Student Blogs/Streisanne in France
I'm Streisanne and I'm here to tell you all about my life, and lead up to my life, in Paris, France!
Like many first and second year BIB students I knew exactly where I wanted to go on my exchange year: Brussels!!!! (huh???) If you had known me in my first years of being a BIB student you probably knew that I would have said Brussels. However, in less than 12 hours before the deadline for when exchange applications were due, I started to think…. Why would someone who loves everything about big cities choose to live in Brussels over Paris, France? And here I am.
Tip #1: It’s okay to not know exactly where you want to go on your exchange year, even if everyone else seems to. Also, if you have a gut feeling, go with it! I haven’t regretted going with mine.
I think the part that was making me the most nervous was everyone asking me if I was nervous. I actually think that I even started feeling nervous about the fact that I wasn’t feeling nervous…..(?) Besides, that nervous feeling that you may or may not have, the worst part about the first few months leading up to your exchange will be the student visa application process (paperwork, paperwork and a ridiculous amount of unflattering passport photos which I even started finding in weird places around my house). With that said, I am going to right ahead and prepare you for the terrible experience that is the visa application process. You’re going to be doing a lot of running around, making a lot of phone calls and you’re going to feel very unorganized. Other than that, everything else leading up to my exchange went pretty smoothly and it never actually felt like I was going to be leaving for a year until I reached the airport.
Tip #2: Absolutely do not leave your visa application until the last minute. Try and begin around three months before you leave in order to prepare yourself for the pain and suffering that will inevitably occur. (I’ll leave this for you to find out whether or not I’m kidding... because every blog needs a good element of surprise, right?)
The airport was probably one of the worst parts leading up to my exchange (which is good, because it really wasn’t all that bad). It started with lugging two giant suitcases through downtown Toronto and onto the subway. Two of my best friends and I struggled to do this, watching and laughing at each other while we took turns practically getting knocked over each time my giant suitcase started to topple over. “That suitcase is bigger than you are!” Yes, in fact random stranger, it is. A man on the subway offered to carry one of my bags down the stairs for us and, not realizing just how heavy the bag was, probably instantly regretted his gesture. The bag was so heavy in fact, that the airline had informed me that if I wanted to bring it onto the plane I would have to remove around 6 Kg. Ughhh. I guess there goes my tin of Canadian maple syrup and Barbra Streisand records (which maybe weren’t all that necessary to begin with). After that minor setback I was finally boarding my flight to France!
Tip #3: “Come on, you don’t need to bring maple syrup to France” may have been the truest thing that anyone had ever said to me. Listen to people’s suggestions on what to pack and what not to pack for your year abroad.
After sleeping for a total of 0 hours, the prospect of sleeping in a bed (or on the floor or even on a park bench for that matter) seemed much, much more exciting that the fact that I had just arrived in Paris. It also really hadn’t sunk in that my year abroad, the year that I had been looking forward to for the first two years at Carleton, had just started. Since I arrived alone, my family arranged for the Paris Shuttle service to bring me to where I would be staying. I was on the shuttle with another family from New Jersey who actually tried to give me money in the event that I got lost in Paris. “No thank you kind sir, I’m not actually sad and nervous and confused I just look this way because I haven’t slept in thirty-something hours, I promise I don’t need your money.” And when I arrived to my new home, La Maison des Provences de France at Cité Universitaire, the real fun began: sleep.
Tip #4: You have an entire year to explore your exchange city, there is nothing wrong with a low-key first week spent adjusting to your new time zone. But, by all means, do not become a hermit. Get out and explore!
I really don’t have anything bad to say about SciencesPo. The campus is beautiful and centrally located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, just off of Boulevard Saint-Germain. This is a very high-class area of Paris and you’ll probably be passing stores like Prada, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren almost every day. I guess that’s a fair trade-off for the lack on Tim Hortons’ on campus. Class sizes are much, much smaller than those at Carleton and the students in your classes are really going to be from almost everywhere in the world. The administration at SciencesPo, however, is very strict. Under no circumstance can you change your classes once school has begun. Dropping a class is equivalent to failing a class and two absences also results in a fail. Don’t let this scare you though, because the course load is much lighter than Carleton’s and a lot of your classes are actually pretty interesting! As a political sciences school, SciencesPo does not offer many business courses. This really gives you the opportunity to explore the various disciplines that you had not been able to as a BIB or BCOM student due to the lack of electives in the first two years of these programs. I am currently enrolled in one French language course, three economics classes and a Spanish class. All of my economics classes are taught in English, though I plan on taking most of my classes in French next semester.
Tip #5: If you plan on taking a third language while on your year abroad, I advise you to really think it through. My Spanish class is taught in French, by a professor who speaks absolutely no English. This class is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most difficult class I have ever taken. I think my professor has actually started to feel a little sorry for me!
The first month and a half I lived at the Cité Universitaire because ScienesPo offers a deal with Cité that allows students to stay there for 39 days upon their arrival in Paris. Don’t get me wrong, this short-term stay is extremely expensive (around 1200 euros) but as a student arriving in Paris alone with mediocre French skills and no other housing arrangements, the price starts to be more justifiable. I am currently living in a student residence, Foyer International des Etudiantes. I share a room with another student and have communal washrooms and a curfew of 1:30 a.m. on weeknights, but for the price of 415 euros a month in a very well located area, it's worth it! I don’t know about you, but I would much rather spend money on travelling and food than a place to sleep. I mean, I was willing to sleep on a park bench earlier in this blog post so maybe my standards for places to sleep are not that high. Side note: another reason to be pro-FIE (Foyer International des Etudiantes) is the spectacular view from the roof!
Tip #6: Apartments in Paris are pretty hard to find and pretty expensive (around 700 euros per month usually). Do your research beforehand and figure out which trade-offs you are willing to make. Good location vs. no roommate vs. no communal washrooms vs. good price etc. Sorry, but you really can’t have it all.
Finally, as much as I would love to keep rambling on about Paris, I probably have some sort of word count restraint or something. (I’m not good at goodbyes)
À bientôt!