Besançon, to arrive and settle.
Translated by 
Elizabet Alarcón Martínez
— 14 years ago
Original text by
Elizabet Alarcón Martínez
10 1
Tags: Erasmus experiences Besancon,
Besancon,
France
In this experience you will find some useful info in order to arrive to the city and settle in it, as the beginning is always the hardest part of a long trip.
To arrive to Besançon, the easiest option is to travel to Basel-Mulouse-Frigurg or Lyon-Exupéry airports, as they are the closets ones. The cheapest routes use to be Alicante-Basel and Madrid-Lyon with Easyjet. The first one is an airport placed between Switzerland, France and Germany, it has an exit for each country, so it is a good option if you want to visit some other city and/or country. Once you are out of the airport (in the French part), you can take a regular bus goes to the St. Louis train station, it costs one euro. In the train station, you can take a train to Besançon-Viotte (the train station of Besançon) with change in Dijon. From Lyon-Exupéry, you can also take a bus to the train station for 13 euro, and there take a direct train to Besançon. The train prices depend on the discounts you have and on the day and the hour. If you are settled in France and are under 26, the train national company (SCNF) will discount you a lot in the train tickets. The SCNF office is in the Grand Rue, near to the Place Huit Septembre, where almost all the buses which go to the city centre stop. You also can buy the train tickets or just to consult routes and hours in this web page: http://www.voyages-sncf.com/.
Once in the Besançon-Viotte station (there is not any other), after going downstairs by the big steps in the main entrance, you are in Besançon, you can see the French buildings, the French sky, before you only were worried about how to arrive there. Some metres away the station, down in the street, in the Avenue de la Paix, there is a bus stop where you can take a bus to the campus (line 8), and if you go a little more down, in the Avenue du Mal Foch, there is another bus stop where you can take a bus to the city centre, which is very near. In fact, you can go by walk, but with a lot of baggage, it is not really appealing. Buses use to be very punctual. Besançon and the outskirts are well linked by bus and train. Ginko is the bus company; they have a monthly pass for 25 euro (for students). The office is in the Place Huit Septembre and there they hand out a little book with all the info about buses in the “region” of Grand Besançon. In the web page (http://www.ginkobus.com/), you can consult routes and hours, and to know in real time when will arrive a bus to a bus stop. Whether in train or bus, you must be careful in weekends because there are less services, but of course, be careful with strikes, as in France are too much usual.
If you are student and are accommodated in a university residence, in the Accueil, a host main building that use to be open 24 hours a day except from weekends, they will inform you and assign a room. The CROUS (Centre Régional des Oeuvres Univesitaires et Scolaires) manage the accommodation of students, you will find everything in this web page: http://www.crous-besancon.fr/crous/pages/fr/215.htm.
All the students hosted in the residence are entitled to an economic aid of about 40 euro per month. In order to get this aid, you should go to the CAF (Caisses d’Allocations Familiales). In the city centre, there is a residence (Canot) and in the campus there are two (Fourier y Colette), thought they are in the same place and both of them have many buildings. Some buildings has internet access by paying 10 euro per month, in the rest of buildings, you can hire the service with the telephone company directly. In the city centre, bars use to have WiFi for clients. In the residences, there are different kinds of room, the cheapest one cost about 150 euro per month, but you can consult the rooms and their features in the CROUS web page. Living in a flat in France is quite more expensive than in a residence, the opposite as in Spain, and flats use to be without furniture, but you can find a bargain if you make a good search. At first, it seems easier to met people in a residence, but in a city as Besançon all the foreigners end up meting without any problem.
One you are hosted, you are calmed, but without any doubt, the first days of your stay will be a constant bureaucratic coming and going. A practical advice is to take passport-size photos, because they ask you for them everywhere. If you are Erasmus, you have to go to the International Relations Service which is in the city centre, close to the Place de la Révolution, and they will sign your arrival certificate; go as soon as possible because the grant starts with this date. You should make the Erasmus card (la carte ESN), which will be given to you in the Erasmus association. You should go to the SCNF in order to make the discount card for young people and they will give to you a card to accumulate point that you could change for tickets. To any book shop to make the Carte d’Avantages Jeunes, with which you can have discounts almost everywhere and this card has an information book with free pass for bowling, spa, etc. To the bank, in order to open a current account. The BNP Paribas give 50 euro to the Erasmus students.
University is divided into the Campus de la Bouloie and the faculties in the city centre. The Faculty of Arts is in the Rue Mégevand, and The Faculty of Medicine is in the Rue de l’Orme de Chamars, both in the city centre. The Université de Franche-Comté, or at least the Faculty of Arts is a truly Kafkaesque labyrinth, until you get use to it, of course. To find the class where you want to go is sometimes a little bit difficult but you can get a map of the Faculty in the Accueil in order to not to get lost, thought it is not very big. Maybe the most difficult to do is to find the subject and to make a personal timetable. The subjects have 6 credits ECTS, but some of them are divided into three blocs of two credits each one and they act as independent subjects, with their own teachers, but the mark will be with the complete subject. To choose a subject is not enough, you also must chose a teacher and an hour. This system is, in theory, very practical because you can choose the best timetable for you, but in true live, it is a terrifying chaos during the first days. Information about subjects is posted in the hall walls of the faculty. Anyway, if you are still confused, you have an Erasmus tutor who will help you.
The last card that you should have is the university bar card, or Resto U, as they say. This card will allow you to pay your meals. You can charge it in the machines at the entrance with a credit card. If you are student, meals will cost you about 3 euro, if not, over 5 euro. In the city centre, there are two: in Mégevand, next to the main door of the faculty of arts, and in Canot, in the residence. In the campus there are other two: Grand Bouloie, in the centre of the Colette residence and Petit Bouloie, near to the faculties. They open at midday and close at 2 p.m., in the evening; they open at 6:30 p.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. At the beginning it is difficult to get use, but after few weeks, the French lifestyle is ok. All the university bars offers several menus and each one has a piece of bread, a fruit or a yogurt, a piece of cheese or salad, and two plates to choose. To be honest, regarding the price, it is a good meal and you can try French food.
After all the paperwork, you will be ready to enjoy the city, it is lovely and charming and there is a fantastic atmosphere.
To arrive to Besançon, the easiest option is to travel to Basel-Mulouse-Frigurg or Lyon-Exupéry airports, as they are the closets ones. The cheapest routes use to be Alicante-Basel and Madrid-Lyon with Easyjet. The first one is an airport placed between Switzerland, France and Germany, it has an exit for each country, so it is a good option if you want to visit some other city and/or country. Once you are out of the airport (in the French part), you can take a regular bus goes to the St. Louis train station, it costs one euro. In the train station, you can take a train to Besançon-Viotte (the train station of Besançon) with change in Dijon. From Lyon-Exupéry, you can also take a bus to the train station for 13 euro, and there take a direct train to Besançon. The train prices depend on the discounts you have and on the day and the hour. If you are settled in France and are under 26, the train national company (SCNF) will discount you a lot in the train tickets. The SCNF office is in the Grand Rue, near to the Place Huit Septembre, where almost all the buses which go to the city centre stop. You also can buy the train tickets or just to consult routes and hours in this web page: http://www.voyages-sncf.com/.
Once in the Besançon-Viotte station (there is not any other), after going downstairs by the big steps in the main entrance, you are in Besançon, you can see the French buildings, the French sky, before you only were worried about how to arrive there. Some metres away the station, down in the street, in the Avenue de la Paix, there is a bus stop where you can take a bus to the campus (line 8), and if you go a little more down, in the Avenue du Mal Foch, there is another bus stop where you can take a bus to the city centre, which is very near. In fact, you can go by walk, but with a lot of baggage, it is not really appealing. Buses use to be very punctual. Besançon and the outskirts are well linked by bus and train. Ginko is the bus company; they have a monthly pass for 25 euro (for students). The office is in the Place Huit Septembre and there they hand out a little book with all the info about buses in the “region” of Grand Besançon. In the web page (http://www.ginkobus.com/), you can consult routes and hours, and to know in real time when will arrive a bus to a bus stop. Whether in train or bus, you must be careful in weekends because there are less services, but of course, be careful with strikes, as in France are too much usual.
If you are student and are accommodated in a university residence, in the Accueil, a host main building that use to be open 24 hours a day except from weekends, they will inform you and assign a room. The CROUS (Centre Régional des Oeuvres Univesitaires et Scolaires) manage the accommodation of students, you will find everything in this web page: http://www.crous-besancon.fr/crous/pages/fr/215.htm.
All the students hosted in the residence are entitled to an economic aid of about 40 euro per month. In order to get this aid, you should go to the CAF (Caisses d’Allocations Familiales). In the city centre, there is a residence (Canot) and in the campus there are two (Fourier y Colette), thought they are in the same place and both of them have many buildings. Some buildings has internet access by paying 10 euro per month, in the rest of buildings, you can hire the service with the telephone company directly. In the city centre, bars use to have WiFi for clients. In the residences, there are different kinds of room, the cheapest one cost about 150 euro per month, but you can consult the rooms and their features in the CROUS web page. Living in a flat in France is quite more expensive than in a residence, the opposite as in Spain, and flats use to be without furniture, but you can find a bargain if you make a good search. At first, it seems easier to met people in a residence, but in a city as Besançon all the foreigners end up meting without any problem.
One you are hosted, you are calmed, but without any doubt, the first days of your stay will be a constant bureaucratic coming and going. A practical advice is to take passport-size photos, because they ask you for them everywhere. If you are Erasmus, you have to go to the International Relations Service which is in the city centre, close to the Place de la Révolution, and they will sign your arrival certificate; go as soon as possible because the grant starts with this date. You should make the Erasmus card (la carte ESN), which will be given to you in the Erasmus association. You should go to the SCNF in order to make the discount card for young people and they will give to you a card to accumulate point that you could change for tickets. To any book shop to make the Carte d’Avantages Jeunes, with which you can have discounts almost everywhere and this card has an information book with free pass for bowling, spa, etc. To the bank, in order to open a current account. The BNP Paribas give 50 euro to the Erasmus students.
University is divided into the Campus de la Bouloie and the faculties in the city centre. The Faculty of Arts is in the Rue Mégevand, and The Faculty of Medicine is in the Rue de l’Orme de Chamars, both in the city centre. The Université de Franche-Comté, or at least the Faculty of Arts is a truly Kafkaesque labyrinth, until you get use to it, of course. To find the class where you want to go is sometimes a little bit difficult but you can get a map of the Faculty in the Accueil in order to not to get lost, thought it is not very big. Maybe the most difficult to do is to find the subject and to make a personal timetable. The subjects have 6 credits ECTS, but some of them are divided into three blocs of two credits each one and they act as independent subjects, with their own teachers, but the mark will be with the complete subject. To choose a subject is not enough, you also must chose a teacher and an hour. This system is, in theory, very practical because you can choose the best timetable for you, but in true live, it is a terrifying chaos during the first days. Information about subjects is posted in the hall walls of the faculty. Anyway, if you are still confused, you have an Erasmus tutor who will help you.
The last card that you should have is the university bar card, or Resto U, as they say. This card will allow you to pay your meals. You can charge it in the machines at the entrance with a credit card. If you are student, meals will cost you about 3 euro, if not, over 5 euro. In the city centre, there are two: in Mégevand, next to the main door of the faculty of arts, and in Canot, in the residence. In the campus there are other two: Grand Bouloie, in the centre of the Colette residence and Petit Bouloie, near to the faculties. They open at midday and close at 2 p.m., in the evening; they open at 6:30 p.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. At the beginning it is difficult to get use, but after few weeks, the French lifestyle is ok. All the university bars offers several menus and each one has a piece of bread, a fruit or a yogurt, a piece of cheese or salad, and two plates to choose. To be honest, regarding the price, it is a good meal and you can try French food.
After all the paperwork, you will be ready to enjoy the city, it is lovely and charming and there is a fantastic atmosphere.
Content available in other languages
- Español: Besançon, llegar y establecerse
- Français: Besançon, y aller et s'installer
- Italiano: Besançon (Francia): come raggiungere la città e sistermarsi
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Comments (1 comments)
Very good and helpful can't wait to go.