La vie en “halls” en France

Yesterday marked the three month anniversary of my arrival in France which got me thinking about the pros and cons of living in the “CROUS” here. In some ways, it’s incredibly similar to University halls at home, but in others, it’s VERY different. Prepare yourself for a “thrilling”* guide to what’s hot and what’s not about living in the university accommodation. (*sarcasm)

First things first, my room

I wouldn’t say I’m spoiled, but I don’t think I’ve ever had such a small bedroom before, maybe I should call it “petite”, it makes it sound better 😛

I think it’s like this because it has an inordinate number of cupboards, which is pretty useful but some of them are a bit odd, like this cupboard whose door folds across onto the opposite wall. Hmmmm…

Also, I have an ensuite which is again pretty “petite” but so nice and it’s a real luxury to have a shower just for me! YAYYY!

Problem with the shower is that the temperature is incredibly variable, one second it’s icy cold, the next it’s proper scalding hot but I guess it’s good that it keeps me on my toes

Another thing, my room is tastefully decorated in… bright ORANGE. It’s something I’ll certainly remember 😛

It’s also really nice to have my own personal fridge in my room. Really handy, loads of space and no chance of someone else “accidentally” eating/drinking my stuff = WIN😀

Kitchen

The kitchen is probably the biggest issue for everyone here.  The “kitchen” comprises 2 hobs and 2 sinks. Oh, and that’s for 20+ people. Not having an actual oven is surprisingly upsetting- no baking, no popping a quick pizza in there. It’s remarkable how many tasty British dishes involve an oven.

Strangely, there’s no bin in the kitchen and you get reprimanded for leaving things like that there, so it means traipsing back to your room with the food you’ve managed to cook on the single hob that’s free and any rubbish you might have. Happily though, the cleaners seem to clean it every day, but they’re a tad over-zealous in that for the whole of this weekend, they locked my floor’s kitchen because it was apparently too messy. It was okay in that I managed to go upstairs and use a different one, but I was disappointed to see that the other kitchens were absolute tips in comparison and yet they weren’t locked. Just a tad unfair, I think.

The saving grace for this is that there are a variety of University restaurants on campus and in the city centre which all offer you a decent meal for €3.20 or about £2.50 which is a rather good deal 😀

Some more things about the halls:

~ Erasmus/international students get priority to live here so pretty much all my friends are within about a 5 minute walk from me. 😀

~ Most of the French students go home at the weekends, so it’s nice to have extra speedy internet and decent showers even for 2 days a week.

~ In Reception, there’s some vending machines, such as one that gives you a fairly nice coffee/tea/soup/hot chocolate for the equivalent of 40p. Oh and they’re also at University too. I could definitely get used to this caramel flavoured cappuccino!

~ There are also loads of great facilities on campus, such as the “Petit-Théâtre”, Radio station and Sports Centre.

~ AND, the CROUS put on regular events such as a welcome party where there were lots of speeches and then some tasty (and some not so tasty) snacks. For tasty think, little cakes, miniature bagels… Less tasty were the chunks of what seemed to be raw fish, in a shot glass with a piece of watercress.

~ The most amazing thing about living in the halls is the price-  £190 a month which makes it an absolute BARGAIN compared to the UK. And it’s pretty helpful to just have to pay the rent monthly rather than quarterly or whatever. Plus, although there’s a date when you’re meant to have paid by, they don’t mind at all whenever you pay as long as it’s done at some point. I guess, they don’t mind when we pay because they make it incredibly hard to do so by only opening the office for 18 bizarre hours a week.

Overall, I REALLY like living in halls here where for a bargain price, I have my own ensuite, the chance to use electricity, water and heating to my heart’s content, friends all nearby and there are lots of events on my doorstep. However, it has made me just a smidgin excited for next year in Southampton where I can live in a house which has an actual oven and maybe even a sitting room!