Experience in Troyes, France by Florian

What is it like to live in Troyes? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

Troyes is a small city and very pleasant. The town is medieval, with beautiful architectures and many church, but fully kept. Don't be scared if you see some structures like the Pisa Tower in Italy, it has been here for a long time and it won't fall! Also there has been a lot of roadworks, construction works and etc, but now the center is really beautiful, I recommend it to see a thriving and nice city. Oh and by the way, there are stores of facturies near by Troyes, so if you want to do some shopping this is a good deal!

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What is the student lifestyle like in Troyes?

I stayed in Troyes during 3 years as an engineering student. One good thing is that Troyes wants a lot of students, and so they offer a lot of things to us or you can pay less some of things like bus, fastfood, theater, pool... (if you have your student card). Also there are quite some big events during the year : the first event of the year is Les clés de Troyes, where all of the students are invited to run into Troyes in team so that they can discover easily the town and they can win good prices if they're good during this event (this is a physical challenge because you have to run, but if you don't want you don't of course, but also a challenge of knowledges about Troyes, so it might be difficult the first year but the second you'll be prepare! ).

Les nuits de Champagnes where a lot of singers (mostly french singers) came in Troyes and you can go see it for a reasonnable price, Soirée Campus 3 (in France we pronounce "three" as "trois" and it looks like the town "Troyes"... this is a private joke... but I guess I needed to tell you) and Gala UTT which are the biggest events for the students (around 3000 people) and a lot of students came from far sometimes (Paris, Reims, Strasbourg... )

Except these events, and I might forget some of them because I can't go everywhere, parties in Troyes are more likely to be in an appartment or in a bar. I didn't enjoy the nightclub in Troyes, but apparently there are some goods outside Troyes, but you need to take a car (and cops are always there) so we didn't go. I won't say that drinks in bar were cheap, but it was reasonnable compared to Paris for example. Troyes is still a small city, you can't expect a lot of big parties or pool parties or something, but this is really pleasant with some friends, well I did. I hope you will!

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How much does it cost to live in Troyes?

You can rent a good appartment for 300 to 400 euros per month in the center of the city (I don't know outside), add it groceries for 100 euros per month approximately and then add the last things like parties, fastfood, sport or something else and you can see how much it costs.

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Is it difficult to find accommodation in Troyes? Is there any advice you can give?

You can find easily I guess from July to September, but take care about the accomodation. If you can have a look about the accomodation it will be far more better, because as I said before Troyes is a medieval city and sometimes... owner want to rent it in bad conditions. Photos are quite good, but take care also.

To rent an appartment in Troyes, you can use the web page of Le Bon Coin (it is a french site where you can buy, rent, borrow a lot of things in all of the country) or Troyes Habitat where it is an agency which will help propose you some accomodations. Both of us are in french, I'm sorry about that but I guess you won't be able to find an english website. Try to see with the school you are going in, near some of schools there is some students rooms also which are quite good and not very expensive.

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What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

Food is great in Troyes, I don'tknow what to say about it. The speciality is sausage, kind of special but many peoples like it, and also Champagne, which is very good.

What places would you recommend visiting in Troyes?

I recommend the center, known as the old Troyes for its architecture. There's also three lakes near by which are very nice when it's sunny, you can do volley-ball, BBQ... but you need to go in car.

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Is it good to eat out in Troyes? Can you tell us your favourite spots?

I recommend you the Pulp (it is located in Rue Urbain IV in the center), this is the best fastfood I've ever gone in all my life, and it's not expensive. You'll eat home made burger, great ambiance if you like Tarantino's movies, that's why there's a lot of people sometimes, get ready if you don't want to wait too long.

Is the nightlife good in Troyes? Where is good to go?

It's 50/50, it's good with some friends, bars are nice and the city is beautiful by night. But nightclub as I said before aren't very well (this is not objective because I don't really enjoy nightclub, but I had a better souvenir of nightclubs in others cities for example). I recommend you the Bar : le Bougnat des Pouilles which is very well or the Dixi Café which is smaller but very well also. La Barge is also very good, it is on a small boat on the Seine.

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What advice would you give future students heading to Troyes?

This is a small city, don't expect too much. You should live in the city center, this is the best place to enjoy your student life I guess. Having a car or know someone who has a car could be very useful, the city is well served by bus but it is more convenient to use a car, also the traffic isn't crowded at any time. If you want to do shopping, go to the factory shopping, it will be cheaper than in many town in France, and don't wait big sales in winter or summer! There's always sales in these shops, and if you wait like I said just before, you'll be desappointed because of :

1. There won't be a lot of differences between the prices before and during the big sales
2. Too much people are coming in big sales, people of everywhere are coming, mostly people living in Paris and near by and you won't find what you want and wait so much long

Last advice is, enjoy!

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