NEOMA Business School

The banking account was free. If you travel, book at least 2 weeks in advance - you can get amazing deals. Especially if you use discount airlines, such as easyjet, ryanair and aerlingus. Eurolines buses are pretty cheap too. And if you'll most use the SNCF (for train travel within France), definitely get the Carte 12-25. You'll save 50% on almost all journeys. You can ust the school's computers for the internet. You can also get a WiFi card from the international office for free (but with a deposit). But WiFi only works in 1 building. If you want internet in your room, it gets expensive (I think 25EUR/mth with limited up/downloads). For the phone: you don't really need one - you can call payphone-to-payphone and use calling cards. If you decide you need one, get a cellphone - they're actually cheaper than a landline. You can get a cheap one at Carrefour and pay as you go. Oh, and North American cell phones don't work in Europe, unless yours is tri-band.

The first apartment I was shown by my landlord was a complete dump, right on the other side of the city, near the hospital. After some persuasion, he gave me another apartment, about twice as big, about 3 minutes from the city centre. So after this first hitch, everything went smoothly, and my rent was reasonable after taking the CAF allowance into account. I would definitely recommend an apartment in the centre if you're staying for the whole year. It means taking a bus to school every day, but this only takes 10-15 minutes. From what I saw of the halls of residence, here are my opinions; Arc: big rooms, posh, a long bus ride to the school, nspeak english all the time; Ango: almost prison-like, small rooms, but fairly good atomsphere among all the exchange students; La Pleiade: largeish apartments shared between two, 10 minute walk to the school, midnight bus goes directly there.