April 15, 2014, by Guest blog

Living in halls of residence was the best decision I made

After having chosen that I wanted to spend my year abroad in Paris I then set about trying to decide where I wanted to live. There were a few options open to me, including living as a lodger in a family house, living by myself in the centre of the city or living in a CROUS residence (like university halls). After weighing up my options, I eventually decided to opt for the CROUS residence mainly as this seemed to be a compromise of my two main criteria: price and distance from the city centre.

At the start of the year I was unsure as to whether I had made the right decision: I can’t really pop into the centre of Paris as that takes about half an hour to get to on the train and if out in the evening I would have to leave early or stay out all night. It has however turned out to be a brilliant decision. It has taken a while to get a sense of community within the residence but in the past few months there has been much more communal activity within the residence for which I am sure that I owe the improving weather. There have been soirées organised within the residence just down the corridor which not only allow me to practise my French in a much more informal setting than university but are also great fun. Not only this but bearing in mind that if I was to live in the centre of Paris my monthly rent would be a few hundred Euros more expensive than where I am, I doubt that I would be able to afford to frequent the many bars found in town and would probably end up visiting people in their apartments so with that in mind I feel that I have made the right choice.

Being a part of this residence has been one of the best decisions that I have made and there are a number of people who I have met both francophone and anglophone with whom I wish to stay in contact with. I would in fact recommend this residence to anyone else coming to Paris as many of the people here have been here for a few years and are likely to remain here for a few more years to come.

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