Problematic settling into my new city

„So, I’m living in Paris now… Ok, let’s start!” That was my first thought about my semester abroad. And then it really started. One would think that leaving his well known surroundings to settle into a new environment, without knowing anyone or anything and not even being fluent in the language, would take a long time and be really hard. That is so not true.

You get used to your new life and make friends so fast. The same day that I had arrived and the following days, I just joined the Erasmus or international student events to get to know new people. That’s so easy with all the lots of international students that came to study at one of the fifteen universities in Paris. No matter, if German, Italian, Spanish, Columbian, Moroccan, Lebanese, French or from wherever they are from, everyone is open minded. In the beginning, we spoke English – of course, that’s the easiest option for everyone -, but after some time we got used to speaking French and even started to prefer it. It’s not as hard as I had expected and now I already change automatically to French. Already the second time using the metro felt like routine – and that comes from a small city resident and lover! I never look at the plans and certainly not at the time, it comes every three minutes anyway! I love Paris, it’s such a dynamic and beautiful city and you’ll always find something to do or somewhere nice to go! Sounds like everything is fun and easy, but it’s not! Some problems will occur.

• First problem: University. It feels already strange to be checked -I don’t know what for. Weapons? – at the entry of the university and not being able to enter without my student card. Quickly going to the office to settle the timetable is not possible. You must wait in line for three hours, just to be told to come back tomorrow because they close now. And that happens not once, but regularly. The other thing is that you must go to every professor separately to get a signature to join their lesson. I mean: Where do we live? In the Middle Ages? In my university, this is all done online, which is a lot more efficient, but however you like it... Then: the shock. I am not allowed to take this class and that one neither… What? Why? That was on my learning agreement, which you signed! Oh, the responsible person at Sorbonne didn’t care about reading the contract and just signed it! After some struggles, I solved my university problems and now have an acceptable time table. I thought, I survived my starting problems. No way, this was just the beginning.
• Second problem: CAF. That is a financial housing aid in France. They pay up to one third of your rent and you don’t even have to pay it back. That’s really nice for students. If you want to get the money from CAF, you have to go to a certain office, which is only open at mysterious times that you can’t find anywhere and that, apparently, change every day. If you are lucky, you find a day and hour that someone is there. Then, you need to wait for hours, but I am already used to that. Next thing is that you need your birth certificate translated in French, no English is not ok, only in French!, your university certificate, your insurance number, your living contract, copy of your ID and insurance card, copy of your parents ID ….. the list is never ending. You go there with all the necessary stuff and hand it in and they create an account for you. After several days, they will for sure contact you to ask you to bring all the documents. Same happened to me and my friends. I told them, I already handed them in. Their answer was „impossible, we don’t have anything. Bring it again.“ This game is repeated until one of you gives up. In my case, it was the CAF people, in my friends’ case it was my friends. Maybe I will get some money, now that they have all the documents. If they don’t lose them again…
• You think that I survived the hardest part? I did too, but it was not the end. Next problem: Bank account. You need a bank account for everything. For paying lunch at university, for getting a contract for your phone, for getting your CAF. So, I went to open a bank account. Thought that couldn’t be too hard. Now, imagine me, sitting there in front of an employee in the bank, talking to him in, what I thought of as good French, and didn’t know half of the words he was using. Ok, it was specific terms that I never had needed in my life before, but anyway I felt really stupid, when he drew me everything on a paper to explain what he meant. After some language difficulties, all was solved and he just needed a proof of me living in France. I showed him my living contract. That was not enough, he needed electricity bills, or something that was sent to my address with my name on it. Finally, we agreed on the Bank Office sending a letter, which I had to sign when receiving it. Sound easy, but it got clear very soon, that it wouldn’t be that easy…
• Prove of residency: I was waiting for the letter and waiting and waiting and nothing happened. Until I got a mail from the bank that the letter had been resent to them and they would try again. So, again, I was waiting and waiting and waiting. The problem was, I didn’t have a mail box, so the Concierge had to take my letter. But, if she was not at home, when the mailman came, there was no sign of me living there and they resent the letter to the sending person. Later, I got to know that the Concierge was not even allowed to take the letter, but only me. Bank Office and Post Office have a distance of a 30 minutes walk. The day the second letter should arrive, I checked my mail with the Concierge. Nothing. I walked to the Post Office to ask. I needed a sending number, which I didn’t have. So: back to the Bank to ask. With the number, back to the Post Office. Apparently, the letter had arrived and I should check again. I walked home and checked again. Nothing. I walked back to the Post Office and told him. Oh, his mistake. It had arrived at the sender’s address. So, I walked to the Bank and told them the letter had arrived back at theirs. They would try one more time. They told me to ask the Post Office to keep the letter for me to fetch it there. I walked back to the Post Office and asked them to keep it for me. This was not possible and I should ask the Bank to send a normal letter. I walked back to the bank and told them. They said, it couldn’t be so hard to just keep the letter at the Post Office and I should tell them… “NO, just call them yourself, discuss it the two of you and leave me and my little French out of it!” … After some discussions, we agreed on a special contract that anyone could receive the letter, because, actually, the Concierge was not allowed to take it. As I didn’t know her full name I walked back home to ask it, then back to the Bank Office to tell them and then back home again. I was so exhausted. I had spent an entire day commuting between Bank and Post Office! Finally, everything went well and I could open my bank account.
• Further problem: Doctor. To take part in the sports offers in my university, I needed a certificate from the doctor that I would be physically fit enough to do that. You get that at the médecine préventive at your university. I thought, that would be easily reolved, so I went there and first had to fill in a form: Do you smoke? Do you drink alcohol? Are you ill? Did your parents or anyone from your family have illnesses? Half of the questions I didn’t even understand, because of the French terms. So I just ticked no everywhere, except of my allergy I didn’t specify anything (I would have to talk about that anyway with the doctor. When it was my turn, I was weighed, measured, again asked for illnesses, they listened to my hear beat, measured my blood pressure while standing, sitting, laying, again standing… she was not sure about it, but couldn’t find any blood pressure. After some time she diagnosed low blood pressure and some heart problems, that I didn’t understand. So, she sent me to another doctor and prohibited me to do sports. I went to another doctor and explained him my problem with the blood pressure. He controlled that and said it would be true. I should do 30 push-ups, then we’ll measure it again. Ok, so my blood pressure increases, when doing sports, not high as it should but that would not be a big problem. He asked what my German Certificate said about that. When I told him, that I didn’t have such thing and that it is not even needed, because normally you know on your own, if you are able to do some sports he was really surprised. If I had done any sports before? Yes, horseback riding, Mounted Games, Dancing, Latin-american dancing, Zumba, Hip-Hop, Aikido … apart from that I live in the sixth floor without elevator. That would change everything and I shouldn’t worry about my blood pressure and I am officially allowed to go to my sports classes. Thank you!
• Following problem: Translation of my prescription. I have a really bad grass allergy and am following a treatment against that in Germany, which I should be able to continue here. They can only give me the medicine against my allergies, with a prescription in French, which I didn’t have. But no problem, I can translate it. But no, this is only valid by an official translator. Ok, and where do I find one? They couldn’t help me with that. I sent desperately an email to my German doctor explaining my problem. He, luckily knowing French, answered the same day with specific orders for the French doctor what to do. I went back to him and told him about my allergy and that I brought the medicine and all the results of my lung tests… Ok, what should he order now? Nothing, I brought everything with, it is in my fridge in my apartment. Ok, what should he buy. Nothing, I brought everything with me… After some repetitions he understood. What should he do with it? I told him that I need the medicine every month and 0.6 ml of it. - Every month? - Yes. - What is it exactly? – I told him the name of the medicine and the treatment and in which phase I was. There was a table showing the amount and the period. He looked at that – What means week? – Semain, still and it won’t change – Where do I have to inject the medicine? – In my arm, I think about  here …  but I don’t know that, I am not a doctor – So he looked the name of the medicament in google up (really trustworthy), found some instructions, told me he knew how to do it and I should come back tomorrow with all my stuff. The next day he asked all the questions again and then did the injection. Finally! Ok, my arm hurt a lot after that, more than normal, but I was just happy that it was over and I would just have to go there once a month.

You see: It’s not all fun and easy. But the most important thing is that, now that hopefully everything is settled – keep the fingers crossed! -, I already feel at home and as if I lived here for ages. Thanks to all my friends and family that had to bear my tempers during the problems with the French bureaucracy. To everyone out there, who is still struggling: Don’t give up, it’ll get better! Find some friends, it’s always easier to suffer together and then turn your experiences into friendships!