My 22 year old daughter will be attending the Alliance Francaise in August. She is considering the housing options offered by the school. These are the hall of residence and the dormitory. They are in the 14th and 15th. The school is in the 6th.

Does anyone have any experience with these housing units? How about other student housing in Paris?

Many thanks for any advice.

I know students are housed at Cité Internationale Universitaire, which is where the hall of residence is located. It houses students from the Sorborne and other schools as well, kind of a central dorm area for students. I believe they are housed according to nationality so U.S. students are in the USA house. It is a large area in the south of Paris. Search for it on Google Maps and look at the street views. I believe the Metro is close to it. The other housing option appears to be walking distance. The choice is yours but the Cite Internationale sounds more interesting. My 'French in Action' teacher who was born and raised in Paris told us about it.

When looking at the street views note the Fondation des Etats Unis, where is where your daughter would be housed, if American. But many countries have a house at Cite. It looks great! Metro right on that street.

I would think you would want to go with their choice. Any other choice takes you into an unknown situation. Plus, if she makes friends, they would be staying there, non?

The 14th and 15th are fine for locations.

ttt

Thank you Mollie and Michel. She was a little late for the Hall of Residence for the full month. She applied for the dormitory the first two weeks and the Hall for the second two weeks. It will be nice to get a comparison if that works out.

This is an excellent thread with photos of Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris and a good discussion of where one poster's daughter might stay during her year studying in Paris.

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=3407&page=1

Yes, the above link has our amazing Kerouac's photos!

Alliance Francaise isn't a university, so they don't always get rooms at the Cite Universitaire. They often put Americans in the Fondation des Etats Unis, but not always, and especially if they aren't French university students which they are not. Then, it depends which dorm may have some extra space to rent out sometimes.

I thought the Alliance Francaise students were put in FIAP Jean Monnet in the 14th, which is sort of a private dorm/residence. I don't know where they put them in the 15th. But, there are lots of newer apt buildings there, so hard to say where they might have built something like that, or where it could be. It could be near COmmerce or the Montparnasse Tower or even over near the Seine, as there are lots of big ones over there.

Thanks Christina, CopperandJade, Kerouac. I am getting curiouser and curiouser. She faxed in the paperwork on Thursday and got an email acknowledgment on Friday, but no confirmation. I am sure everything will work out. I asked her to start a photo/text blog when she gets there, late July. I'll link it here.

She attended the Universidad Salamanca two years ago for 6 weeks of intensive Spanish. That went smoother because we were dealing with an agency in Texas and we got started earlier.

I'm sure it will be fine. Their website says the residence is only a few metro stops from the school, so I imagine whatever place it is will be similar to FIAP Monnet and will be convenient enough to get to the school. And it does have private rooms, so it will be just like some cheap motel, I imagine. This is the one they often use
http://www.fiap.asso.fr/

Actually, it could be more convenient than Cite Universitaire which is only on the RER line and it is kind of dead down there on the weekends (ie, I stayed there one summer and there was no place to eat on Sundays near my dorm).

The Alliance Francaise found a room for Stephanie at the Maison Internationale AgroTechParis at the Cite International Universitaire for the full month of August. This hall is primarily populated by French engineering students according to the AF information. The bird is out of the nest for sure.