I think it’s pretty recent, I got the slip of paper in the mail–I suppose I’ll need to take it to the Prefecture and get my actual license. It’s interesting to note that as Tree points out, NYC was like that in the past. Perhaps during days of higher crime??
Aspiring Minimalist–In California they do the same thing as they do in Canada–they tell you how you did and explain why you didn’t pass if you didn’t. It makes sense to me. But I guess the threat of violence was too great in some of the big cities and bad neighborhoods in France. You wouldn’t expect France to be worse than LA. . .
Funny about Money–no problem. I personally feel that line-drying laundry is the only way to go. It doesn’t make sense to pay even a small amount of money to do something that nature does for free. Oh! Also, machine drying uses your clothes up faster. So more savings . . .
Congratulations! That’s a huge expat accomplishment!
I’m *not* looking forward to the test here in England. At least you’re still driving on the same side of the road! 
Zut alors! Is France ready for a California driver? Especially one who is not permitted unrestricted use of the horn?
Congratulations and happy motoring.
So happy for you! Another check off the list of things to do!
Hey, congrats on passing the test. Given your difficulties as a teenager with the CA test, I can understand your concern. I can imagine the fisticuffs you described, with french people tearing up their DMV in anger at not passing. Sounds funny!
Also, thanks for recommending my post! Now maybe I’ll get some readers .
I just love that 20 out of 30 is passing. I would do well in France.
Miss Minimalist–good luck with the driving test in the UK. I thought about people in that boat (switching side of the road) many times during as I prepped for the test. Sounds stressful.
Maus–hah! I don’t know if they’re ready for me or not, but I actually think I’m less insane than most drivers on the road. And it’s funny that the law doesn’t allow that kind of honking when everyone does it anyway.
Susan–thanks. It feels good not to have to deal with it.
Stress Warrior–no problem on the link. It takes time to get new readers to a blog! And I think that what actually happened to provoke the French license being sent by mail was that someone would take the test and then have a whole big gang of buddies waiting to pressure the driving inspector! Kind of like the mob only smaller scale 
Emily–I know. I actually speeded!! during my test and the inspector just said, “watch the speed limit.” To which I replied, “oh” and slowed down. I feel like that would have been a fail in the US. . .maybe not.
There was a time (maybe 30 years ago) in NYS that you got your results by mail. CONGRATULATIONS!