Some other things you may need to know
Telephone
The French emergency numbers (24h/24)
- 15 : Medical emergencies (the "SAMU – Service d’Aide Médicale d’Urgence")
- 17 : Police
- 18 : Fire brigade
Phoning from a public call box
Calling abroad
You can use EUREKA or FRANCE TELECOM phone cards, which can be bought at tobacconists, cyber cafes, etc. There are 5 and 10-hour cards.
Calling France
You can buy 50 or 120 unit phone cards at post offices or tobacconists.
N.B. You can have someone ring you in a public phone box. The number of the phone box is displayed on the operating instructions.
Mobile phones
Rather than a fixed line at home, the most convenient and economical combination is a mobile phone and occasionally calling from public call boxes for expensive international calls.In France, there are a few different operators, all providing excellent service :
- Orange (France Telecom group) : http://www.orange.fr
- SFR : http://www.sfr.fr
- Bouygues Telecom : http://www.bouyguestelecom.fr/
Simple mobile phone sets can be obtained from the operators at reasonable prices as part of long-term subscriptions (1 year or more).
Postal services
Post Offices are open Mondays to Fridays, and on Saturday mornings. Stamps can be bought at Post Offices or tobacconists.
Prices :
- France0,53 €
- European Union countries 0,55 €
- Other European countries and Africa 0,75 €
- America, Asia, Oceania 0,90 €
More information
The Climate in Paris
France, right in the middle of the northern hemisphere's temperate zone, benefits from a moderate climate with four well identifiable seasons. In winter, average temperatures are between 0 and 8°C ; in summer, average temperatures reach between 16 and 30°C.
Cultural differences
Certain ways tend to be vastly international, but there always remains a few particularities.
- When greeting, one generally shakes hands, although friends mostly kiss on the cheeks ;
- One is expected to use the (second person sigular) "tu" pronoun only when addressing friends ; the (second person plural) "vous" pronoun is used with most other people.
- It is considered rather a nuisance (or even outright rude) to call after 10 p.m., to arrive early when invited to someone's place, or late for a meeting, and not to call when you can't make it.
>> French etiquette : A penetrating view by the Hong Kong University (Department of French Language and Culture), to which ParisTech is grateful.