It was a very familiar experience for me. Here in the United States, my normal commute to school also involved taking a metro train and then a bus to reach my actual campus. However, there are two key differences: the commute in France was shorter and cheaper by A LOT!
As mentioned above, it's easy to get cheap flat rate transportation in France. There are no peak hours, price hikes, or different prices depending on where you're going. My monthly train pass as a student was 20 euros ($) Even if I wanted to go to a different city instead of taking the tram, the prices were never expensive and the trains were always fast. My morning commute would be 30-35 minutes, and that includes the short walk to the station, taking the tram and then the bus!
To compare, my commute here in Washington was about an hour and 30 minutes, and that includes taking the metro train to school, and then taking a shuttle bus to reach my college campus. The price of the D.C. metro also varies depending on if it's rush hour or not, so the price could be anywhere from $6.30 to $12 A DAY!
Because the city was mostly built before the invention of trams, the tram system is built around the city. This is why most of the "stations" and tracks are right at street level with only a few stations being underground. The street level "stations" are only separated from the sidewalk by some signs and by the sidewalk being slightly raised.
