hey everybody..thought i'd try picking the collective brain again.
i'm planning on doing a study abroad program next year in paris from september to december. my university offers a pretty good package (i think, but i'm open to suggestions if anyone has them) at $6000 for lodging, tuition at the sorbonne (for french and art classes only), a monthly carte orange, a couple day trips, a long weekend in Normandy...i think that's it. This seems like the best and easiest way for a gal with no real friends..you know, the kind i could ask to stay with or try to find some roommates through..to get to Paris for a couple months to see what happens..and study art at the louvre!
So, i'm wondering about some of the details..like banking. Is it better to keep my US account and withdraw cash as needed?
That seems okay if i withdraw larger sums of money to keep down the atm fees, but what about making a deposit?
Other thing..Visa process. I read that one must have proof of insurance to enter france on a visa..the problem is that i'll be leaving my job to pursue school full time, and at that point, i won't have health insurance. maybe student..don't know,i have insurance right now as i work and take classes.
I'm sure there are so many things i couldn't even begin to think of, so, anybody have advice for the temporary paris resident?
thanks!

ChristineSF

I can not answer all of your questions, but here are somethings to consider... Most banks do not charge a fee for overseas ATM withdrawals. I was just there on vacation and used it at least everyother day to prevent carrying large amounts of cash. I would check to see if the company you work for will allow you to pay for extending your health insurance for a few months. it usually costs you double, but you are covered. As far a deposits, have you looked into direct deposits? This is the easiest way even if you reside in the states. Make a very detail budget and try to stick to it. I usually cut back in the food department to allow for traveling and sightseeing. enjoy your trip!

Clea

The Bank of America charges $3 for each ATM transaction in France except when done on ATM machines of the BNP. Check with your bank to see if it charges for overseas withdrawals.

I think with B of A it may depend on your status...I have never been charged anything for ATM tranactions in Europe..in fact my statement shows, with each use , the tranaction for whatever amount and next, the fee..always $0.00. But I maintain a checking ,savings , mortgage and equity account with them.

So check with them before you leave...and take out the max you can each time if you have to pay a fee. It is also good to check what your max IS! Mine is $1000.00 a day...GOD I wish I had that much to take out! But sometimes the max can be $250.00 a day. It all depends on how your accounts are set up and how many accounts you have.

ChristineSF,
I will try and address your various points through your post...hope this helps! First off, that price sounds like an incredible deal for all that to include housing! I studied at the American University of Paris and my tuition alone was a great deal more. If you would like to find housing on your own I would suggest www.fusac.fr (if you haven't already checked out their site and you are planning on living in Paris it may be helpful outside of housing as well). When I lived there I did open a bank account while I was there, I just found it easier to deal with if I had any problems with my bank there was an actual building and people to talk to if I did have a problem. You will need to have a letter from your school explaining that you are a student in order to open up an account. It was also really useful because I had a cell phone and I set up my bill to be automatically deducted from my account so I wouldn't have to worry about going to the post office to pay the bill. I used BNP and didn't have any problems while I was there. About half of my friend had accounts and the others just used their ATM cards but they took out a lot of money at once so they would not have to pay the fees. You of course will have a difficult with deposits...I did all of mine by wire transfer. Why do you need a Visa? Is it a work visa, if so, do you already have a company to sponsor you? You shouldn't need a student visa if your stay is less than 6 months--although I do recommend getting one because you may end up staying longer than your one intended semester. Yes you do need to have proof of insurance, my school provided insurance. I can't remember the name, maybe someone else on the board can help, but when I moved to London I had to get insurance (did an internship with the State Department--they gave the name of a global insurer) and it was relatively cheap for the year. I think that addressed most of the points in your post, but I do have loads of more advice for someone wanting to study in Paris since I did it myself--feel free to contact me if you have any other questions!
Ashley

Thanks for all the input.
Ashley, i'd love to hear anything you have to share about studying abroad!
So, if you present paperwork as a student, you can open a bank account in France? That would be great..just seems like it would be more convenient.
I'll be working part time, and getting paid a very small amount i'm sure, but i'm guessing i'll get paid by check, not cash..hence the need to make deposits.
Visa...i've read that i'll need to get a visa as my program is over 3 mths.
Thanks so much for all the suggestions everyone!
chrisitne

Christine, if you are young enough you can get your insurance directly from la Sorbonne at very very reasonable rate. I think the age cut off is around 28 or so.

I took french classes there for 18 months so if you have any questions about that let me know.

ATM cards work perfectly however I dont know about deposits. You cant make deposits into an ATM here so i really dont see how you could deposit money into an american bank. Chase has a branch here but I am not sure how that works. You would have to wire money to your account in the US I suppose.

Opening a bank account in France can be difficult and sometimes virtually impossible as a student. They require proof of residency such as a phone bill or electric bill in your name. Otherwise you have to get a certificate of lodging signed from the person providing the lodging. I was renting a furnished apartment with all bills paid so it was quite an ordeal.

Christine,
The bank account ordeal. I really had VERY little difficulty opening up a french bank account. I had a letter from my school saying that I was a full time student there and that is how I got the account. I did take a friend along who was French to make the process that much smoother. That seems like the only way you will be able to deposit money depending on the company you are working for. I am assuming that you are working and have working papers--and that I think you do need a visa for since you think you are going to be paid by cheque. If on the other hand you are going to work under the table, ie without working papers, then you might not have to worry about depositing the money because they will most likely give you cash. When I had a job in London in order to get paid I HAD to have an English bank account and to do that I HAD to have working papers.
It could be that the visa requirements have changed (I went to school there in 99) but at that point you HAD to have a visa if your program was longer than 6 months. If you do have to get a visa I really recommend getting a service get the visa for you b/c trying to call the french consulate is ridiculous--with all their holidays and plus you can only call on certain days at certain times for visa help. If you have any more specific questions you can e-mail me: [email protected]
Hope this is all helping...you are going to have a great time!

That sounds reasonable if you want to go with that group and they have the program you want, but it isn't particularly cheap. You could do it a lot cheaper on your own, but it's not bad. You can't really compare that tuition to the AUP which is a very expensive, private American school. The Sorbonne is a French public univ and has very cheap tuition and dorms. Their tuition for a foreigner's full program is about 1200 euro per semeter (or 400 per month) and room in the Cite Universitaire maybe around 800 per month. Morgan should be able to say more about that, however, but I don't think $2000 per month is cheap compared to doing it on your own, but it's not terrible. I also didn't hink they had programs from Sept-Dec, but Oct-Jan, so maybe this is some special program youir university has set up, especially with the art classes.

I went to Institut Catholique de Paris and it was cheaper than $2000 a month total for tuition and room plus board. They have a program for foreign students, also, during the year, but I think it concentrates on French (as maybe does the Sorbonne).

For 3 months, I probably wouldn't bother to get a French bank account myself unless you plan to deposit a lot to it. I have read the Sorbonne does require you to have a residency visa, and those are the requirements of the French Embassy also, as I understand it. I thought that students must have a visa, either short or long-term, but definitely need one unless there a very short time of a few weeks or month. Less than 6 months is a short-term student visa, here is the page on the French Embassy site about it with instructions:
http://www.info-france-usa.org/visit...svisas.asp#11a

It does talk about the health insurance issue, and I think you will need to figure that out. I would assume your university should be taking care of that, as universities have student health insurance (at least they used to when I was in them). You should not go uninsured regardless of whether you go to Paris or not, that is not a good idea in the US. If you are working fulltime, you can buy into your former employers' plan through COBRA law, but that is not going to be cheap--it's not expensive compared to private market, but not pocket money. If your university offers health insurance, that should be cheapest. If you are under 23-24, many insurers allow students to be under their parents' plans under that age, if that's another option.

At a young age, health insurance can be pretty cheap and there are some travel policies for long term you might check at www.insuremytrip.com I think Sorbonne might have different rules for someone in your situation and someone like Morgan who was a longterm student, perhaps, and maybe from EU? If he wasn't, that sounds like a good choice.

Anyway, I think you could do it cheaper on your own, but think that's not a bad deal if you want to be with that group and they have a special program. It makes it a lot easier to have them handle everything, also, than figuring it all out on your own and applying to the schools/residences yourself.

Wow..thanks for all the input everyone.
So, if anyone comes back to check in, here's my story. I'm 32, so too old to
get any student health insurance. I'm just budgeting to pay for either student health insurance, or blue sheild. As SF is the "layoff" capital of the world, blueshield is the cheapest coverage outside of student.
I've been working a corporate job and going to school part time for several years; at this point, i've decided to leave my job, and with some savings and student loans, finish school and work and less demanding part time job. Since i'm already in my 30's, it seems like now would be a good time to do a study abroad program.
The program is through SF city college, and provided by a company called Accent.
It covers tuition for 2 classes, a language class at the sorbonne, and a art history class taught by an Access staff member. Both classes are transferable. The cost also includes a studio in the Bastille. It seems like going through a program here is the easiest thing...though my only hitch is i've found out through a good source that i should be able to get an internship with a french gallery.
I've been working in the arts for free for several years, and have built up a pretty good resume, and my friend, who is a director at a well known gallery in Paris, thinks i'll have no problem getting into a gallery as an intern. So, i'm wondering if i could still come as a student on an intership w/o paying the $6000.
Would it be difficult to get an apartment on my own?