Accommodation

Accommodation

My four months in Nancy were spent in the incredibly cheap, student accommodation of Monbois Residence. This residence consists of three buildings; the main reception and accommodation building and two additional accommodation buildings.

The main building is where you will collect mail, purchase wash tokens and speak with the staff. It is the newest of the three buildings and holds the more expensive rooms.

The remaining two buildings are less aesthetically pleasing and look like an old, soviet era, concrete box with windows. Each of the two buildings consisted of four floors of 20 or so rooms. These both had communal kitchens, showers and toilets.

Kitchen

The kitchen on each floor contains 2 hot plates and a sink. This unfortunately means you will be sharing those two hotplates with 20 other people. To make matters worse, when I arrived only the second and fourth floor kitchens were open.

Luckily most of the students in these halls seemed too lazy to cook, and I rarely found myself waiting to use the kitchens. The kitchens are only open from 7am till midnight. So bear this in mind when you are considering a midnight munch after the pub!

Showers and toilets

There are 5 showers and 5 toilets on each floor, which I found a bit more luxurious than the kitchen fiasco. The showers work well and there is rarely a fight for them. However, the toilets seem to lack a seat and bog roll.

The Room

The rooms themselves are a 9m2 personal den, with a sink, desk, bookshelf, light, wardrobe, chair and the option of a fridge. The bed is comfy enough, however the sheets, blanket and pillow provided are something from a nightmare. Make sure you bring or buy your own!

Washing Facilities

For the minimalist packer like myself, the cost of regular washing can seriously mount up here. Tokens are on sale in the reception for washing and drying, at €2 each. Both building share one washroom, which contains one washing machine and one tumble drier. The washroom is only open between 7am and 7pm and there is usually a queue to use it. This is why I resorted to washing my clothes by hand in the sink and hanging them to dry in my room. The only items I paid to wash were bedsheets.

If you are so inclined, there are plenty of clothes washing shops dotted around the town that could easily fit a week’s wash in them for roughly the same cost. This just means you need to trek your dirty and then clean clothes back and forth from your room.

My Purchase List

In order to make your room a bit more homely, there are a number of essentials and luxuries that you could either bring or buy. These can be purchased either in the town centre, at the local Lidl or at a shopping centre out of town.

• Bedding (Pillow and cases, Duvet and cover, and bed sheets
• Clothing hangers
• Rope for washing line
• Earplugs
• Kitchen equipment – Cups, plates, pots and pans, cutlery, sharp knives, chopping board, Tupperware.
• Extras – Hotplate, kettle, toaster, coffee machine.

Costs and Other Options

The reason I chose Monbois was the proximity to my University building and cheap cost. Here are the cheapest accommodations in the area, check here to see where they sit in the city.

Monbois, situated a 30 minute walk NE of city – €148 standard, €180 with fridge, €275 with fridge and en suite

Monbois   30 minute walk NE of city   /   €148 / €180 / €275

Boudonville   25 minute walk N of city   /   €275 / €359 / €427 / €433

Saurupt    25 minute walk S of city   /   €148

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