Université Toulouse 1 Sciences Sociales (UT1)

I shared an apartment with friends - it was an inexpensive and fun experience that I'd recommend to anyone! Toulouse is not overly difficult as house hunting goes, so you shouldn't have any major problems.

Be aware that in France, at least in public universities like this one, the teaching methods are based on students taking notes in class and then learning them by heart, only to regurgitate as much as they remember for exams... Over the course of my 3-year bachelor, I only bought a handful of books, and these weren't even required reading but only books that I bought on my own initiative. This means that it's exceedingly cheap to study here, but also that you (a) can't skip any classes (or you won't have anything to study for exams!) and (b) if you didn't understand things during class, you have no books to consult... On a more positive note, UT1 has a university library that was completely refurbished in 2002 or so, so it's pretty up to date and has a decently sized collection. Therefore, you can usually get by simply by borrowing books, saving you a lot of money. And if you do end up buying books, then you'll be happy to note that books in France are exceedingly cheap compared to just about any other Western society I can think of. This only goes for French books, though!

Every class has a final exam that counts for 95 to 100% of your final grade, so make sure you're not having a bad day during exams, or your grades will suffer regardless of your efforts throughout the semester! Personally I also got fed up with having to learn everything by heart and not having any books to deepen my knowledge in (you're basically at the complete mercy of your teachers as regards what you learn etc. Hence the personal opinion of the teacher can have a big impact on what you end up knowing about a particular topic!) Also, since France can be pretty elitist, there is a huge "power distance" between professors and students. Hence, the only chance you have to ask individual questions to your teacher is directly after a lecture, and even then you shouldn't expect much help... Because of this, working in groups with friends becomes more important than ever.

Norway is very expensive, so living in France was a breeze in comparison. Also, the French have a lot of students discounts (e.g. airlines, SNCF, cinema, hairdresser's,...) which makes it pretty affordable to study there.

The school system is based entirely on learning by heart, e.g. if you're like me and you like to make your own critical analysis, this might not be the university (or country!) for you.

The university is among the best public universities in France because of its strong analytical/math focus. That said, it's still very much based on learning by heart in a number of courses, which can get annoying if you are used to engaging in critical thinking of your own.