Madeleine à Paris

An Edinburgh University Student studying at the Sorbonne Nouvelle

[iillson]

What happened to the Madeleine a Paris city guide? Would love to hear your recommendations and bon adresses a Paris! Please post one when you have time. Bisous x

Ah yes - I will try to get that up ASAP kind anon! I have an old list somewhere on my laptop that could do with a couple of additions. 

[madeleineaparis]

Going back to Paris in 2 weeks! Then off to Australia! Might revive this blog as Madeleine à Melbourne...

[vi0lettae]

[iillson]

Hi! I'm an American student potentially studying at Paris 7 next year. I was reading through your answered q's (what a resource, thanks!) and saw that you stayed at the Foyer International -- I had never heard of it before and it sounds almost too good to be true (cheap, great location, community vibe, etc)! Basically I'm wondering: is it? Especially for my first year in Paris, the foyer sounds perfect! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much!! x M

Salut! Glad you found my Q+As helpful, that’s what they’re there for!

As with everything that seems too good to be true, the Foyer sort of is. It has its pros and cons - I’ll go through them. 

Pros -

super central & you won’t get to live in that area for that price in an apartment

you are living with loads of french girls although they sort of tend to be a bit odd

everything is included - don’t have to pay bills

the building and interior are beautiful and all original

you have a library in the building, beautiful & old and totally empty at night although used by various students during the day

amazing roof terrace which is AWESOME in the summer with one of the best views of paris

good security

sheets are provided & cleaned for you, plus cleaners clean your room

fridge & sink in room

Cons - 

shared shower rooms & toilets (not too bad)

kitchens aren’t very well equipped - 2 tiny hobs, a mini oven that is blinky and funny microwaves. no utensils provided. nowhere to eat other than your own room.

the foyer is used by a range of institutions as study/teaching spaces, so during the day there are all kinds of randos walking around (not too bad unless..)

… you are on the 5th floor. fifth floor is shared with the library so avoid if poss because you are going to run into students when going for a shower!

you can only have visitors from 9am to 11pm. you cannot have anyone stay in your room. you have to book visitors in to stay (they’re weird about boyfriends) and they have to pay something like 30€ a night

there is a curfew! from sunday to thursday the doors are locked between 1.30am and 6am which means that you can’t stay out late (which on week nights if you’re out at a café you often will want to, although the metro closes at 1 so it’s not tooooo unreasonable) and it means if you’re booking flights or trains you cannot book anything early in the morning because you cannot leave before 6am. they don’t make exceptions

For me the Foyer was perfect for about 6 months but due to the two last cons (visitors & curfew) it started seriously affecting my social life. So my advice would be, it’s a great place to start off at, but just be aware that after a while you might want to start looking to move. You have to give one month’s notice. I wish I’d started looking to move earlier because by the time I got a real search on it was too late to go anywhere. It depends what your social life is like! 

Hope that helps and if you have any other questions, let me know! xxx

[madeleineaparis]

I am procrastinating because I have exams by thinking of all the things and places I want to see and do when I go back to Paris in January. When I have a list I'll put it up on here, a mini madeleineaparis guide to the city x

[invocado-deactivated20131225]

Paris first snow 2013 ~ by ( serene movement on Flickr )

[madeleineaparis]

Going back to Paris in January, SO EXCITED!!

[madeleineaparis]

Hi! Do you have an instagram account? xo

Yes I do, it’s @rmiwilson but all the Paris photos will be quite a while back now!

[fashion-and-film]

Paris je t’aime (2006)

[euphurical]

[newblogisjacindaelena]

[madeleineaparis]

Edinburgh by rostbiff

[madeleineaparis]

Did you enroll yourself or through an exchange program? Were your courses in french or english? And (last one) if in french what did you think of the language barrier?

I went through an Erasmus programme, my courses were all in French and the language barrier wasn’t too bad, you just have to ask the other students to clarify if you think you’ve missed something and obviously it depends on your level of French when you go. You can read more about the details of my exchange here  xx

[madeleineaparis]

I miss this tumblr

I miss this tumblr because it reminds me of Paris but also because of all the other awesome blogs I follow, so I'm gonna follow everyone with my cityspire handle, so we can all bake a cake made of happiness and rainbows

[newblogisjacindaelena]

by audreylostinparis

[madeleineaparis]

How did you go about paying for your accommodation in advance? Did you book it through an agency? x

I was at the Foyer International des Etudiantes and they just let me pay all my months in a lump sum at the beginning of the year x

[meet-me-in-europe-blog]

Paris, France

[r2--d2]

Untitled by (Marine Beccarelli) | Follow on Tumblr

[madeleineaparis]

Take me back to May <3

[madeleineaparis]

I made an FAQ!

Well, not technically. I do keep getting similar questions though so I have gone through and tagged all previous questions 'madeleineaparis asks' so if you want to find out about enrolling in classes, living in Paris, accommodation costs etc, then please have a look at this page first! I've answered a lot of things in minute detail, so you should find something useful. 

If you don't find your question there then do feel free to ask me or ask me on my other blog where you're sure to get a quicker response because I check it far more often

x