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You should have friends and family write to you at the Vanderbilt in France Center. This is more reliable and convenient, not only because you can give people the address before you leave, but also because the staff will be glad to hold or forward any mail in your absence and after your return to the United States. The complete address should always be used as follows:
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Your Name
Vanderbilt in France
15 rue Cardinale
13100 Aix-en-Provence
FRANCE
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It takes one to two weeks to receive airmail letters and packages from the United States. Express mail services, such as Federal Express and U.S. Postal Service express mail, will take four to seven days (not counting weekends) to arrive. (Note: Packages sent by UPS may be delayed as long as a week by Customs in Paris, and the receiver may be required to write a letter describing the contents.) You will not be able to call home and receive something the next day.
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If you decide to have some personal belongings sent to you, mailing is the cheapest method. Parcels mailed to Europe by regular surface mail take a minimum of four weeks and may take much longer. Packages marked "Used Personal Effects," with a low declared value should not be dutiable, but postal services in many foreign countries charge for delivery.
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You may be required to pay customs duty if you receive something of value either through the mail or by an express mail service. Package contents ("Gift" or "Used Personal Effects," in English; "Cadeau" or "Effets Personnels Usages" in French) and minimal values should be indicated when mailing from the United States in order to avoid delays and other charges upon arrival.
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Students can use e-mail at the Faculté des Sciences Economiques for a variable fee per semester, or at the Vanderbilt-in-France Center.
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Students are often surprised that they do not have access to a telephone where they are living. Most of our landlords and landladies do permit students to dial the USA-direct number of AT&T (0.800.99.00.11) and MCI (19-00-19) and to receive phone calls from their parents and friends at certain hours. The French do not use the phone as often as Americans, and they only speak for a short time on each call, as all calls, even local ones, are charged to their bill at a rate dependent on the amount of time the phone call lasted. You should also expect to be asked to limit the amount of time you spend on the phone, even if you have received the call or have made a credit card call, to five to ten minutes per call, maximum.
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It is also improper to receive phone calls before 9:00 in the morning. One should avoid calling (or having people call you) during meal times (12 noon-2:00 p.m.) and after 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. in the evening, depending on the family. Please tell your friends and family about this, and the number of hours difference between your home in the States and Aix, and do not ever--except in true emergencies--arrange to receive calls in the middle of the night. You should also be aware that there is a difference of one to several weeks between when your parents and friends in the States change to and from daylight savings time and when the time changes in France (usually the last weekend in March and October).
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There are two phones for student use at the Center. One is a normal phone with restricted outgoing calls to Aix. Students may receive incoming calls from the States on this phone (direct dial from the US: 011.4.33.42.27.15.72). The other is a special AT&T phone which students with an AT&T credit card may use to reach an AT&T English-speaking operator and to call the U.S.
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You may want to purchase a "telecarte" upon arrival so that you can use the public phone booths located throughout the city, in railroad stations and in airports, to make personal calls. Telecartes are available at the post office, airports, many tobacco shops, certain newsstands, and other stores. The cost is 40 francs for 50 "unites" (a length of time) and 96 francs for 120 "unites." It takes 1 "unite" to make a local call up to several minutes long and approximately 13 "unites" for a one minute direct dialed call from France to the United States during the day. Calls are less expensive in the evening or during the night. Check the yellow pages of the French phone directory for exact charges and times for reduced rates.
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Since calls made from France are much more expensive than those that originate in the United States, many students call home from a public phone booth, give the phone number from which they are calling, and ask to be called back right away. The cost of this short call from France will be 4 or 5 francs. You may dial 19.00.11 to reach a New York operator and place a call either collect or charged to your AT&T or MCI credit card.
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In the event of an EMERGENCY, parents may reach you by calling the Center (011.4.33.42.38.14.79) or the Director's apartment (011.4.42.93.31.39). There is an answering machine at the Center that picks up after the second ring if no one is there to answer the phone.
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