Just wondering if anyonehas beento Marseille in France,my daughter is going there on Erasmus,in January,she has been told not to get 'on campus' accomodation',so we are at a loss as to where to go,any advice much appreciated.
being French I would like to give you my opinion.
She should stick to the wealthy residential areas. Not the popular less wealthy ones, sorry to be politically incorrect but Marseilles has the toughest reputation in France, with a very high criminality abit like Naples if not worse.
So the bad points to watch out for: not walk in empty streets or deprived areas, including around the train station.
the good point: she s never going to see another amazing sea side like this one, it s a national and international treasure
Im not exagerating:
The FOOD is amazing too, it s got sunshine nearly all year round, and people are quite down to earth and approachable (not like in other French towns say like Bordeaux (posh and cold) or Paris).
Hope I did not scare you.
Being Irish helps, you people are always charming people (well at least in France) as are the Scots.
being French I would like to give you my opinion.
She should stick to the wealthy residential areas. Not the popular less wealthy ones, sorry to be politically incorrect but Marseilles has the toughest reputation in France, with a very high criminality abit like Naples if not worse.
So the bad points to watch out for: not walk in empty streets or deprived areas, including around the train station.the good point: she s never going to see another amazing sea side like this one, it s a national and international treasure
Im not exagerating:
The FOOD is amazing too, it s got sunshine nearly all year round, and people are quite down to earth and approachable (not like in other French towns say like Bordeaux (posh and cold) or Paris).
Hope I did not scare you.
Being Irish helps, you people are always charming people (well at least in France) as are the Scots.
Thank you so much for that and appreciate the compliment:p
Ok Ive done a quick search on the net and people from Marseilles seem to be talking about the quietness and and cleanliness (an important feature, much of Marseilles is just overspilling bins just like Naples) of these "arrondissements":
(handy, easier to remember numbers than foreign place names)
- 4th
- 5th
and 9th, they say it s quite close to the "callanques de Cassis" (amazing white cliffs with turquoise sea creeks) but it appears to be further away from the centre.
the 1st and 2nd arrondissements are famous for being very noisy and polluted.
Again, tell your daughter not to hang around the train stations and stick to highly touristic places or "posh" areas and not walk around at night.
Also very important is the anarchy style of driving: they drive fast, madly (watch out for the scooters) and anywhere.
Other than that she is going to love it, I'm feeling quite like spending time in Marseilles/Cassis some day too!
Just an update on my original post.I got the area wrong,its Aux en Provence and my daughter is there almost a week now.Initially she found it hard to get an appartment but now she and her friend are settled into a beautiful appartment with security.The rent is quite expensive at 450 euro a month.They only received their fridge and washing machine yesterday at 7.30 am,a bit strange on a Sunday.The culture shock is setting in fast and the independence,ie not bringing home her washing at weekends and raiding the fridge.She loves the fresh markets and has admitted to eating very healthily.She is in college at 8am everymoring, this is a bit of a shock.I think she can only be strong after this and more independent and perhaps realise how much one takes for granted the little comforts in life.The nights are quite cold but the days are sunny.They are the only two Irish students,lots of American and British and some Italians.