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! :)