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Health Services

Students are required to carry their own health and accident insurance ("coverture sociale") or be covered by the French Social Security system. Coverage is required from the date of their departure from their country of residence until their return.

All EU citizens staying in France must obtain form E111 before leaving their country. They are entitled to use the French Social Security system, which refunds up to 70% of medical expenses (but sometimes less, for instance dental treatment).

Nationals of non-EU countries should take out health insurance before leaving home. Consultations and prescriptions have to be paid for in full, and are reimbursed, in part, on receipt of a completed form.

If students undergo treatment while in France, the doctor will give them a prescription and a feuille de soins (statement of treatment). The medication will carry vignettes (little stickers) which you must stick onto your feuille de soins. Send this, the prescription and form E111, to the local Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie (in the phone book under Sécurité Sociale). Refunds can take over a month to come through.

English Speaking Hospitals and doctors in Paris

General Practitioners:

Dr. Julia Bache, British Hospital, 3, rue Barbés, 92200 Levallois Perret, Metro: Anatole France, Tel: 01-4639-2236 or 2222

Dr. Michel Canellis, 105, rue de Rennes, 75006 Paris, Metro: Rennes, Tel: 01-42-22-01-85

Dr. Alexandre Nairi, 41, rue Boissy D'Anglas, 75008 Paris, Metro: Concorde or Madeleine, Tel: 01-4742-6200

Dr. Nancy Salzman, 36 rue du Colisée, 75008 Paris, Metro: St-Philippe du Roule, Tel: 01-4563-1843

Dr. Francis Slattery, 32 rue Vignon, 75008 Paris, Metro: Madeleine, Tel: 01-4742-0234

Dr. Jurgen Tredup, 27 rue Saint Ambroise, 75011 Paris, Metro: St-Ambroise, Tel: 01-4355-0321

Dr Stephen Wilson, 54, rue des Archives, 75004 Paris, Metro: Hotel de Ville or Rambuteau, Tel: 01-4887-2110

Dr. Gunita Jolly, British Hospital, 3, rue Barbès, 92300 Levallois Perret, tel: 01.46.39.22.22

Hospitals:

American Hospital, 63 Boulevard Victor Hugo, Neuilly sur Seine, tel: 01 46 41 25 25, Metro Pont de Neuilly.

British Hospital, 3 rue Barbès, Levallois Perret, tel: 01 47 58 13 12

English Speaking Health Information Service (E.S.H.I.S.), 42 rue Monge, 75005 Paris, tel. 01 43 07 32 16

Emergencies

In extreme cases which require immediate hospitalisation or are life threatening, Ambulances de l'Assistance publique ( 01 43 78 26 26) will ensure the rapid transport of any sick person to the nearest French hospital. You can also call the SAMU at 01 45 67 50 50
For transportation to the American Hospital, call the hospital at 01 46 41 25 25.

Important phone numbers:

Police: 17
Fire: 18

SOS in French: 01 46 21 31 31
SOS in English: 01 47 23 80 80

SOS Infirmiers (Nurses) (01.43.57.01.26/06.08.34.08.92/ 01.40.24.22.23). House calls 8pm-midnight; daytime Sat-Sun

SOS Médecins -Doctors-(01.47.07.77.77/ 01.43.37.77.77). Doctors make house calls.

Urgences Médicales de Paris (01.53.94.94.94). Doctors make house calls. Some speak English.

Urgences Dentaires de Paris (01.47.07.44.44). Open 8am-10pm. They offer advice by phone or refer you to nearby dentists; after 10pm all are sent to the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière.

SOS Dentaire (Dentists) 87 bd Port-Royal, 13th (01.43.37.51.00). Mº Gobelin, RER Port-Royal. Open 8-11.45pm. Emergency dental care.

Night Pharmacies

Pharma Presto (01.42.42.42.50) Open 24-hours. Delivery from 8am-6pm. They deliver prescription medication (non-prescription exceptions can be made), in association with Dérhy.

Pharmacie des Halles 10 bd de Sébastopol, 4th (01.42.72.03.23). Mº Châtelet. Open 9am-midnight Mon-Sat; 9am-10pm Sun.

Dérhy/Pharmacie des Champs 84 av des Champs-Elysées, 8th (01.45.62.02.41). Mº George V. Open 24-hr.

Matignon 2 rue Jean-Mermoz, 8th (01.43.59.86.55). Mº Franklin D. Roosevelt. Open 8.30am-2am daily.

Pharmacie Européenne de la Place de Clichy, 6 place de Clichy, 9th (01.48.74.65.18). Mº Place de Clichy. Open 24-hr.

Pharmacie de la Place de la Nation, 13 pl de la Nation, 11th (01.43.73.24.03). Mº Nation.
Open 8am-midnight daily.

Pharmacie d'Italie, 61 av d'Italie, 13th (01.44.24.19.72). Mº Tolbiac. Open 8am-midnight Mon-Sat; 9am-midnight Sun.

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Paris is at the same time the cradle and the mecca for fashion enthusiasts and designers. The French capital is also an authentic paradise for shoppers of any kind of item.

The Parisian ideal is elegant rather than funky. Trends may come and go, but Paris is always at the forefront and there are few cities where you can find so many top-quality designers.
These include the - British John Galliano at Dior, Beatles' offspring Stella McCartney at Chloé, - the ever-controversial Jean-Paul Gaultier with his own store near Bastille and Londoner Alexander McQueen at Givenchy, who recently shocked his bosses by signing an 'own label' deal with their great rivals Gucci.

The exclusive designer shops are in the 8th district, enclosed in the golden triangle formed by the avenue des Champs-Elysées, avenue Montaigne and rue François 1er and along the rue de Faubourg St-Honoré.

The typically Parisian shopping experience is to be had at the main department stores at the boulevard Haussmann, 8th district - Les Galeries Lafayette with its huge coloured dome and Au Printemps. La Samaritaine, Le Bon Marché or le Forum les Halles (shopping arcade) are also nearby.

Less expensive fashionable brands like Zara, Kookäi, Mango, Pinkie, Gap, Benetton or Etam can be easily found all over Paris.

Take the bargain shopper to the cheapest department store in the city, Tati, 13 place de la République, 11th. Cut-price designer gear can be snapped up at the Mouton à Cinq Pattes, 19 rue Grégoire de Tours.

The sales sweep ("soldes") through Paris are in January-February and July-August.

Those who enjoy intimate, friendly boutiques should head for the Marais district in the 4th district. The rue des Francs-Bourgeois sells designer kitsch, while the rue des Rosiers in the Jewish quarter has plenty of young designers whose works are displayed at L'Eclaireur. This area is at its busiest on Sunday, with many shops closed on Saturday due to the Jewish sabbath.

The Carrousel du Louvre, under the glass pyramid in the Louvre courtyard, is a good place for tasteful gifts but shoppers determined to take home plastic Eiffel Towers should head for the rue de Rivoli, home to tourist kitsch. The American-run Shakespeare & Co, 37 rue de la Bûcherie, 5th district, has the city's widest selection of second-hand books in English.

Videos, books and music are best purchased at the city's FNAC and Virgin stores. In the 6th.district, the Bouquinistes sell second-hand books, old magazines and souvenirs along the Seine.

Expensive antiques are to be found at Le Louvre des Antiquaires, beside the Louvre on the place du Palais Royal. For bric-a-brac, there are the flea markets (marchés aux puces), at the Porte de Montreuil in the 20th district, open Saturday, Sunday and Monday 7am to 7pm, and St-Ouen/Porte de Clignancourt in the 18th district, open Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 7.30 am-7pm. There are numerous morning food markets in Paris and the Ile-de-la-Cité has one of the largest flower markets in Paris.

Most shops are open Monday to Saturday 9/10 am to 7/8 pm and closed between 12pm-2.30pm for lunch. Some shops and department stores are occasionally opened on Sundays and have a day where they remain opened later (usually on Thursday). Some shops opened on Saturday remain closed on Monday.
Sales tax is 20.6%, standard rate, though it varies widely between what are regarded as essential items and luxury goods.

For further information on shopping:
http://www.pariserve.tm.fr/shopping/shopping.htm

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Opening a bank account
Students staying in France for more than 3 months are advised to open a bank account. Students staying for less than 3 months may open an account at a savings bank (Caisse d'Épargne) or at the Post Office (La Poste).

The savings banks have a large network of branches and most post offices have a banking service. Savings bank and post office accounts are managed in exactly the same way as accounts at commercial banks.

To open a bank account, students need to show the 3 following documents:

- Valid passport
- Carte de Séjour
- Proof of address: telephone or electricity bill, rent receipt, "certificat d'hébergement" (official document stating that you are staying with a private resident, obtained by your French host from the local townhall "mairie"), etc.

Approximately 10 days after opening the account, students receive a chequebook and/or a credit card. Chequebooks are usually free of charge.
Credit cards, which are valid for two years, cost between € 15,24 to 30,50 per year, depending on the bank and the type of card.

While opening an account, students may be offered an overdraft facility. Overdrafts can be expensive: when your account balance is negative, the bank charges you interest.
If you exceed your authorized overdraft limit, you risk withdrawal of cheque and credit card facilities ("interdiction bancaire").

This means that students have to pay for everything in cash, including bills, rent and all purchases.
If your chequebook is lost or stolen, contact your bank branch during working hours to make a stop-payment order ("opposition").

Outside working hours, you will need to call the lost and stolen cheque service at the Banque de France (08 36 68 32 08) and give them your bank account number to register a stop-payment order.

Opening a bank account is generally free of charge, though some services (like a stop-payment order if your chequebook or credit card is lost or stolen) carry fees.
Some banks also charge for closing an account.

Credit cards
With any valid credit card, you can withdraw cash from any automated teller machine (ATM) at any bank, savings bank or post office (not necessarily the bank where you have your account). ATMs are open 24 hours a day and take several types of credit card (Visa, Eurocard, etc.).

Most shops accept payment by credit card for purchases above a minimum amount (usually € 15). There is usually a minimum purchase amount for cheques, too, but this may be lower, at € 8). Each shop has its own policy on this - there are no fixed rules-.

If you have an international credit card, you can use it in most European countries, including France. You can also use your credit card to make phone calls from selected public telephone booths: the cost of the call is debited automatically from your bank account.

If your credit card is lost or stolen, call the 24-hour telephone number (given to you when you receive your card and indicated on all ATMs) to make a stop-payment order. This will normally prevent anyone from using your card. However, you should confirm the stop payment order in writing at your bank.

Opening hours
Banks are normally open Monday to Friday from 9am until 4pm (5pm at some branches). Some banks are open on Saturday mornings or all day Saturday, in which case they are closed on Monday.

Miscellaneous:

Chase Manhattan, First National City and other American Banks are in Paris. Check to see if your bank has a French branch.
Students can exchange money at the Paris airports, train stations, most of the banks and offices of American Express, Barclays, Thomas Cook; as well as currency exchange offices all over Paris

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Dining

Paris restaurants are still some of the best in the world!.
However, you do not have to spend a fortune to enjoy French food. Street markets are in every neighborhood and contain as fine a selection of cheese and charcuterie as any high-priced restaurant. Gleaming pastry shops beckon you with croissants, tarts, éclairs, and elaborate cakes. Even a humble sandwich becomes a Parisian specialty when it's made with a crusty baguette or the dense, chewy Pain Pôilaine.

Paris dining is an adventure for the most experienced palette. French specialities are served at restaurants, bistros, tea salons, cafes and wine bars. Along with the great selections of French cuisine, there is quite a variety of Chinese, Vietnamese, North African, Italian, Greek, Lebanese and Indian. Foods range from rich French dishes to simple local cuisine. Most every chef brings the cuisine of his birth to his menu.

Time of day does not interfere with the type of dining, particularly at cafés, wine and beer bars, bistros and, believe it or not, cake shops. Good food can be found everywhere in Paris; however, the Left Bank has the most concentration of French food available. The St-Germain-des-Près and the Latin Quarter are practically saturated with restaurants. Not to be left out is fast food, which seems to be located mostly along Champs-Élyssées and Madelaine areas of Paris.

Well-known cafés, such as La Coupole or La Rotonde, brasseries and crêperies are located in the Montparnasse area ( where SIU Paris is located). The splendor of these cafés from the l920's has been preserved.
Areas of town such as the Invalides, Eiffel Tower and Palais de Chaillot are more serious about dining which is reflected by their high prices.

French gastronomy is rich and diverse. The regional dishes from Alsace, Normandy, Brittany, Provence etc., are well preserved at many of the bistros some of which are elegant because the chefs have worked at well-known restaurants and have now opened their own business.

Restaurant dress is as you please, within reason, unless dinning at a three-star restaurant, which is rather formal. Table reservations are recommended to avoid a wait, especially for evening and weekend dining.
The price for good dining fits every budget. Prices can range from very economical to very pricey. You can find lunch at a café or small restaurant for € 8-10. However a good bistro or restaurant will range € 30-50 including wine, especially for dinner or on the weekends.

For further information on restaurants, please check www.eatinparis.com

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Sports

The sports venue for everything from ballroom dancing to judo is the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy (POPB), 8 boulevard Bercy, 12th district (tel: (01 4002 6060).
The major horse-racing events take place in October in the Bois de Boulogne - the Prix de la République and the Grand Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

L'Officiel des Spectacles details sports events and Le Guide du Sport à Paris, available at tourist offices, book stores and town halls, lists sports facilities. Allo Sports (tel: (01 4276 5454), Direction Jeunesse et Sports, 25 boulevard Bourdon, 4th (tel: (01 4276 2260), offers information on municipal facilities.

Golf: Golf Disneyland Paris (tel: (01 6045 6890), 77 Marne-la-Vallée, 32km (20 miles) east of Paris, has a 27 hole course open year round from 0830 in summer and 0900 in winter.

Gyms/health clubs: A number of companies (such as Moving, Gymnasium and Gymnasium Club) dominate the gym scene in Paris but these tend to be open to members only. Gyms open for one-time visits are listed in the Squash section.

Squash: Squash Montmartre, 14 rue Achille Martinet, 18th district (tel: (01 42 55 38 30), has four courts, saunas, fitness equipment and restaurant. The charges are € 13 per person per hour. Club Quartier Latin, 19 rue de Pontoise, 5th district (tel: (01 5542 7788), charges € 14 for a day-pass.

Swimming: The underground Piscine Suzanne-Berlioux, Les Halles, 10 place de la Rotonde, 1st (tel: (01 42 36 98 44), is extremely central and open daily. Aquaboulevard, 4 rue Louis-Armand, 15th (tel: (01 40 60 15 15), has a selection of indoor and outdoor swimming pools open daily. Admission costs € 12 (concessions available).

Tennis: To play on municipal courts, application for a Carte Paris-Tennis should be made at the Mairie; alternatively simply turn up and hope for the best. Either way, the price is € 6 per hour. There are also private clubs which often charge high membership fees. Forest Hill Tennis at Aquaboulevard (see above) charges € 23-30 per visit and is open daily.

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Communication

Before 1998, the state-owned operator, France Télécom, had a monopoly on telecommunications in France. Now, the telecoms sector has been opened up to competition and other companies can offer telephone subscriptions, but only for long-distance and medium-distance calls, because France Telecom keeps its monopoly on local calls. The new operators include Cegetel (Le 7), 9 Télécom (Le 9), Télé 2 (Le 4) and Kertel, plus a number of brand-name consumer goods distributors that offer telephone subscriptions to their customers.

French telephone numbers consist of ten digits. The first two digits indicate one of the 5 broad geographical areas:

01 for Paris and l'Île-de-France, 02 for the north west, 03 for the north east, 04 for the south east and Corsica and 05 for the south west.

Subscribers to alternative operators' programs will dial 7, 9 or 4 instead of the initial 0.

To call France from another country, you need to dial the international code (usually 00), followed by the country code for France (33), then the phone number without the initial zero. For example, to call Égide from outside France, you will dial 00 33 1 40 40 58 58.

To make an international call from France, dial 00, followed by the country code, the area code (minus the first zero) and the telephone number of the person you are trying to reach.

Call charges
Charges for calls within France (excluding the overseas dependencies) range from € 0,034 per minute for a local call to € 0,091 per minute for a call to another département (county).

Calls are half-price during off-peak times, i.e.:

- weekdays from 19:00 to 08:00
- weekends from 19:00 Friday to 08:00 Monday
- public holidays

Charges for international calls vary greatly, from € 0,23 per minute for Canada, United States and Europe to € 1,41 (FF 9,25) per minute for Africa, Asia and Pacific.
International off-peak times are generally the same as for calls within France, but can differ for certain countries.

Public telephones
There are pay-phones in most public places: post offices, railway stations, metro stations, shopping arcades and the street.
Most public telephones are card-operated. You can buy phone cards from post offices, tobacco shops, railway stations and Paris metro stations. There are two types: 50-unit cards for around € 6,10 and 120-unit cards for around € 15,24.
You can also use most credit cards to call from public telephones. The cost of the call is debited automatically from your bank account.

You can make international calls from a post office or any public pay-phone, but this is very expensive. An alternative is to subscribe to a callback service (a system that originated in the United States). Callback companies offer substantial reductions on international phone calls (often 40% or 50% cheaper than the normal rate), by routing calls through the most competitive operator for each destination, instead of going through France Télécom. It can certainly be worth subscribing to a callback service if you make international calls regularly.

There are many callback companies to choose from in France, like Transworld Communications (http://www.chez.com/trans/ ) and Eurotelsat (http://www.eurotelsat.com/).

You can also buy pre-paid cards to telephone certain countries.

Mobile phones
Mobile phones (cellular phones) are definitely worthwhile if you are not staying long in one place and do not wish to have a telephone connected.

There are 3 mobile telephony companies in France: Itinéris, SFR and Bouygues. Subscription fees and call charges vary considerably from one operator to another. Before buying a mobile phone and taking out a subscription, you should ask yourself the following questions:

How long will I need a mobile phone?

Do you need a mobile mainly for making or receiving calls?

Will my conversations be long or short?

The answers to these questions are important because the three operators do not have the same geographical coverage.

While the more established operators, Itinéris and SFR, work almost everywhere in France, Bouygues, which has only been in the mobile telephony market for three years, has not yet developed a very extensive network. However, Bouygues offers clearer radio reception (cellular phones are radio devices) and therefore more consistent voice quality than the others.

Most subscriptions are for a year and, unless you give sufficient prior notice that you wish to terminate the contract, are often renewed automatically.

If you wish to bring a mobile phone to France, you should first make sure that your mobile company has a partnership agreement with one of the three French operators. If it has, then your mobile phone will work on the French partner operator's network.

Internet

You can check your email or go to the Internet in our computer lab, but cybercafés are widely spread all over Paris. Check the cybercafé closer to your home:
www.paris-tourist-information.com/pariscybercafes.htm

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Post Services

The main function of the French Post Office (La Poste) is to convey letters (though La Poste also provides banking services, and you can open an account there). Letters for destinations within France usually arrive the next day, for EU countries 2-4 days and for USA up to 7 days.
In many post offices, you will find automatic stamp machines, telephone booths and photocopiers.

Postal charges
The cost of sending a letter depends on its weight and destination. For EU destinations, it costs € 0,46 to send a letter weighing up to 20 grams. For countries outside the EU, there are different prices for each geographical region. A letter weighing more than 20 grams must be marked Lettre (all post offices have weighing scales and label dispensers).

Postcodes
An essential part of all addresses in France is the five-digit postcode that identifies the commune. The postcode immediately precedes the name of the town or village, on the last line of the address for all mail within France.

The first 2 digits of the postcode indicate the number of the département; and the last 3 digits identify the commune (for example, 56470 is the postcode for the town of La Trinité-sur-Mer in département number 56, i.e. Le Morbihan). For large cities with arrondissements -districts- like Paris, the last 2 digits of the postcode indicate the arrondissement; for example: 75006 PARIS means "Paris, 6ème arrondissement".

Post offices are usually open from 8 am to 6pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 12pm on Saturday. Exact hours may vary from office to office. In Paris, the post office on Rue du Louvre (2ème arrondissement) is open round the clock.

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Climate

France uses the Celsius temperature scale (°C). The ratio between the degree Celsius and the degree Fahrenheit is as follows: 9/5 degree Celsius + 32. So 0°C and 20°C are equivalent respectively to 32 Fahrenheit and 68 Fahrenheit.

France has a temperate climate, though regional variations are considerable. Average winter temperatures range from 0°C to 8° C and average summer temperatures from 16° C to 24°C.

Paris
Paris has a temperate oceanic climate, with fairly high rainfall (200 days of rain per year on average). Winters are usually mild and occasionally foggy (average temperature 7C), and the summers fairly cool and sunny (average temperature 16C).
Seasonal differences are less marked than other French regions, and fine rain (crachin) is a regular feature of the Parisian weather.

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Transportation

Metro-Bus-RER
The usual mean of transportation within Paris is the Metro. Its network covers the whole of Paris and it usually has very good and reliable service. Students can buy their tickets at every metro station.
However, the best option is to buy the "Carte orange" which is a monthly pass that allows you unlimited travel by metro, bus or RER (local trains), within the selected zone. You can also buy a carnet: 10 metro tickets with a discount price. Weekly metro passes can also be purchased. The tickets are valid from Monday to the following Monday.

The metro system is divided in 6 Zones, the zone 1 comprises Paris, and the other 5 zones are in the area called "Ile de France" (Banlieue - the suburbs of Paris-).

Students under 25 years can apply for the Carte Imaginaire, which is a discounted ticket for youths. The price is around € 29 every month and is debited automatically from the student's bank account. These cards are good for one year and applications can usually be obtained from any metro station. This card can also provide students with discounts in certain restaurants and museums.

(Click map to zoom in)

Students will usually take the metro within the zone 1 and maybe between the zone 1 and 2, from the place where they live to the campus ( see instructions " how to get to the campus").

When travelling within the zone 1, students can also take the bus with their "Carte Orange". The bus system is also very efficient, although the journey might take longer depending on the traffic conditions.
Buses run from 6.30 am to 12.30am from Monday to Saturday with a more limited service on selected lines on Sundays and public holidays. After the metro and normal buses stop, the only public transport is the night bus ( Noctambus lines) from Place de Châtelet to different areas in Paris and suburbs.

(Click map to zoom in)

Furthermore, students can choose to take the RER, which is a train that goes from Paris to the suburbs and it passes through the 6 Zones in the Paris area. While travelling in Paris, you can use this train. It is usually faster because it has less stops, and the price is covered with your "Carte Orange". However, if you wish to go to a different zone than that stated on your "Carte Orange", you will have to pay an additional fee.
You can easily get to the Paris airports ( Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly) by taking the RER.

(Click map to zoom in)

Train
Several attractions in the suburbs, such as the Versailles Castle or Disneyland Paris, are served by the RER local train network.
However, most locations farther away from Paris are served by the SNCF ( the state railway). The TGV ( Train à grande vitesse) is a high-speed train which has revolutionized journey times and is gradually being extended all over France. Travellers have to pay a supplement and book in advance though.
SCNF national reservation and information service: 08 36 35 35 35 or at www.sncf.fr

Students under 26 benefit a 25% reduction on all the trains in blue periods ( except from TGV's). Students planning to stay for at least one year should buy a year reduction card ( Carte 12/15) to benefit a 50% reduction on all the trains ( 25% for TGV's) in blue periods ( specific dates and hours) or a 25% reduction ( for the rest of the time). Important discounts for international journeys are also made.

Paris train stations:

· Gare d'Austerlitz: to South and Central France, to Madrid and Barcelona (Talgo trains).
· Gare de Lyon: to Italy, Switzerland, the Alps and French Riviera
· Gare de Bercy: Italy
· Gare de l'Est: to Eastern France and Germany
· Gare du Nord: to Northeast France, Channel Ports, Belgium, the Netherlands and London ( the Eurostar train takes 3 hours to the London Waterloo station, SIU London is just across the street).
· Gare St.Lazare: to Normandy
· Gare Montparnasse: to West France, Britanny, and the Southwest. This train station is just 2 minutes walking from SIU Paris.

Taxi
Taxi ranks are found on numerous major roads and at stations. Taxi charges are based on area, time, piece of luggage.
Most journeys in central Paris average € 6-8, whereas taxi rides from/to the Paris airports average € 40-50.
To request cab service, call Taxi G7 01 47 39 47 39, or Taxis 7000 01 47 37 10 10 or Taxis Bleus 01 49 36 10 10

Rent-a-car
To hire a car, you must be 25 or over and have held a licence for at least one year. However, some agencies accept drivers aged 21-24. You should have your driving licence and passport with you.
You can find most international rent-a-car companies, such as Avis, Europcar, Hertz or Ada in Paris and its airports.

Plane

Roissy-Charles de Gaulle
Most of the international flights arrive at the Roissy airport, 30 km north-east of Paris. Its two terminals are some way apart, so students should check which is the right one for their flight.
24 hr. information service in English: 01 48 62 22 80
Transportation to Paris: RER B ( the quickest and most reliable way to get to Paris which costs € 7.62), taxis, the Air France buses, the Roissy buses and some other airport shuttles to different points in Paris.
There is also a SNCF train station at Terminal 2.

Orly
French domestic and several international flights use Orly airport, 18 km south of the city. It also boasts two terminals: Orly-Sud (international flights) and Orly-Ouest ( domestic flights).
Information service in English: 01 49 75 15 15
Transportation to Paris: RER B ( which also connects to Roissy airport), taxis, Orlybuses and Air France buses.

Beauvais Tillé Airport
70 km from Paris, with a bus link to Porte Maillot. For flights from/ to Ireland and Scotland.

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Cultural life

Paris regards its vibrant cultural life and its many artistic activities as proof of its legendary quality of life. Paris is truly a city of culture and unrivalled arena for any kind of artistic expression: 3 opera houses, 141 theatres, 134 museums, 17 music conservatories, 343 cinemas, and many art galleries and concert halls entice visitors with events year-round, including premier performances and exhibitions. Paris is a city of both the old and the new, and in its cultural activities the voices of traditionalists and experimentalists find expression - and eager audiences. From one historic and artistic extreme to the other, and at all the points in between, there is an exciting variety from which to choose. To know what is going on in Paris in terms of cultural events, you have to buy the weekly Pariscope, Figaroscope (a supplement of Le Figaro newspaper) or L'Officiel des Spectacles at a kiosk or in a book store. There are also some monthly publications, such as Paris Nuit, the Paris Free Voice and the booklet "Saisons de Paris" published by the Paris Tourist Office. You can also get an insight into the cultural life in Paris with the magazines Fusac, Time Out or Paris voice for English-speaking Parisians. You can find them on campus.

Main art, entertainment and culture venues in Paris:

1. Museums, exhibitions and Art galleries:

Louvre Museum www.louvre.fr
Musée d'Orsay www.musee-orsay.fr
Centre George Pompidou www.cnac-gp.fr
Other Museums in Paris and art galleries: www.paris.org/Musees/

Those who plan to visit a number of museums and monuments during their stay in Paris, should consider purchasing a Carte Musée (Museums and Monuments Card) from the Paris Tourist Office, valid for unlimited visits and priority access to 65 locations in and around Paris.

La Villete-Paris www.cite-sciences.fr
Institut du Monde Arabe: www.imarabe.org

2. Opera, ballet and classic music:

Opéra Nationale (Palais Garnier) and Théatre de la Bastille: www.opera-de-paris.com
Châtelet- Théatre Musical de Paris: www.chatelet-theatre.com
Théatre National de Chaillot: www.theatre-chaillot.fr
Odéon- Théatre de l'Europe: www.theatre-odeon.fr
Comédie Française: www.comedie-francaise.fr/cfus/accueil.htm
Theatre de la Ville: www.theatredelaville-paris.com

You can also enjoy concerts and classical music in the many churches of Paris, such as La Madelaine, St. Germain-des-Près, St. Sulpice, etc.

3. Concerts, shows and spectacles:

Cité de la Musique: www.cite-musique.fr
Palais Omnisports Bercy:www.bercy.fr/Accueil.htm
Le Zénith: www.le-zenith.com/entree.htm
L'Olympia: www.olympiahall.com

4. Cinemas

Cinema Le Grand Rex: www.legrandrex.com
Cinemas UGC: www.ugc.fr.
Students may get discount tickets for movies at the Paris campus.

5. Cabarets and shows

Lido Paris: www.lido.fr
Paradis Latin: www.paradis-latin.com
Moulin Rouge: www.moulinrouge.fr
Les Folies Bergères: www.foliesbergere.com

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