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Moving to Paris full of questions :)

Bonsoir les amis!

My US Navy husband (submarines) recently had changes made to his orders. Imagine our surprise when we found out he was being switched from Guam to Paris!

We depart Connecticut for the Defense Language Institute to learn French for 6 months in California, then we are on our way to our new home in Paris for 2 years. This is our first overseas tour and we are super excited to have such an awesome opportunity! I have gazillion questions, many of which I have already found answers to in your forum. Thank you! This is a very rare opportunity offered only to a few american service members a year, so we don't have the normal plethora of information that we typically do for other tours. I would sincerely appreciate any info that you would find relevant to a first timer in Europe as well as any answers you may have to the following;

Please forgive this massive wall of text, and thanks so much for taking any time at all to answer my questions.

We are hoping to live in the 7th -My husband will be attending the Ecole de Guerre, and we'd like to be as close to it as possible. On average, or what range would a 3 bedroom apt in the 7th cost monthly? We also have an australian shepherd. I hear Paris is very pet friendly, but none of the apartment searches I have found so far are. Is this typical, or am I just not doing the right searches? Unfortunately, we aren't afforded any time to come to Paris in advance to find an apartment -how much time should we expect for it to take to find an apartment? Should we hire someone to find a place for us, or should we attempt it on our own? Do you have any recommendations for a company that could help us with that?

Since we will only be in Paris for 2 short years, it has been suggested that we enroll our 12 year old into an international school. American school of Paris was recommended. Do any of you have children, or know anybody that has children in attendance there? What are your opinions on it? Is there a better school? Do buses make it all the way to 7th, or do children typically ride the metro on their own?

My 12 year daughter has been riding horses competitively for 5 years, and horses are the center of her life. I was searching for a good riding barn near Paris and I found Ecole d'equitation tcf-equitation.com/ As of this moment, I have no French language skills and was having a hard even understanding Google's translation of the page. I read on a cached page of a long gone forum, that it was difficult to get to ride there and that it was a "long arm". I have no idea what that means. Do any of you know if this barn is accessible to the public, or if it's even appropriate for a child rider?

In regards to bringing furniture -we are leaving most of our stuff behind, but do you know if ceiling heights in paris apartments are about standard, or would you say they are shorter/taller than what's typical in the US? My daughter has a loft bed, I'd like to bring it, but I'd rather sell it before we leave if it won't likely fit anywhere.

Thanks so much for any help!

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