Getting started in Perpignan - part 3

     by Poonam Ganglani

My first meal in Perpignan-a salted chicken panini at the Cafet’ BU made me think of my last meal in India before leaving-spicy coconut chicken curry. Suddenly I missed India terribly and felt like calling home. I didn’t have a France telephone number yet, so used a carte téléphonique to begin with. That brings me to Lesson number six: You can purchase your  carte téléphonique  for 7,5 Euros either from Taxiphone, located right opposite the Accueil, or at any Tabac, the nearest one being opposite the University entrance. Make sure you get a card that gives you maximum time for your country. If you eventually decide to buy a SIM card, Orange is a good option. Be sure to check out the specific call rates pertaining to your country before buying your SIM card, some of the others who took the other popular brand SFR, ended up paying an arm and a leg for INCOMING calls!!

Ahem, back to my story….Relieved and relaxed by now, I  decided it was time to start getting things in shape for my 5-month stay in Perpignan. It was quite exciting really setting things up for myself. I started with the basics: trash bags, toiletries, food and a few other things. It was my first of the many many visits to the medium-sized grocery located behind the Cité U, right in front of Quick—Leader Price. Despite its reputation for not-very-high-quality things, Leader Price has served me sufficiently well and deserves the position as Lesson number seven: For day-to-day groceries like personal hygiene items, cleaning items, food, vegetables and the like, Leader Price is just a stone’s throw away from the Résidence and is definitely a convenient option. Keep an eye open for items marked with the ‘Prix Gagnant’ label if you’re looking to economize. Further down, you’ll find LIDL, which is a smaller grocery with a few more varieties in terms of brand.

After a few hours of meandering through the aisles of Leader Price, I trudged up back the Cité U  with my five grocery bags, stopping to catch my breath once in a while. The evening passed slowly, and I spent a few hours spilling out my thoughts into my diary till late that night…..