<p>My daughter (a sophmore at Rice) has been accepted at Science Po in Paris for a year long exchange starting this fall. Do any CC parents have experience with Science Po in obtaining housing (which is not provided) or any experiences in general obtaining student housing in Paris? I am not comfortable sending her to Paris without a place to live.</p>
<p>You are absolutely right. A friend's daughter from GW zrrived after Xmas (I live in Paris). Sciences Po offers a room for 2 weeks during which time you are supposed to find your own place. It's fiendishly expensive and very difficult to find somewhere decent. Sciences Po has a few addresses of families willing to rent a room in their app. to exchange students for around 500 euros a month!!! Don't hesitate to PM me and I will give you my friend's D's email if you want more information. She tells me that there are quite a lot of Am exchange students and they have obviously found somewhere to stay, but it seems that most of them had already found a place before arriving in Paris. Scics Po does nothing much except for organizing a sort of welcoming tea party, so you are absolutely right to try and sort this out before the term starts. There are no campuses in Paris and a terrible shortage of student housing.</p>
<p>Saramom, while I am not familiar with Science Po in Paris....I have a daughter one year older than yours who is going to Paris this summer to do an internship (not through school). In fact, for days now, we have been communicating on her securing an apartment for summer in Paris. So, this is very very fresh in my mind, including my daughter even wiring money today for this very purpose! And yes, this certainly had to be taken care of before she got to France, in our minds and hers.</p>
<p>She basically ended up with two options. First, she contacted other students/friends from her college, Brown, who are studying in Paris this semester and asked about their housing. They are renting very small studio apartments in the 7th District (Paris is divided up into neighborhoods/districts). One student isn't sure yet if he is staying on or not for summer but the other student is leaving in late June, a little bit after my D arrives. She had them ask their landlady if my D could rent the apartment for summer and it appeared that she likely could. It was going for only 500 Euros a month (when I say "Only"....in comparison of most apartment rentals). However, while she surely could make do with their apartments, she saw photos (try to get photos online before commiting to anything) and it seems like a small dorm sized room with very minimal kitchenette 'facilities" and bathroom right in the room. Again, it would have sufficed and the price was right, as is the location in relation to where she will be working on the Champs Elysee. </p>
<p>However, while she was waiting to hear back about that option, she put into motion looking for an apartment. I started researching online and so did she. I looked at several sites but the one either of us used the most was craiglist for Paris. Many of the rents were too much, or confusing as many listed the price per week, not per month. A few were not too outrageous but still more than the 500/month than the student apartments that the kids from her school had. But she came across one ALSO for just 500/month that is WAY more than what she'd get in the other arrangment. This one is an actual full apartment....living/dining room, separate bedroom, real kitchen and bathroom, free internet. It almost seems too good to be true. But my D has communicated back and forth with the person who is looking to sublet it....a French post grad student studying in Brussels who admits to renting it out for less just to avoid paying two rents. He has an American student living in it during the school year right now. My D has gone back and forth with him on everything all in French and translated it all for me. He even sent pictures and a copy of the contract. She asked for the contact information of the current American student renting it and he gave it to her and she asked that person about the payments and arrangements, the apartment, security deposit, etc. It all checked out. She just now arranged to pay him one month deposit by wiring the money from her bank account into his and will pay the rest by check upon arrival and sign a contract and give a security deposit then. It all seems on the up and up. </p>
<p>So, my suggestion is for your D to talk to students from her college who have studied in Paris and find out their rental arrangements and see if she can contact who is necessary through their contacts. Also, use craigslist for Paris and other listings, and see what you can find...read up on the neighborhoods, ask for photos, and have her arrange for the apartment ahead of time, as my D has JUST done for this summer. </p>
<p>My D studied in Florence this past fall through another university (an American one) and had an apartment but the university is the one who arranged it and also put the roommates together from the program. This summer, my D is living alone but it is not like she knows anyone and is not in a program. All these apartments have come fully furnished and equipped. I would think you could ask both Rice students who have studied in Paris and also ask Science Po to provide former student names as contacts so that you may ask which apartments they lived in last year and these might be great leads. </p>
<p>It was funny but on one search on craigslist, which is updated daily with new listings, one girl was looking for a roomie in Paris and the girl said she was American and doing a gap year there and is entering Brown. It was kinda coincidental. However, my D has found a better and cheaper arrangment, an entire apartment for herself that is nice (I saw photos!) for just 500 Euros. I would almost suggest that your D take the apartment after my D leaves in late August but the American girl who is there now (leaving for summer) mentioned in her email to my D that she is hoping to return to rent it in the fall. </p>
<p>Try those avenues. Good luck.</p>
<p>By the way, lost in translat....my D is going to live in the 15th District. We read up on the area. Would you say this is an OK place for a 20 year old to live for summer? The American student living there now seemed to like it and it seems convenient to the metro and other needs.</p>
<p>PS...I just noticed that your D is about to enter Smith and is going to be a Stride Scholar. Congratulations to her. My D who is heading to Paris was selected as a Stride Scholar and we have gone to Smith a couple of times and she considered attending but in the end chose another college. It is a great school. She will love it.</p>
<p>Hi, soozievt, The 15th is a very bourgeois, safe area and the Paris Metro is fantastic, so transportation is never a problem in Paris. On the other hand, the 15th is virtually dead in the summer: empty streets, a lot of stores closed, and in my opinion a bit depressing. Most French people take their holiday in August, so the city looks kind of abandoned. Also we heve been having heatwaves for the last couple of summers (global warming?) and warn your daughter that very few if any French app. have air-conditioning. It can get very sultry.
Yes, my daughter is both delighted and terrified by the idea of going to Smith, which makes her quite odious at the moment (is that what cc calls senioriris?). I'll probably have my nervous breakdown when I see her off in August. I never expected the nest to be empty so quickly!</p>
<p>Lost:
Thanks for your reply. My D is aware of the heat waves. Last summer, she coincidentally also worked in France, in the Southwest. That time, she was working in a program with children and there were requirements regarding activities and water that had to be met due to the heat wave in fact. </p>
<p>She is also familiar with the Metro having been to Paris many times. Her apartment is near a stop and she should be able to get to the Champs Elysee pretty readily. She knows that the 15th is a residential area and not a hopping place, so to speak. But that should be fine. By metro she can get to any place else. By the way, we don't have air conditioning at home either. </p>
<p>It is very exciting for your daughter to head to Smith. The adjustment will be bigger for YOU, :D. Good luck to her.</p>
<p>Saramom...</p>
<p>I just got an email and something in it might be something your D may wish to look into. While my D is all set with her Paris rental for this summer, I had been looking on the web at various listings earlier. I must have signed up to receive updates of listings from a site called Sublet.com. So, today, someone from Paris wrote me an email about an apartment they are renting. In the email, this person also wrote:
"If you are a student, you will receive a rental allowance called "allocation de logement". Thanks to that, our current tenant, a Canadian student, is paying about 700 EUR instead of 900EUR/month ALL INCLUSIVE."</p>
<p>I am unaware of this "allocation de logement" and if this applies to all students renting apartments or not. While my D is a student, she is not going to be attending school while in Paris. Since your D will be, maybe you ought to find out if there is a reduced rent for students through whatever "allocation de logement" is. I thought I would pass that on.</p>