Housing Horror Stories: International Students and the Catch-22 of French Apartment Hunting
When he accepted an offer to attend a graduate program in Sciences Po Paris, Nikos Biggs-Chiropolos, an American student, expected the apartment hunt to be easy. Two months and over 500 emails later, he is still virtually homeless, couch-surfing from friend to friend.
Biggs-Chiropolos is not alone. International students living in Paris encounter formidable challenges in their quest to find decent housing, often resorting to shady rent agreements, subjected to scams, and mistreated by landlords. Though most ultimately find a place to live, their journeys are perilous, costly, and time-consuming.
In 2016, France attracted about 325,000 foreign students, ranking fourth among host countries for international students, according to Campus France. Many of these students flock to Paris, whose cost of living ranks higher than that of London, Amsterdam, and Toronto. Numbeo reports that the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center is €1,194, while a one-bedroom on the outskirts of Paris averages €846 per month. Finding suitable accommodations is the first challenge international students encounter, and the hefty price tag often pales in comparison with endless paperwork.
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American Expats Rally for the 2020 Democratic Primary
As the 2020 Democratic primary race coverage intensifies in Washington, there is a group of voters, scattered around the globe, who are increasingly making their voices heard – American Democrats living abroad. Between 2014 and 2018, voter engagement among Democrats outside the United States jumped 800 percent, according to self-reported data from Democrats Abroad. This figure speaks to an important trend: American expats are less apathetic, more involved, and more progressive. They may be no Pennsylvania or Iowa, but they are a demographic that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Continue reading “American Expats Rally for the 2020 Democratic Primary”As Sea Levels Rise, Federal Government Prioritizes Sustainability Over At-Risk Community Concerns
When you pulled up to the sandy parking lot at Tom’s Cove, all you saw was the dune and the open sky. The gentle whoosh of the waves spilling onto the beach was unmistakable, but you couldn’t see the water yet. First, you had to cross the gravel, pass a small lifeguard hut, and climb the glistening white sand dune, the Atlantic Ocean finally coming into view at the top.
This is what the southern tip of Assateague Island National Seashore, a national park on a long barrier island off the coast of Maryland and Virginia, looked like in September 2017. Now, only two years later, the lifeguard hut—raised on wooden piles over the beach—is gone, and the dune is so flattened that you can see the water from the lot without having to get out of the car. The seas are rising around Assateague, the barrier island is shifting toward the mainland, and each new storm risks breaching the recreational beach and washing away the parking lot.
Continue reading “As Sea Levels Rise, Federal Government Prioritizes Sustainability Over At-Risk Community Concerns”