Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Housing and Settling into Ango

Choosing housing was a rather interesting process for me...the summer before leaving chez moi for France, incoming students were allowed to log on to Sharepoint for a certain period of time to see housing options, and on a specific date, select their top three choices in a separate housing portal. I, however, was unable to enter Sharepoint, so I didn't ever get to see the choices. A dozen emails and 2 phone calls later I still couldn't access it. The day of housing selection I put the residence with the coolest name first, ok name second, etc. After a few more emails and midnight phone calls to France, the Sharepoint problem was finally fixed.

As it turned out, I was given the biggest room in Ango (I think it's the biggest) - 16 square meters, complete with a bathroom and mini-kitchen. The other rooms are all single rooms too, but the bathrooms are shared.

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The only issue I had upon arrival (but that I was aware of beforehand) was that you can't pick up your key and move into the residences on the weekend. I arrived on Saturday morning. Hotel Anderson in Rouen, however, was very welcoming for two days for about 50 euros a night, and 7 euros for breakfast.

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Here's some photos!

accumulated alaska airline miles got me a free ticket on tahiti air
direct from L.A. the stewardesses gave everyone a nice smelling
flower that slowly opened up during the flight.


Ango - my student residence ! part of the "cité universitaire du panorama".
i vote Ango the most convenient student residence to live in.
it's a ten minute walk from campus, 15 minute walk to the bus stop (La Varenne), and a 20 minute walk to the Place Colbert (grocery, book store, BNP, pharmacy, pâtisserie, cafés...).
it's also across the street and through the woods to a copy center, free student doctor's office, and some other little fast food cafés.


view from the front of my residence (and also from my window)
and now for a tour!

entering my room on the second french floor ("french" because it's the second floor off the ground, aka third floor). the mirrored door is the bathroom.

my bathroom: small sink, lidless toilet, and a shower smaller than an airplane bathroom stall (teeeeny). warning! you can't adjust the water pressure (water shoots out really hard), and it turns itself off every 10-15 seconds, so you have to push the knob back in constantly. otherwise, yay for unlimited hot water!

view from the desk of my L-shaped room. it comes equiped with a small sink, one burner, and a fridge. i bought my own pots and pans at Carrefour (7 minute bus ride down the street) for 3-4 euros each. the bed has two spacious roll-out drawers and two windows above it.
view from my bed. closet on the right. big window on the left. for about 320 euros a month, there is a ton of floor space. you may need to buy a cheap set of shelves (Carrefour!) to put stuff on since the closet is very small and has no shelves.
the students like to use stylo plume. here's mine, complete
with the cartridges of erasable blue ink !

just in case you're curious, here's what the plugs look like

then one evening there was a random band that played great
big band music for an hour in front of each hall!




3 comments:

  1. Hello mam,

    This is to inform you that it was really encouraging as well as informative for me to read and see the pics of the ango residence where i as a candidate for student exchange is also going to RBS. As i have aleady chosen the Ango residence i was very curious about the size of the rooms and how comfortable it is. Also after reading your post i noticed you got the room which had the attached bathroom :D, so i wanted to know like if i also wanted the room with attached bathroom what all formalities i have to do like do i have to ask for it before i reach there?
    just to let you know I am bit of a spoiled brat lol. So wanted to ask you what do i have to do to actually get a Room like you got in ango?

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  2. Oh i forgot to give you my ID
    Apoorv.elite@gmail.com

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