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At the time, it seemed utterly unreasonable to arrange and spend money on housing and airfare if, in the end, there was to be no space for me in the program once I arrived. For over a month, I hounded the registration office to give me some kind of guarantee that a place would be available. Finally, after numerous letters and many expensive phone calls, I received a small, terse document with the heading: “Certificat d’Admission.” It had my name, an official-looking stamp—which I later learned was nothing but a way to appease me and had nothing to do with registration—and said that I was assured a spot in the program.

My reluctance to secure housing until I received my registration confirmation cost me dearly. Amazingly, the Sorbonne has no housing of its own and can only offer prospective students a list of dorms that may or may not have a room and are not affiliated with the school. Among this list are the dorms of the “Cité Universitaire,” a compound of student housing in the southern part of the city. Comprised of thirty-seven different dorms, the dorm, called Cité, categorizes its buildings by country or area of study, such as the American House that houses primarily American students.

For more information on living in France, read “Visa, S’il Vous Plait”

Theoretically, students are supposed to stay in the dorm of their respective countries or fields, though exceptions are sometimes made based on space or in cases where there is no official “house” for a student’s country or discipline. I called and, upon my arrival, visited almost every dorm in the complex trying to find a room. Unless you have booked a room in the dorm by February or know of a dorm mafia of which I am unaware, your chances of finding a room in the Cité are very small.

The Sorbonne also provides a list of secondary housing, generally considered less desirable but livable, and it was from this list that I eventually found my housing for the summer. The dorm in which I lived was actually quite lovely and just minutes from the school. I found it only after three days of traipsing through Paris in the rain, trying many other full dorms first.

Armed with my “Certificat d’Admission,” I arrived at the school the moment the doors opened on the first day of registration. For a second, I thought I was in the wrong place as it was absent the throngs of people I had anticipated. The woman behind the desk was working on a Gauloise and giving it priority over me. When she was finished with her cigarette, she walked over to me with a gait that said, “What do you want?”

Proudly and defiantly, holding up my certificate against her sang froid like a shield, I launched into an explanation of all the calls I had made. I was not even to the part about the numerous letters I had sent when my registration was complete. She handed me a schedule, directions to my first class and headed back to her desk where she promptly lit another cigarette.

On the first day of class, the Sorbonne gathers all the students in the Amphithéâtre Richelieu, a breathtakingly beautiful lecture hall that is exquisite to the point of distraction. One by one, the name of every student is called, and he or she is assigned to a class, a process that was entering its second hour by the time they got to my name and the “L’s.”

Placed in an intermediate course—by a diagnostic test that is given in the week between registration and the start of class—I caught up with my class and my teacher who gave us a map to a different location about two Metro stops and ten minutes away from the main campus and told us to meet her there.

Initially, I was devastated by the new location of my class. There was nothing wrong with the new building. In fact, our classroom even had a view of the Eiffel Tower, but I felt that I was there to study at the Sorbonne, not at some five-story walk-up across town. Plus, now my dorm was even further away from school.

The Sorbonne claims they have a specific, unique method of teaching French, but I couldn’t tell you what it is. Although they issue their own textbook, that, to me, is where their originality in teaching ends. As far as I could see, their classes and methods were structured very much like any other French class. All classes were taught completely in French with special audio work done in a lab and daily lectures about various French luminaries.

The teachers were not especially noteworthy either, except for a certain grammar instructor who, at the end of the term, seemed to take a certain pleasure in reciting the names of those students who failed the course.

The only truly exceptional educational experience the Sorbonne offers is the luxury of attending lectures in halls that are unparalleled in terms of beauty. So beautiful, in fact, that tourists sometimes walked through the school with camcorders during lectures.

People have occasionally asked me what I thought of the Sorbonne, and my answer would probably be surprising. In spite of the difficulties, frustrations and disappointments, there is no question that I would do it again in a heartbeat. Although there is much I would do differently, every time I look at my Sorbonne certificate or see someone with a Sorbonne T-shirt, I think about having been a part, albeit a minuscule part, of that remarkable history.

Sentiment aside, the following tips can help make your Sorbonne experience less traumatic than my own.

Consider Attending Off-season

Summer is, if you will excuse the pun, the hottest time to be at the Sorbonne. Attending in the fall or winter could give you far fewer headaches housing-wise; however, you may need to stay for a longer period of time as some of these courses are three months long. You may also need to test into an intermediate level of French because some of these classes are not offered to beginners. Remember that any stay in France—not just at the Sorbonne—longer than ninety days requires a visa, which must be obtained before you arrive.

Ask for the “Certificat d’Admission.”

I realize that I just finished saying that there was no one there when I registered, but I am old-fashioned. I think if you are going to give a school money and make travel and housing plans based on whether you will be admitted, you deserve a guarantee that you will, in fact, be admitted. In spite of a fairly elaborate website, the school will not answer questions via e-mail, only by fax—except to confirm that you cannot register before arrival.

My feeling is that it is worth getting a confirmation via fax before you make any other plans. Also, note that the Pre-Registration form offered on their website is to allow foreign students to get visas—it does not register you for the classes.

Housing, Start Early!

This is the one and only way to make sure you get the housing you really want. By early, I mean at least six months in advance, especially if you are going to try to stay at a place like the Cité.

While there is a slight chance that you may be able to get a room at the Cité as late as the end of spring, the dorms there vary in appearance from buildings that look like Versailles to ones that look like penitentiaries. Needless to say, the older, more attractive dorms fill up first. If you are an aesthete, and one would assume you are considering your choice of country, you are going to be seriously upset if you find yourself in one of the newer houses.

One of the few improvements made since my trip is that the Cité’s website, does include a registration form, and they are fairly good about returning e-mails. A few of the houses even have their own individual websites—including the dorm for Americans—making them easier to contact. Incidentally, if you happen to be a musician or visual artist studying in Paris for a full academic year at the graduate level, there is another advantage to logging on as early as possible. The American house offers four housing scholarships as well as a very limited number of ateliers and music studios.

Age is Not Just a Number

A lot of these dorms have age limits that, aside from being generally depressing, can be a severe detriment to finding a room. Although the age ceilings vary, generally speaking, if you are too old to name at least one Britney Spears song, you are at risk for finding this a big problem. Some dorms will make exceptions for Ph.D. candidates, college professors, or students who will only be there in August, but other than that, the dorms are pretty strict. If you are of “un certain âge,” you might want to consider renting an apartment, which, while not nearly as inexpensive as a dorm, is still much cheaper than staying in a hotel for a month or more.

Don’t Count on Help or Lists

The Sorbonne does have an office that will help you look for housing. “Help” in this sentence is a matter of opinion. I could “help” someone dig a hole to China; it doesn’t mean that we will be successful. Help could mean that they will give you another list of dorms, many of which will have lines drawn through them or the word “Complet,” meaning full, beside the name.

Also, many of these are small, sometimes family-owned dorms and will not make arrangements over the phone, by mail or via the Internet; they want to actually see you before they will guarantee you a room—this was true of the dorm in which I stayed.

Keep in mind that this also means you will have to make arrangements to stay somewhere, probably a hotel, until you solve the housing issue. Hotels have a tendency to be just as booked as dorms, and you could find yourself spending a lot of money just to get through the first few days. Finally, part of the help this office offers is a list of the names and addresses of several lovely French families that might be available to take you in, which to a college-age student could be a lot of fun—to an adult, it could be entirely out of the question.

The Cité, too, has a long list of other dorms that they suggest students try, and, upon first glance, the sheer number of dorms listed would suggest that something, somewhere must be available. Although it is entirely possible you might hit pay dirt on the first one, it is more likely that most of these dorms will already be full, have age restrictions or most likely, be the exact same dorms the Sorbonne suggested you try.

If you bank on these lists to help you, chances are you will find yourself as I did, roaming the streets of Paris, looking for a place to stay. I lost count of how many I tried until I found a room, and even then, I only found one because that particular “Maison” was remodeling and was offering rooms for just a few weeks. I was only there a short time before moving into an apartment with friends.

Check out the Facilities.

Regardless of which dorm, hotel, apartment or wigwam you find, make sure you ask about bathroom and shower facilities before you give a deposit—make sure they give you specifics. If they say there are facilities in the room, ask if they mean restrooms, showers or just sinks. Even some pretty expensive places only have facilities at the end of a hall, often shared by quite a few guests, so if this is going to be a problem for you, you need to check, check and double check this.

Consider an American-based, All-inclusive Program

There are several American companies that arrange classes at the Sorbonne with real honest-to-goodness Sorbonne teachers except, in some cases, for students at the beginning level. These programs almost always include housing, excursions, airport welcome and, in some cases, airfare. Because I have not tried these programs myself, I cannot endorse any, but I can say that a few of the ones I found were not much more expensive than it would be to put a package together yourself.

Again, just make sure you choose one that is age-appropriate—you do not want to be stuck in a room with a twenty-year-old if you are taking a trip to celebrate your retirement. However, for those of you who are unfazed by having a roommate who listens to Eminem, these programs can be a good way of skirting the age limits of some dorms. One program manager I spoke to said they have one student who is eighty years old. Also, some of these programs often have space available at the last minute—the last minute being late spring.

The other big advantage to using one of these programs is that you will have the camaraderie of other people going through the same experience, which, for some people, is an enormous plus. If you are interested in this route, www.studyabroad.com is, in my opinion, a great site and can link you to some of these programs.

Proof of Housing

Get written confirmation, a DNA sample or whatever it takes to prove you have the room reservation.

This is absolutely vital and I would say if you don’t get at least one of the above, don’t bother showing up. I won’t say which one, but I once had a verbal agreement with one of the more well-known dorms for a room. When I called, as they had told me to do, two weeks before my departure to confirm things, they said that a German student had shown up that week and they had given the room to him. I can not tell you how many fellow students, travelers and friends have tales like this about France.

My best advice is to make sure that money changes hands and, needless to say, have a receipt faxed to you. If you cannot get them to accept a deposit, ask for a faxed or e-mailed confirmation.

So, what do you do if you read this article very carefully, ignore my advice completely and find yourself in Paris without a room? My suggestion is to try FUSAC (France U.S.A. Contacts). Published in English for the English-speaking community in France, this magazine is an invaluable resource for Americans on extended stays there. Loaded with classifieds, there are many advertisements for apartment shares, rentals and swaps, which need to be arranged ahead of time—I, personally, have done a few, very successful swaps from this magazine.

Unlike the rest of Paris, FUSAC is free so when you decide you have had one too many doors slammed in your face, sit down in an outdoor cafe, order a “croque-monsieur,” the French equivalent to grilled cheese sandwich, and start highlighting ads that look good to you. Not all apartment listings will be in English, but with a decent French-English dictionary, it should be pretty simple to decipher most of them.

Best of all, FUSAC now has a wonderful website loaded with ads, so if you have had it with the dorm situation, you can now take advantage of FUSAC without actually having to get a printed copy.

Finally, try not to get caught up in what you thought the Sorbonne would be. Like a lot of experiences in life, the greater the hype, the greater the potential for disappointment. Remember that the programs for foreigners are not the school’s first priority, and, therefore, not its pièce de resistance. Someday, though, when the rose and the name are reunited in memory—on resumes, in scrapbooks, over cocktails—the experience will suddenly smell sweet.

Over-zealousness, idealism and the seduction of provenance are what may potentially make the experience thorny, and that, of course, is through no fault of the rose.

Courtney Lichterman is the owner of a small business and a frequent traveler to Europe. Her greatest traveling accomplishment is having gotten seventeen days out of an eight day Eurail pass without getting caught. (She will not be writing about how to do this.)

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