Apartment hunting

So, I've started the phone calls today in search of an apartment in Agen, the closest large city to Aiguillon (15 minutes away on the train). I've been brainstorming the pros and cons of living rent-free in a furnished apartment on the lycee grounds, and I've come up with more cons than pros. Here's what I've got so far:

PROS of staying here:
-free rent.
-free laundry
-proximity to school (about 20 steps from my front door)

CONS of staying here:
-have to take the train to have any sort of life outside of school.
-far from entertainment, shopping, et cetera
-no buses that go north or south (train only goes east and west)
-barely anyone my age (excluding the assistant I already live with)
-no Wifi in my apartment or phone jack to have a modem :(

I've considered pulling a Clare and just buying a cheap used car to use during the year while staying here in Aiguillon, but: 1) I don't have a European license, and 2) I don't know how to drive stick-shift. Nearly all (most, anyway) of the cars here are manual and I don't want to have to pay for classes.
The main thing though is that I'm far from the theatre in Agen, which has several shows going on each month and I can't take any classes here in Aiguillon because they aren't offered here. I would take the train to the classes in Agen, but the last train leaves halfway through the class, so I wouldn't even be able to stay through the whole lesson. It makes more sense to me to just commute to Aiguillon to work during the week, and live in Agen where I'll have a bit more of a life.

I'm going to see the first apartment on Thursday. I've called about two others, but I won't be seeing them until later in the week. I don't get my first paycheck until the end of October, but that should give me enough time to look around and weigh my options. I'm trying not to spend over 350 Euro/month if I can, including gas/electricity, so I can have enough left over for food and such....the ideal position to be in would be to live in a famille d'acceuil so I'd be paying less and speaking French a lot more, but finding a family would be the first thing to do. Someone mentioned that I should speak with the Proviseur of the lycee here and ask him about finding one in Agen (as that's where he's from) so i'll probably go to him if the apartment options fall through.

Amy seems relatively happy in the apartment here (she's from an even smaller town in England) so she probably will end up just staying in Aiguillon. I told her if she changes her mind she's welcome to go in on the apartment with me, but it's looking like she's prefering the free apartment over paying for one in a bigger city. Who knows though, maybe things will change in a few weeks.