Banking

Spending time in France is great. The food is tasty, people are friendly, public transportation is efficient, yada yada yada. But spending time in France without a French bank account is not great. You get charged to use your credit card (unless you have a fee-free card), you get charged at ATMS for withdrawing money from your American bank account, and you can't use self-service machines at train stations or Velib pick-up spots because American debit cards (carte bancaire en francais) don't have the puce, a little security strip that validates the card user's identity.

The puce is the gold-colored square on the left, above the numbers 4970. Damn you, puce.

This time around, we're finally going to take the plunge and open a French bank account. After a spot of research, here's what we apparently need:

1. A carte de sejour (residence card), which establishes that we'll be in the country more than three months.
   
2. Proof of French address (utility bill, rental agreement)
3. Proof of earnings or status (student card or pay stub)
4. A letter from my American bank stating how long I've had an account with them and confirming the good standing of my account.

Doesn't sound too bad, right? (Actually, the carte de sejour is going to be a pain to get, according to various sources.) Now we just have to pick which bank to open our account with . . .