Some very useful information to know before you arrive

There is some worthwhile information to know before making your trek to Vire.

Visa
You need to make an appointment with your closest French Consulate to obtain your visa as soon as you receive your Arrêté de Nomination (I received mine around July 15th). DON'T LOSE YOUR ARRETE!!!! TREAT IT LIKE GOLD!!! This page lists all of the French consulates in the US, and which one you need to visit (it depends on your state): http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/DF_consulates.shtml. The closest consulate may require a long trip for you. Unfortunately, unless you live in Alaska, you need to apply for the Visa in person. The website will tell you everything to bring, which is relatively simple. It’s quite simple compared to all of the other people that were asking for Visas there. I saw a few people who were applying for student visas leaving in tears because they forgot to notarize one document and were denied their visa. For the New York City consulate, after giving them all your documents, getting fingerprinted and photographed, they will tell you to return a few hours later to pick up your Passport which will have the Visa pasted in to it. In the San Francisco consulate, the passport with visa was returned almost immediately. They will also return your Arrêté de Nomination. If they don’t, demand that they do so! You will need it to get your Carte de Séjour.


Plane Tickets
You don’t need to arrive too long before the contract starts on October 1st. I arrived on September 17th, and it was too early. Plus, it was a few days before any other assistants arrived. It was a kind of scary and lonely time. Arriving around the 25th-29th is reasonable. Gives you time to settle in. If you plan on returning home for Christmas, then I recommend buying a ticket that has a return for just before Christmas. The last day of school before holidays will be the Friday before Christmas, which for 2009 is December 18th. Then, purchase another round trip ticket, having the outgoing portion be to France just before classes restart (i missed 2 days and it wasn't a big deal), and the return being sometime after your contract finishes. You are allowed to stay in the school's dorm after the contract end (until as late as July, when the school closes). I recommend giving yourself approximately 2 – 4 weeks after your contract ends so that you can travel a bit. In terms of pricing, expect to pay somewhere between $700-$1200 for a round-trip ticket from the US. It depends how far in advance you buy your ticket, and which days of the week you fly. Check multiple possibilities, the difference may be a few hundred dollars!

Train Tickets
Don’t worry about purchasing train tickets before you come. I bought tickets online and printed them before coming, but it wasn’t necessary. The train from Paris to Vire is on the Paris-Granville line, which is a Corail Intercités, not a TGV. The ride is about 2h30m. Reservations are NOT needed, and it is open seating in the train. The trains from Paris leave out of Gare Vaugirard, which is a part of Gare Montparnasse, although it's not in the main section. Follow the signs towards Gare Vaugirard. It will feel like you're walking down some back alley, but there actually is another train station at the end. When you arrive at Paris-Vaugirard, purchase a Carte 12-25 (it costs 49€). This is a travel discount card for people between the ages of 12 and 25. During "Periode Bleu," which is the "off peak" times, you get 50% off the full price of all train tickets. During "Periode Blanche" (Peak) the reduction is 25%. With the Carte 12-25, your ticket to or from Vire will cost just 16.60€ during Periode Bleu, or 24.90€ during Period Blanche. The full fare is 33.20€ in case a friend or relative comes to visit. Also note that people under 26, and over 59 get a 25% discount during Periode Bleu even if they don’t have a discount card. So if you forget your carte 12-25, if you're in Periode Bleu, you won't have to pay full fare.

What to Bring
The following things are particularly good to bring with you:
• Lots of socks
• Lots of underwear
• Jeans (not too many)
• Shirts (not too many)
• Shorts or sweatpants, mostly for comfort
• Over-the-counter and perscriptions medications, especially for colds and allergies
• Contact solution, if you wear them
• Batteries
• Travel-sized soaps and shampoos
• Deoderant
• Sweatshirt/hoody
• A good coat, but not too heavy
• Towels?
• Pictures
• Books and magazines
• A high school yearbook (great for class)
• Peanut butter (if you can't live 7 months without it)

Here are some things that you can wait to buy until you get here:
• Soap and Shampoo
• Stationary products
• Towels?

This is generally difficult. Bring lots of socks and underwear, but not too much in the way of pants and shirts. I would bring a pair of shorts/sweats for comfort, but the French in general never wear shorts. However, when it's warm, many students do wear shorts or capris/manpris so you won't stick out too badly. I brought formal wear (black pants, nice shirts, ties) but NEVER wore them (there really is no occasion where you’d need to wear them!) so I brought them home during Christmas break and left them there. You’ll also want to buy some clothes when you arrive here. There are quite a few nice clothing stores in Vire. During the month of January, there are Les Soldes which are nation-wide government mandated sales. In terms of coats, I have a zip-up hoody, a leather jacket (not convenient when it rains), and after I arrived I bought a track jacket and a nice jacket (for 50€ marked down from 100€ during Les Soldes). Towels are expensive, but also take up a lot of room in the suitcase, so this one is up to you.

Don’t bring too much soap or shampoo… just buy some here. It’s surprising when you can find almost all the brands here in Europe that you can in the US. However, I do recommend bringing plenty of travel-sized soap and shampoo with you to take when traveling. The majority of deodorant here tends to be spray-on, so if you’re partial to sticks or roll-on then you may want to bring a couple from home. Also, if you're American, bring tons of over-the-counter medications. You have to ask a pharmacist for meds in France, and we’ve found that the American stuff is just plain better (stronger). If you wear contacts, bring a couple of big bottles of solution as it’s expensive here. Batteries are also outrageously expensive, so buy yourself a couple economy packs to bring with you. It’s nice to have a couple books to read. Plan on leaving books here so you don’t have to bring too many back home. There is a great English bookstore called WHSmith in Paris. You can also order things on Amazon.com (the American one), but they take about a month to arrive. Paper, pens, pencils, and other stationary can all be bought here either in a supermarket or in a stationary store in town across from the Hôtel de Ville.

French
How is your French? It’s assumed that those doing this program have somewhat of a background in French, so hopefully you’re not completely new to the language! But you have been forewarned: With the exception of a couple other assistants and the English teachers, NO ONE in Vire speaks in English. It will improve over time as you’re here. It’s difficult to judge how well it improves day to day, but you’ll notice how much it has improved when you return from a place like Germany, Amsterdam, or Italy and all of a sudden you understand everything that you hear or read, and you can communicate without feeling retarded!