Type of housing: Apartment/House

Arranged by: Host university

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? You get to know lots of different people of diverse nationalities. Also, you have to deal with aspects that most students have never had to deal with before, such as paying all your own bills for electricity, water etc., which naturally makes you more aware and responsible.

Personal comments:
The university was helpful and friendly in finding me accommodation, however a few issues I had were that they did not give me a straight answer as to whether or not I would be sharing my room (indeed I did not find this out until I walked into my room for the first time); also there was no warning of the excessive €1200 deposit that had to be paid, and they would only accept cash for this deposit, which took about a week to obtain due to the ATMs not allowing you to withdraw that much per day. I had a very noisy neighbour, however this was obviously no fault of the university, and once I made a complaint, the issue was dealt with very well. The staff who deal with housing are all friendly and very well informed.

Describe host city: Students interact with the local community without much university involvement

Activities, Nightlife: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment

Travel: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment

Personal comments:
There are a lot of cafes, creperes, pubs, bars and restaurants in the old part of town. It is a beautiful area, day and night; the only problem is that it is expensive.

Course recommendations:

Personal comments:
The list of courses is only put up on the Friday before the Monday of the start of term! This is extremely unorganised in any case, but especially compared to British universities like I am used to where the courses and modules are decided about 6 months before they commence.

Language of instruction: French

Main source of funding:
Government assistance

Other sources of funding:
Personal savings
Government assistance
A private grant

Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options

Personal spending habits:
Because Lyon is a very large city and therefore expensive. At home I live in a village and go to university in a town of 15,000 so do not usually have to pay as much for basic amenities as I do in Lyon.

Nightlife, Overall, Telephone, Housing: was more expensive than at home.

Food: was the same price as at home.

Travel: was less expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
About the French attitude to work - businesses (even some cafes and restaurants) closing for two hours every lunchtime; also an excessive amount of public holidays where absolutely everything closes - for example, there were three in May in the space of just over 2 weeks. Also, many businesses remain closed on Mondays, such as banks.

In my opinion:
I loved it but I'm not sure everybody would.