SETTLING IN - CultureShock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette - page 148

and personalised in service. If you are after the convenience,
check out several Post Offices in your neighourhood.

International Banks
Some foreign banks have succursales (branches) in Paris. They
are all full-service banks and adhere to French banking law. In
some, in addition to showing proof of your income and your
nationality, you need only show that you have a pernament
address somewhere, even if it is not in France. Those listed
below provide the same services as French banks, but with
added services for foreigners. Their services and websites are
in both French and English. Prices for services also vary, and
they may be more expensive than French banks.

Banque Transatlantique; 26 avenue Franklin D.
Roosevelt, 75372 Paris Cedex 08;
tel: [phone]; fax: [phone];
website: http://www.transat.tm.fr

Barclays Bank; 32 avenue George V, 75008;

tel: [phone]; website:http://www.barclays.fr.

Other addresses throughout Paris.

Money from Home
Don't expect cheques or money orders sent from abroad to
clear at the bank quickly enough to provide emergency funds;
if you have a bank account in France, it would be better to
make a bank-to-bank electronic transfer. Other faster options
exist for receiving funds. In all, the sender pays the fees based
on the amount sent; these are fairly expensive, so should be
seen only as an emergency measure. The Travelex bureaux
de change are MoneyGram agents (http://www.moneygram.
com) and La Poste is an agent of Western Union (http://www.
westernunion.com).

How Much Do Things Cost?
Forget the old stories of Europe as being inexpensive. Not
only is this no longer true, Paris fitted that mould only for
brief periods when the franc was low. Now Paris rates just
a bit lower than Tokyo in cost-of-living surveys. This may
particularly affect Americans for the dollar remains low