La Réussite

J'ai des bonnes nouvelles!

My appointment with the consulat général de france was a success! By the grace of God I managed to wake up early, get out of the house (later than I planned, but it all worked out so it doesn't matter), go to CVS and print passport size photos, go to the FedEx office and get the necessary envelopes, and make it to my appointment only five minutes late! I would have been right on time if my GPS hadn't told me it was on the opposite side of the street!

What goes on at an appointment with the French Consolate:

So it sounds a lot more intimidating than it is. Even the security guard seemed more intimidating than he was. At first I didn't like him because he seemed mean. He barked at me to come inside through the speaker, and upon entry demanded that he "wants that phone off," and shortly after ordered me to go outside and throw away my yogurt container. But somehow we ended up talking about my roots (I love this about Francophones, they always ask or try to guess my heritage, because everyone HAS to know where their roots are) and about his in Africa, and by the end of my appointment I was his "little sis" lol.

This was the process of my visa appointment:
1. Sit and wait for my name to be called
2. Walk up to the counter and hand over the required paperwork, which should already be filled out and photocopied as stated on the website. Easy!
3. Take fingerprints
4. Fill out FedEx envelope so they can send your passport back in the mail
5. Say "au revoir" and go wait for your visa to arrive!

Et voila, there you have it! It was really simple, and fairly quick. No interview, no millions of forms, no real hassle. So now all I have left to do is wait to hear from the teachers at my school so I can start preparing lessons for my students! I'm so excited. I genuinely hope the teachers like me, and that the students love me!

<3
Francesca


Oh yeah, I do have a peice of advice! For passport photos, a really cheap route is to take your own photo with a white background (mine was against the living room wall) and go to CVS and print them out as four wallet size prints. It only costs .29 cents, as opposed to paying 9.99 for passport photos! A passport photo is 2x2, and wallet size is 2x3 so all you have to do is trim the edges and you have the same exact thing for wayyyyyy less! I was so happy when I discovered this that I could have (and probably would have if he wasn't my neighborhood CVS guy) kissed man who helped me with the prints!

Bonne nuit mes poupettes! :)

Quelque Chose en Plus

J'ai oublie dire, mais:


IL Y A CINQ SEMAINES JUSQU'A MON DEPART POUR LA FRANCE!!!!!!


C'est IN.CROY.ABLE!!!!


Bon,

Bonne nuit a tous :)

Demain

Tomorrow is the big day!

Or...one of the big days. I have my appointment to get my visa for the French Consolate!

And being the procrastinator that I am, I have a checklist of things to complete before my appointment. And get this... my appointment is at 9:30 a.m.!! Did I mention that I'm not a morning person? Did I also mention that it's currently 1:21 a.m.?

I still have to:

-Purchase a FedEx Envelope stamped and ready to send
-Fill out about 10 sheets of paperwork
-Photocopy my passport
-Print 3 passport size photos

Comment dit-on "YIKES" en Francais?

I'll let you know how it all goes tomorrow! I used to think of myself as a superwoman when I was in college because I was involved in a million different projects and still managed to keep good grades. Well... looks like it's time to don the cape and "S" on my chest once again.

Bonne nuit!

J'ai Acheté Mon Billet!

Bonsoir!

Or I should really say "bonjour" because it's 3.a.m. right now! I couldn't sleep, so I'm on the internet reading through my e-mails from my contacts in France and my future flatmate.

Reading through these e-mails makes me wish I had started blogging sooner so I could share the joys of discovering new information bit by bit, because it really was (and still is!) like decoding the grand mystery that is my future in France. From randomly just deciding to call the academy all the way in France at midnight to find out which city I would be placed in, to discovering which schools I would be at, to making my first contact with the person who will be in charge of taking care of the assistants in france to my first contact with my roommate. All these small milestones are a part of the experience!

But I do have this recent news to share: I BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKET TO FRANCE! After realizing that waiting less than two months until departure wasn't such a smart idea, I became frantic and obsessed (just ask my friend Federica who's been staying at my house, I stayed up until about 3am and woke up the next afternoon and continued searching like some kind of fiend) about searching for the perfect flight within my budget.

So I ended up booking a flight with STA Travel for about 1,122. From LAX>CDG and returning CDG>Rome(layover)>NYC where I will chill for a bit and then do a one way back to LAX (have to purchase that one still!)

I am a Delta Skymiles member so I had to make sure this flight would count so I could rack up enough miles to cover my next flight to Europe!

The best advice I could give is not to wait too late to buy your ticket. Holding out for a sale is a good idea if your booking more than two months in advance, but any sooner than that is cutting it wayyyyy close! The price went up about 200$ when I did that! Yikes!

Until next time,

<3

Aidez-Moi!

Okay, so I have stumbled upon my first roadblock on the road to France.

FLIGHTS ARE SO FREAKIN EXPENSIVE.

So being the indecisive little girl that I so often am... I waited to buy a flight in hopes that I would catch some kind of miracle sale that covers a 74 day period with a return in the middle of December, a peak holiday month.

When I looked about a week or two, a flight from LAX to CDG (paris) was about 1,286. Now its almost 1,400! Yes, it's less than $200 more expensive, but that's a lot for an unemployed college grad!!! And so now I am at a crossroads. Do I continue to wait (um...) or do I just go for it? It's hard because I have limited credit and I'm cheap so big financial leaps like this take forever but I might just do it. I've been searching every possible option to save money. From one way flights, to flying out of a different state, to flying into a different country. No luck!

I'll keep you posted.

Qu'est que je fais?

Bonjoouurrrrr mes amis!

I don't know if anyone reads this, but I will be keeping this blog partly for personal purposes (I get pretty nostalgic and love looking back and reading my own opinions and descriptions of the things I've done), partly so my family and friends can keep tabs on me (on second thought...maybe that's not such a good idea, hehe), and partly (hopefully!) to help other future assistants, expats in France, and people looking to live in France one day make the big leap!

This is going to be such a big experience, and I can't wait to share it with you all! I will be writing in both French and English, so get ready to use google translate if you aren't familiar with the language! I'm hoping that I'll write better and better, and evenutally more frequently in French!

Je suis la petite papillonne

Oui, c'est moi! La petite papillonne. Je voyage tout le monde, et je cherche pour une place où je peux rester pour une moment.

A cette moment, l'endroit prochaine est.... LA FRANCE!!!!!

Je retournerai a la France pour travailler comme une assistant d'anglais á deux écoles primaires. J'habiterai á Noyon. C'est une petite ville prés de Paris. Je suis très excitée pour cet aventure, et je suis plus heureuse parce que je vais partager mes expériences avec vous!

Gros bisous!