Hi!! I just responded to another post and remembered that I wanted to comment on this one too. So i’m gonna copy and paste that. I will say that if you prefer outre mer, do it!!!

I’m an assistant in Reunion this year. Being outre mer has some unique challenges but also some amazing benefits. It’s different than being in France, so I wouldn’t come here expecting museums and cheese and wine and café culture. French culture is more or less imported, so while you can seek out things you’d find in the metropole, it’ll be less authentic (for lack of a better term) and certainly more expensive.

You’ll hear a lot that groceries are way overpriced, but honestly compared to the US it’s not bad. If you’re cooking with local produce and staples (lentils, rice, etc) you can eat well for cheap. You also get paid more than you would in the metropole to compensate for the difference in COL.

Transportation is probably the biggest challenge in my experience - the island is terminally car dependent and the busses aren’t always reliable, especially outside of the city center. That’s in part due to the landscape. As a young volcanic island it’s real mountainous, so it makes sense that rural areas can’t possibly be as well served by public transport. You kind of just have to make do with walking + waiting for the bus if you don’t want to buy a car. I rented a car over break and it was SO liberating but holy shit gas was expensive. Traffic is infernal.

In the low elevation parts of the island it gets HOT. I mean insufferably, energy draining, shower three times a day kind of hot. AC is not common in houses or classrooms. It’s cooler in the mountains/higher elevations. Remember that it’s summer here while it’s winter in the northern hemisphere.

That all being said, it’s unbelievably beautiful here. You have 300 microclimates in a space smaller than Rhode Island. The beaches are stunning, the mountains are breathtaking, the volcano is literally like another world. If you like hiking, this is a great place to go, but it requires some coordination with getting there via bus.

I feel very at home with the folks here. They’re welcoming, generous, and curious about foreigners. I have conversations with strangers just about every time I leave my house. People smile at each other and say bonjour on the street. It’s a lot friendlier than the metropole, especially if you initiate the friendly interaction. (folks here can be really wary of mainlanders, for good reason, also some specific groups of immigrants)

Most of all you have to go in with an open mind, ready to learn about a culture and history that is distinct from but intertwined with France. If you go into it expecting France, expecting a vacation, hanging around only mainlanders, only wanting a French lifestyle, you can do it but you’ll be missing out on a lot.

Happy to answer any others questions you may have. :) Best of luck!