Strasbourg... Househunting?

Fooker

Hi,

I'm studying history in the L'IEP, Strasbourg from September. I never got univeriitty housing so have to find an alternative.

I'm wondering how much time In would need to find accommodation, my french lecturer reckons two weeks...

I'm thinking of just staying in one of the expensive student accommodations for at least a month as the uncertainty of not having housing assured is worrying...

CantGetNoSleep

http://www.lastrasbourgeoisehabitat.fr/resmarne.html

This place is very close to IEP and not too expensive once you get the CAF, but it will most likely be full of other Irish Erasmus students, so maybe not the best place to go if you want to try speak French for the year

Fooker

Thanks that's a great help. The handyness certainly would be good. It's funny i never came across it when searching online..

kitna

Hi,

I studied in strasbourg at iep two years ago, cant believe you didnt get uni accommodation, though i remember at the start of the year we would get emails saying a spot or two had opened up, up to you whether you want to hold out or not.
a good friend of mine lived in la marne, it was packed full of irish people which i suppose was probably a good thing to avoid home sickness, they went out a lot so if thats your scene i would go for that. the only thing that might put you off would be that you might not get to speak much french as there are basically no french people living there but i lived in uni accomm and they just arent a social environment, there are no living room spaces and i have to say the other people in them didnt show any interest in socialising at all and were dead serious. the uni accom there i used by older phd students as well so theres a real emphasis on quietness and no visitors are allowed after 11. i had friends come over thinking i could sneak them in but ended up having to crash in my friends place in la marne, who didnt even know them but was kind enough to let them stay. point is youre not going to learn any more french by living in uni accom. private sector might me different, a few friends lived in apartments with french people and had mixed experiences. its probably around the same price as la marne but la marne is maintained and probably a bit safer and really handy for uni.

youl learn loads of french at uni anyway as most of the classes are in french and youl make friends there, id advise you to join a sports team - thats where most people made their french friends.

sorry this is a bit long but thought you could use as much advice as you can get!

Fooker

kitna wrote: »

Hi,

I studied in strasbourg at iep two years ago, cant believe you didnt get uni accommodation, though i remember at the start of the year we would get emails saying a spot or two had opened up, up to you whether you want to hold out or not.
a good friend of mine lived in la marne, it was packed full of irish people which i suppose was probably a good thing to avoid home sickness, they went out a lot so if thats your scene i would go for that. the only thing that might put you off would be that you might not get to speak much french as there are basically no french people living there but i lived in uni accomm and they just arent a social environment, there are no living room spaces and i have to say the other people in them didnt show any interest in socialising at all and were dead serious. the uni accom there i used by older phd students as well so theres a real emphasis on quietness and no visitors are allowed after 11. i had friends come over thinking i could sneak them in but ended up having to crash in my friends place in la marne, who didnt even know them but was kind enough to let them stay. point is youre not going to learn any more french by living in uni accom. private sector might me different, a few friends lived in apartments with french people and had mixed experiences. its probably around the same price as la marne but la marne is maintained and probably a bit safer and really handy for uni.

youl learn loads of french at uni anyway as most of the classes are in french and youl make friends there, id advise you to join a sports team - thats where most people made their french friends.

sorry this is a bit long but thought you could use as much advice as you can get!

No, thanks that is a good help. I think I'm going to fly over on the 7th or 8th. Whis would give me a couple of days before the crash course in french starts on the tenth. The stage is only for the afternoon or morning so should have time to sort stuff each day... I think with about a month beforehand I'll try and sort something beforehand or maybe get student accommodation.

The student accommodation is quite oversubscribed by the sounds of it. I applied about a few weeks before the deadline, because I was busy with essays and trying to organise a trip. I got an email saying that I didn't get it, which was also sent to another 40 or so people. My home university wasn't exactly helpful in this regard. I got info about a month after I was told I wouldnt get accommodation which told me I should probably start and look about university accommodation.

I used to play rugby until about a year ago, so I think I'll take that up as I really miss it. (It was awkward trying to play it in college and Alcohol seemed more appealling!)

La Marne got back to me and it does seem to be quite expensive...

CantGetNoSleep

You will get about 30% of the cost back from the government (although this could take months to organise)

TrollHammaren

I found this thread through google. I'm in Strasbourg now, living in a shítty hostel because I can't find accommodation for the life of me. CROUS has me on a waiting list but I'm not holding my breath. Has anyone here any advice? My course started today!

Fooker

Hi,

I got a crous room, but wont be arriving until saturday. Thank god as it does seem extremely hard to get somewhere. The sites I had looked at mainly were:

www.appartager.fr

www.leboncoin.fr

www.dna.fr

You could try the estate agents, but they do charge a substantial fee.

TrollHammaren

Fooker wrote: »

Hi,

I got a crous room, but wont be arriving until saturday. Thank god as it does seem extremely hard to get somewhere. The sites I had looked at mainly were:

www.appartager.fr

www.leboncoin.fr

www.dna.fr

You could try the estate agents, but they do charge a substantial fee.

I finally got accepted to CROUS in la Somme after a lot of waiting. French bureaucracy is unbelievable. I strongly recommend against agents; they're thieving bastards. One of the agents we visited is being sued. Wonderful.

Fooker

TrollHammaren wrote: »

I finally got accepted to CROUS in la Somme after a lot of waiting. French bureaucracy is unbelievable. I strongly recommend against agents; they're thieving bastards. One of the agents we visited is being sued. Wonderful.

Yes I'm only starting into all this bureaucracy.. Houseunting seems to be a bit of nightmare and especially hard when you aren't fluent..

TrollHammaren

Fooker wrote: »

Yes I'm only starting into all this bureaucracy.. Houseunting seems to be a bit of nightmare and especially hard when you aren't fluent..

Any luck in the end?