Beginning (well, pretty much)...

I haven't even arrived yet, and it already seems far more difficult to get anything done in France than it does here in England.

Let me explain, I'm at uni, studying Computer Science with French (weird combination I know; it seemed like a good idea at the time...). I've finished my second year and am about to start my year abroad.

"Wow, you get to spend the year in another country! Cool! Sounds a bit scary", I hear you say. "Yes" I respond. I'm sure (I hope) it will be good. I'll meet lots of new people, learn lots of new things, see lots of amazing sights. Right now however, it's more "scary" than "cool".

At the beginning of October I start work at a big company in Paris in their Information Systems department, where I'll be for about 9 months. Recently I went out to Paris to find somewhere to live. I'm hopefully staying in an apartment block full of students. I was hoping to get a place there as one of my main concerns was about meeting people. I'm not sure my work colleagues will really want to go out to the pub with me, and they don't look like the disco sort either.

Back to the beginning again. I'm currently getting a little stressed as I'm having a bit of trouble sorting out some of the financial matters for the apartment. When renting a place to live for my second year of uni it was as simple as looking round, handing over 1 month's rent as a deposit, the 1st month's rent, and signing the contract. In France I have to pay the reservation fee (1 month's rent), the 1st month's rent, 2 month's rent as a deposit, provide insurance against fire, flood, rampaging monsters, and provide a guarantor. I knew there was a lot of beauracracy but I must admit I wasn't expecting to encounter it so soon.

I've started this blog to document my experiences of my year abroad. I won't go into much detail about some things (this is the internet, I'm not putting my bank details up), I will not use people's real names if I write about someone directly (It's a bit unfair to write about people I meet and not let them keep their privacy), and I can't guarantee to post every day.