The French students are taking different stances on housing, but the most common complaint is that they’re paying too much.    This is the first year the SKEMA School has been active, and the students in some sense are serving as guinea pigs for future semesters. As a result, they have to face the same student-housing realities as everyone else.    SKEMA is a top-tier private French business school with satellite campuses around the world. The North American campus was built in Raleigh, N.C., on Centennial Campus. The school is in its first semester and currently serves over 200 French students from all over France, who join the already 30,000 international students attending N.C. State.     SKEMA worked with the College of Management to find housing for their students in the U.S. and contacted leasing agencies in the area to find available housing, guaranteeing full occupancy by the wave of incoming international students. The resulting deal was that the students got to choose between multiple prearranged apartment complexes located south of Western Blvd. Some other, more fortunate students were able to room closer to friends already living in or around campus.     Both the administration and students agree that the ideal is for French and American students to live close together to ease the transition process.     Michael Bustle, the Director of International Services, serves as a liaison to the SKEMA School in France and has helped the French students get acclimated to their new environments, offering student ID cards and organizing orientations and tours of Raleigh.    “I would love for them to mix it up and live with Americans…The goal is to carry over an inter-student dialogue and develop a long-term partnership,” Bustle said.    Caroline Decagny, a second-year student in SKEMA, said she would like to live closer to Americans. “Having a dorm with French people right next to a dorm with American students would be great,” Decagny said.    There are other concerns about the location, including safety. “It’s a bit sketchy sometimes because you have people stare at you, but it’s mainly when you go out late at night,” Decagny said.     In addition to these worries, the students are forced to walk considerable distances or rely on the buses, which take them to and from Centennial campus and Talley. When things like grocery shopping are taken into account, the distance can become even more of a problem.    The students’ housing costs vary, as do the number of roommates and available commodities. Decagny and her three roommates pay $570 each and live in an apartment complex on Marcom street. Other students pay up to $800 a month each. Most of the students’ leases last only until May, at which point they can either return to France or stay or find new roommates.    Another student, Fabien Chenel, said he and his roommates pay around $700 each. Their apartment is even farther away from campus but includes things like a swimming pool and basketball courts. “I have friends who have quite the same, and they pay $500 a month. I’m feeling a little screwed,” said Chenel.    Elise Cimatti, who lives off Marcom street, said she also feels like she’s paying too much. “It’s more expensive than my apartment in Paris, and Paris is the most expensive city in France,” Cimatti said.    Most apartments are fully furnished and have a washer and dryer, cable, Internet and a fully furnished kitchen. But not all the students have equal access to these benefits: some have considerably less while paying approximately the same amount per month.     The overall quality of the apartments is expectedly varied, as well.    Decagny said they have problems with their washer and dryer, but that the kitchen works fine.    “The kitchen is very good. It’s awesome,” Decagny said.     Lilly Ta, also in her second year at SKEMA, said she was satisfied with her housing situation. “Overall it’s not bad. We’re kind of happy with it except that it’s a bit expensive,” Ta said.    Bustle says he remains optimistic despite any logistical problems, “I have one foot in the realistic door, but one part wants to make everything better…We haven’t heard many complaints.”     While the students have voiced some concerns surrounding their housing situation, at the moment the problems don’t seem pressing enough for the students to take to the streets in true French revolutionary spirit.