1. Transportation
You'll be able to travel to each cities using either train, airplane (budget airline, I prefer), and also car!
what I'd like to discuss is where you can travel with cars and get other people to travel with you. It is popular in France when you want to go to other cities but you want to share the money. (P.S--the highway in France is pretty expensive). you can go to http://www.covoiturage.fr/ . Like other social media, you can see other people with their bios, their cars, where they'd go, and how much you should pay for the trip (depend on the country you want to go). But make sure you have a quite good francais, because not many people there speaks good English.
this is what you'll see in the page. make a new account, and then you can choose which town (la ville) where you want to go and where you depart.
oh, and below is my covoiturage mate and his car. :)
It's easier to travel to other cities by train, especially when you're under 26 years od, you'll get extra reduction. :D. you can directly go to gare SNCF (train station in France) or go to http://www.voyages-sncf.com/billet-train to find the schedule and prices.
When you want to travel locally you can take buses and also trams, where they have it in almost every cities in France. They are very punctual in time, and quite frequent, so that you won't miss the buses that late. In clermont-ferrand, you need to have a card to travel by tram. you can buy the card in a counter near the town square or buy a single ticket/billet in each tram station. you have to have coins or credit card to buy them. The card (temporary one) can be used for both tram and bus.
2. organization (PPI France)
PPI - persatuan pelajar Indonesia is an association for Indonesian student who studies abroad. Usually they have a lot of activities, many of them are for celebrating national holidays and religious holiday*where most of the students will not be in Indonesia to celebrate it. We'll meet a lot of people, wide range of ages and background. I even met a cross cultural family. They stayed in Clermont Ferrand, where tante Upi (Indonesian) will cooked for every Indonesian who come to Clermont. Her husband, Mr.Pierre and their daughters Annisa and Inez will stay and take us around Clermont. C'est cool!
Maybe you'll find other stories when you join other city's PPI. Here's me and shafira's mate from Jogja, Cathia, who got erasmus mundus scholarship to 6 differents countries.
3. Food
Well, it is our basic need to fulfill our hunger. yes, the French are famous for its... Cheese !
if you go to France, make sure you taste at least 50 cheeses! hahhaa (they have hundreds! ). the wine in Bordeaux are the best, though I never taste it, they proclaimed so. Other thing that you need to go if you want to taste the culinary of French are to Bordeaux, the gastronomy city, and it is famous for it's seafood (every year, bordeaux's youth make a book of where to eat, what to eat and all reccomendation places in Bordeaux), handy!
My host friend, cindy listed some of French dishes that we need to try. And luckily, we've try most of the food.
- Crepe- yes, crepe! it is originally from Francois' (my host in Clermont) city in Bretagne. this crepe is sweet, where the salty one is called 'gallate'. Here's Cindy's gallate for me and shafira
-Poullet basquaise. a chicken and tomatoes. It is fresh and delicious. :)
- Quiche. like pizza, but thinner layer of bread. quite simple really, because most of them already have the bottom layer that you can easily buy in any supermarche.
- Ratatouille. you know the cartoon, well it is a mixture between pumpkin and tomatoes, it taste good!
- When you go to Bordeaux, make sure you taste "Fruit de la Mer', (seafood). c'est bon !
Fois gras also a good appetizer, and Canule (make sure you taste this cake, it's famous in Bordeaux)
Required documents before you go (2011) as a student:
Here is the list of required documents according to your situation.
Visa type : Short stay
Travel purpose : Tourist visit
Date of birth : 1991-09-04
Nationality : Indonesia
Occupation : Student
.  Short stay visa application form, original Download
.  Two recent, identity photos Size 3.5 cm x 4.5 cm, with white background, taken within 6 months.
.  Round-trip flight ticket booking from/to Indonesia, copy
.  Insurance, original Insurance issued by Europe company or local authorized company. More information.
.  Insurance, copy
.  Hotel booking for the whole stay in Schengen area (Internet reservations without credit card guarantee could not be accepted), copy Or lodging attestation issued by the local town hall of host person residence covering the whole period of the stay (original+copy) or property ownership certificate or leasing contract in France
.  Personal bank statement mentioning the current amount on the account, original
.  Personal bank statement mentioning the current amount on the account, copy
.  Letter from the school, original
.  Letter from the school, copy
.  Letter from the school, translation
.  Certificate of Registered Family and Permanent Residence (family card), copy Copies of all pages which contains information about the applicant and family member.
.  Passport, original A national private passport or official travel document valid for at least more than 3 months beyond the validity of the requested visa, with two blank visa pages with the mention “visa” to affix the visa sticker.
.  Passport, copy Two copies of the pages of the passport containing personal data.
.  Old passports, original If you're in possession of one or more previous passports, it is mandatory to bring it.
.  Old passports, copy Copies of the pages of every old passports containing personal data.
Student visa
(Pardon for my writing in Bahasa)
.  Formulir aplikasi visa jangka pendek, asli Download / Simpan di komputer.
.  2 lembar foto yang sama dan baru Ukuran 3.5cm x 4.5cm, dengan latar belakang putih, diambil dalam 6 bulan terakhir
.  Tiket perjalanan pulang pergi dari Indonesia, fotokopi
.  Asuransi, asli Asuransi yang dikeluarkan oleh perusahaan Eropa atau perusahaan dalam negeri yang resmi. Informasi lebih lanjut.
.  Asuransi, fotokopi
.  Sertifikat bea siswa yang menyatakan jumlah dan lamanya bea siswa tersebut ATAU jaminan dari pihak ketiga untuk membayarkan pelajar tersebut sedikitnya 430 euros per bulan dan bukti keuangan sang penjamin ATAU rekening bank pelamar, asli
.  Sertifikat tersebut, fotokopi
.  Sertifikat tersebut, terjemahan
.  Pendaftaran sekolah di Perancis, asli Atau perjanjian dari sekolah di Perancis
.  Pendaftaran sekolah di Perancis, fotokopi
.  Pemesanan hotel selama di daerah Schengen (pemesanan lewat Internet tanpa jaminan kartu kredit tak bisa diterima), fotokopi Atau pengesahan tempat penginapan dari balai kota tempat tinggal orang yang mengundang anda selama anda di Perancis (asli dan fotokopi) atau sertifikat bukti hak milik rumah atau kontrak sewa di Perancis
.  Surat motivasi yang ditulis oleh pelajar, asli Dengan penjelasan
.  Surat motivasi yang ditulis oleh pelajar, fotokopi
.  Surat ijazah, asli Atau sertifikat pendidikan lainnya yang setara
.  Surat ijazah, fotokopi
.  Surat ijazah, terjemahan
.  Surat jaminan keuangan dari semua penjamin untuk segala jenis pengeluaran selama perjalanan, asli
.  Bukti hubungan antara pelamar dengan yang menjamin, asli Jika diperlukan, boleh dalam bentuk surat dari sang penjamin menjelaskan hubungan dengan pelamar dan alasan kunjungan
.  Bukti hubungan antara pelamar dengan yang menjamin, fotokopi
.  Bukti kerja dan pendapatan orang yang menjamin, asli Surat pajak terakhir, 3 slip gaji terakhir atau pendaftaran dagang, rekening bank selama 3 bulan terakhir, dll
.  Bukti kerja dan pendapatan orang yang menjamin, fotokopi
.  Bukti kerja dan pendapatan orang yang menjamin, terjemahan
.  Paspor sang penjamin, fotokopi
.  Cap masuk dan keluar dari Indonesia, jika orang tersebut tidak tinggal tetap di Indonesia, fotokopi
.  Kartu keluarga dan tempat tinggal yang terdaftar, fotokopi Fotokopi dari halaman yang berisi informasi tentang pemohon dan anggota keluarga.
.  Paspor, asli Paspor pribadi nasional atau dokumen perjalanan yang resmi dengan tanggal berlaku lebih dari 3 bulan lewat dari tanggal berlaku visa yang diminta, dengan 2 halaman kosong untuk dimana visa stiker akan ditempel (tertera tulisan “Visa” )
.  Paspor, fotokopi Fotokopi 2 lembar halaman paspor yang berisi data pribadi.
.  Paspor lama, asli Jika anda punya 1 atau lebih paspor lama, anda harus membawa paspor-paspor lama tersebut.
.  Paspor lama, fotokopi Fotokopi halaman semua paspor lama yang berisi data pribadi.
Do not worry *for those who wear hijab* for the picture requirements, you are allowed to use it and cover your neck, but you must show both of your ears.
