Jessica

That's really helpful, thank you! I'm concentrating on my revision at the moment, but when I finish in early June, I'm going to start planning and spend a week or so out there to sort everything out before I get on a plane with all my belongings! Jessica

Hi, Thanks for your response - sorry to be so slow - my internet has only just been reconnected! My official standard of French is an A grade at A-Level although I found this easy to achieve with no work.  I am considering taking the language certification course from the French government so that I would be more easily employable. I would say that my French is good conversational - I have no real difficulties in conversing when in France, find reading newspapers ok and am getting better at understanding the tv and radio (depends on the programme of course).  After I finish my degree in about a month, I'm going to be concentrating my efforts on getting it up to scratch as much as I can from the U.K. As for Lyon, I'd been recommended it by a friend (who may or may not be coming with me).  I would like to be as close as possible to the Alps as I really enjoy skiing. Also, Lyon is big enough that I probably would have a reasonable chance of finding employment and is easy to get to from the South East of England. I was also thinking Grenoble. Otherwise, I am still open to suggestions until I book my flight! Jessica

Hi, I am intending to move to France for 6 to 9 months from September after I graduate this summer. I have little knowledge of the rental process in France and have a few questions about the rental process. I have some experience of renting in the UK as a student and would like to know what the key differences are and the major pitfalls that I might come across. In particular, how flexible are rental agreements with regards to duration in general? I definitely want to stay at least 6 months, but it might be more depending on how I get on and my employment status. Also, I am thinking of Lyon as a possible place - could anyone tell me which are the better areas to rent in? A lot of my searching will have to be done over the internet and so it will be helpful to have an idea of what areas to go for and which to avoid. If anyone can recommend certain agencies or reputable internet sites, I would be very very grateful! Any other experiences of renting in France would be useful too. Thank you very much, Jessica