Ever Lived Abroad? The Adaptation Process
I'm studying abroad in Paris right now. I landed yesterday morning, and I haven't been happy since. I realize that it's part of the culture shock. They talked to us about it before we left and gave us all of the warning signs. It isn't the language, and it isn't the people, streets, or roads that have got me down in the dumps.
I feel completely out ( Read more... )
I feel completely out ( Read more... )
I'm from France actually. Though not exactly Paris, I live in the suburbs (WAY LESS expensive...but WAY MORE transport...) so I can try to help you?
I do know that trying to live in Paris is a bitch. Actually, I know a friend of mine who even had problems staying in the uni campus because they do not have enough places right now... But they are supposed to reserve them mainly for the abroad (in the sense other countries but also other cities of France) students. So as a last resort, maybe you can try and see if you could get a room?
Other than that, internet is your best friend for this - also your worst. We get too many articles telling us that right now many landlords try to exchange sexual favors for a room and it has become kind of my recurrent nightmare XD but it's mainly because I hear it too much on tv so...
Moving on to transport : YES, the rumors are true, IT IS SHITTY !!
Like omg if I go a year without waiting 1 hour in the cold for a train who never comes and finally taking a bus home as last resort, then it's a miracle. It pisses me off though that I paid 20euros or more a month to get stranded at least twice a month... WITHOUT REFUND ! Because yeah, you can have the student thing called "CARTE IMAGINE R" which is the navigo for students (expensive but you have advantages ... like going to all zones you want to in Paris in the weekends/holidays) or the PASS NAVIGO which for the 2 zones I had to pay for once .. IS DAMN EXPENSIVE ! 50euros that I lost for A MONTH that went by too fast. And I couldn't go out anywhere that wasn't zone 3 and 4(which was pretty much my Uni and my place of work...)
And the travelling system is built like a star so everything king of crosses...Just go over to ratp.fr or sncf.com. They have little rectangles where you put in your "FROM" and "TO" (the word is itenerary, right ? lol) that can help you way better than I ... I still get lost in train stations looking for my platform.
Also, for the au pair think. Sadly it happens more often than not. I have a friendly who went over to Germany as an au pair and made sure they had an au pair before so she could get in contact with her and make sure the family wouldn't try anything funny.
I am going abroad at the end of September but I choose to go help teach French in England. I'm kind of screwed myself but yeah, at least I don't get the emotional strain of asking myself if I'll be slaving under creepy people or losing my mind trying to come up with a schedule (...which was the case in the university I studied in this past year. September was kind of my nightmarish month. I wanted to cry when the time for schedule making came...).
I know I'm not very helpful but if you feel the need to cry on my virtual French shoulder, I want you to know I'm here ! :)
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I'm going to start school sooner than I thought. I applied to Paris 7, and I'm going to choose my schedule on Tuesday.
My friend and I, and a third girl, are starting to look for apartments. One of the websites we're using is appartager.com.
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Cool for the schedule. I went to Paris 10 for the last 3 years and I always got my schedule in the middle/end of September. Good luck with that !
And I think I know the UK version of appartager. I looked it up and I know I went through "easyroommate" which had the same layout. I finally got on spareroom though because you had to pay to send a message with content on easyroommate. Is it the same with appartager?
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