Aristotle said "Well begun is Half done". And what better way to begin than to get some financers for your trip. In the last post, I had mentioned about scholarships. To know more about them, call up the campus france coordinator as soon as you get the exchange seat. You can also check the French Embassy website...it has a list of scholarships.
Students visiting France for a period of more than 3 months have to apply for a long term visa (else the short term/schengen visa). You apply for a residence permit along with the long term visa, which allows you to travel across Europe. Hence there will be no problem.
The French Visa application is a fairly simple process. The only thing which makes it a bit difficult is that you need to show your accommodation proof. If your school provides acco, then nothing like that. Else start looking asap. This is the part which takes the longest, so it is best to get to it first.
There are hostels like India House which offer cheap accommodation. I have taken my residence there and I will post reviews about the same once I reach there. If you want your own apartments you can look up sites like parisrentaparts.com, lodgis.com among others. In France it is compulsary to take housing insurance even when you take up a house for rent. Some places ask for guarantors and your parents may have to give guarantee for the same. But people do manage it, so it should not be difficult. But the only thing which you must be aware about are scamsters- there are many people who post fake houses on the internet and ask for a month's advance. They then abscond with the money. Just double check before taking up any house.
I will tell you about the next steps in my next post. Happy house hunting!
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