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TRAVEL ADVICE |
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PACKING |
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June and July are usually warm months in Nantes, but not as humid as in Columbus. Rain is also quite typical for northwest France all year round, so some rain gear will come in handy. Summer clothing is fine, but bring some warmer clothing for evenings, as it can get cool and windy. Plan to bring one set of business-casual clothes for more formal occasions like the study tour to Brussels. Bring comfortable, sturdy shoes because you will do a lot of walking. Rule of thumb: PACK LIGHTLY ! |
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FROM CHARLES DE GAULLE TO NANTES |
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You will fly to the Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport in Paris and board the TGV to Nantes directly from the airport. Navigating your way through the airport to the train station at CDG is pretty simple and organized. Once you exit immigration and customs, you will be in the main arrival hall of the airport. Look for the signs 'Gare-TGV' (Train Station- TGV) indicating which direction you should take for the shuttle bus ('navette') that will take you to where the airport's train station is Once there, you can either buy your ticket and reservation or, if you have a rail pass, activate it and buy a reservation. Note that in Europe they use the military time for any official notations (e.g. 15h30=3:30 pm, substract 12 from military time). |
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TRAVELLING BY TRAIN |
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Rail passes and point-to-point tickets can be researched on www.railpass.com. STA Travel at 1866 N. High Street (across from campus) is an agency that specializes in student travel. Rail passes must be bought before leaving the US and are NOT available in Europe � you can only buy point-to-point rail tickets once there. In Paris, the train station to Nantes is Gare Montparnasse and trains run every two hours to Nantes. To book a ticket for any destination while in France, go to www.sncf.com. |
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WEEKEND TRAVEL |
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The three-day weekends set aside for personal travel are your free time. OSU does not assist you in making personal or recreational travel plans given the variety in student interests and budgets. We do however require that you attend the travel workshop sponsored by STA Travel during Spring Quarter. You need to be thinking now about where you want to go, when, how you want to get there and where you will be staying. Budget travel in Europe is more of a phenomenon than in the US, so you will definitely want to visit some travel agencies and get a good guide book that lists the prices and expenses you are likely occur while traveling to certain places BEFORE you leave (the travel guide Let�s Go is a good resource for students). The Internet is also a very good source for researching travel as well.
We ask that you inform your host family and your resident director of your weekend plans, including where you are going, when you are leaving and when you will return. You should also let your family in the US know where you will be and for how long also.
An example itinerary for weekend travel that is realistic from Nantes is given below. In the past, many students have gone to Barcelona and London, though these destinations tend to be far. A good time to visit London may be the weekend after Brussels since you are close to London there than from Nantes.
Weekend # 1: Paris
Weekend # 2: South of France (Riviera, Nice, Cannes and/or Monaco)
Weekend # 3: Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Bruges, Belgium
Weekend # 4: Germany (Cologne, Heidelberg and/or Munich) or London
Weekend # 5: Switzerland or visit other French landmarks such as Mont St-Michel,
Normandy Beaches, Castles of the Loire Valley, La Boule beach next to Nantes). |
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