Once you get to France and start looking into doctors and healthcare, you'll start hearing the words carte vitale bandied about a lot. For the uninitiated, it's sort of like an EHIC card but specific to France and people who live there. You need this to register with a doctor (although I believe they will temporarily accept things like your French social security number & other paperwork while you get hold of the carte vitale) and, the good thing is, you don't have to be French or a naturalised citizen to get one, and they last your entire lifetime. So even if you're on your year abroad, and you don't really intend to move back to France again in the future, it's still worth doing as it's not too much effort (compared to some of the other hurdles you have to jump) and you never know what the future holds. I have to be honest here, though I did obtain a carte vitale, I never registered with a doctor (my time came to an end before it reached the top of my
This will hopefully be a brief post as getting set up with EDF isn't too painful, as long as you have all the right info to hand. EDF ( électricité de France ) is - you guessed it - France's state energy and electricity provider. It's highly likely that your home's previous tenants will have used EDF. Getting set up with EDF early on is essential, not least because almost everything else you will be sorting out (bank, insurance, etc.) will want to see an EDF bill for proof of your address. (You can always email them and request a document from them with your name and address on for this proof if you haven't started receiving bills yet.) You can get set up either by phoning them if you're feeling fluent, or emailing like I did and just going through the slow, gentle process of back and forth providing various bits of information. Here is what you will be asked for: The address (and apartment number and floor if applicable) What the apartment