Quick Tip: International Shipping
In England you could ship packages under your student status and not pay any import duties, but I haven't researched if France has that same kind of system. Sometimes I really hate the language difference, because after Googling for an hour I'll probably just give up trying to figure what it could be called in French. Gah!
If you encounter an American store that doesn't ship to France, or if you just want your American mail forwarded to you and family members don't want to have the hassle of shipping all your crazy shopping addiction tendencies, try myUS.com. They give you an "American address", which just routes it to their facility and then they ship it to your international one.
I haven't used them yet because I haven't found a store that doesn't ship to France, but when I do I'll definitely give them a go if it's too big for my mum to stuff it in a flat rate box. I haven't really inquired about their prices so that also makes me a bit weary.
My mum once tried to ship me a care package of American junkfood, Pantene conditioner and Johnson & Johnson's Baby Oil Organic Shea Butter Body Wash (not exactly bricks), but it came out to like $80 at the post office. Nun-uh. The shipping was more than what was in the box! And that was the cheapest. UPS and FedEx wanted to charge $180-210. RI-DIC-U-LOUS. Planes fly over here everyday, I don't know why it costs so much to find some empty room on one of them. Globalized world, I wish.
My mum once tried to ship me a care package of American junkfood, Pantene conditioner and Johnson & Johnson's Baby Oil Organic Shea Butter Body Wash (not exactly bricks), but it came out to like $80 at the post office. Nun-uh. The shipping was more than what was in the box! And that was the cheapest. UPS and FedEx wanted to charge $180-210. RI-DIC-U-LOUS. Planes fly over here everyday, I don't know why it costs so much to find some empty room on one of them. Globalized world, I wish.