Grenoble

[vuvuzela]

I'm thinking of moving somewhere South West of France. Which regions would you recommend?

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by vuvuzela

My concern however is that as an intern, you can expect to earn as little as basic minimum wage, which I believe is currently at around 1,200 Euro per month? If this is the case, can I expect to have a good standard of living on this little salary? Secondly, besides skiing, what other attractions does Grenoble have to offer?

Hi, and welcome to the forum. To answer your second question first, Grenoble is a beautiful city and has all sorts of cultural stuff - museums, concerts. No shortage of stuff to do. And besides skiing, you have ready access to lots of outdoor activities in the mountains - hiking, mountain climbing, water sports (on the lakes in the region).

Now, lifestyle on the SMIC (French for minimum wage) is another question. There is definitely a "student culture" where you can get cheap meals, a cheap place to live, etc. etc. thanks to your student i.d. card. But, like most student cultures, it's not your suburban life style. Students living on "stagiere" wages are expected to have family to fall back on - in fact most French students live with their parents so don't have the problem of living costs.

It is, however, sometimes possible to get the employer for the internship to pay somewhat better than minimum if they are particularly interested in a candidate. It's not strictly speaking legal, but generally no one fusses about it. On the other hand, many companies take on stagieres precisely because they are cheap labor at a rather high level. If your dissertation topic interests them enough, they might be willing to up the pay level a bit.
Cheers,
Bev