I spent my English summer days endlessly procrastinating and putting off the thought of my forever looming Year Abroad. I wanted to enjoy every last moment back home, and therefore half-heartedly signed up to Appartager as an effort to find somewhere to live in Lyon. Veteran year abroaders reassured me that I wouldn’t really need to bother finding any accommodation until I arrived there, and it would be easy peasy. However in hindsight I can see how wrong they really were...

During my second year at university I attended several Year Abroad meetings and I was so carefree, sat in those lecture halls anxiously anticipating our great, foreign adventures. When I first heard about CAF, I was eager to obtain this generous amount of free money from the French government but by November of my first semester away, the process had become the bane of my life. The process is long, slow and frustrating but the financial benefits are definitely worth the month or so of tearing your hair out.