Va Va VISA!

Hopefully some of you got the Bassnectar reference.

My visa is ready!!! The French Consulate called me on Wednesday to let me know. That took under a week, nowhere close to 15-21 days. I was stressed for no reason. To say the least, I am glad it all worked out. I will pick up my visa (and passport) the day before my flight since I am flying out of Atlanta.

Now to worry about packing...well I haven't let myself think about it too much until after I take the GMAT Tuesday, which I have only studied 2 hours total for. Needless to say I am stressed out, and I am obviously in my college grad mode o.O

I currently procrastinating studying by watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics, which I feel is a good enough excuse-- at this point anything is really. I thought the opening ceremony was pretty strange...they always are and are never worth watching in my opinion. I didn't get celebrating the Industrial Revolution, but whatever floats your boat England.

France just walked on! I have been waiting for France to come on. I guess they are my second favorite team after TEAM AMERICA. Why does the US have to be basically dead last... that is all I am waiting for during this march of the world thing. I also have noticed that the opening ceremony is narrated in English as well as French, why not Spanish? But whenever the French is on, I am piecing together phrases, so I am proud of myself. Although things are really clarified when the English comes on after obviously.

Oh I also reached a goal of mine today-- I ran 5 miles! I have been running for over a year and, slowly but surely, been upping my mileage every now and then. Maybe one day I will do a half-marathon.

Well nothing else exciting to report here. I have 15 days until my departure. Hopefully my life will be worth reading starting August 12-- sorry to bore you with my pre-France stage.

À bientôt! (My international keyboard makes my life way easy)

The French Consulate

So annoyed… I was writing this blog post in this shitass hotel, and the power proceeded to go out, so I lost everything. I just got a new laptop, so I avoid using my battery when I can. Well that bit me in the ass… oh well, I get to relive my visa appointment for the third time, which isn’t exactly a bad thing because it went incredibly smoothly. I just knew something would go wrong, and therefore screw up my dream of my next year in France as an au pair, but it didn’t!

So my mom and I drove to Atlanta and spent the night because my appointment was early this morning. Right when we got into Atlanta—with huge, five lane highways and 5 o’clock traffic—a torrential downpour started. It was awful driving through, but we made it.

Anyway my appointment this morning. I have gone through so many hoops and long, agonizing waits for this appointment, so I couldn’t believe today was finally the day. Advice for getting a visa appointment—don’t wait on your French family to send you the work agreement before you make the appointment. Make your appointment as soon as possible because the website says it takes 15-21 days to process and get your passport AND visa back. I will probably go into more detail about this later on and create an Advice page.

I drove to The Lenox Building this morning where the French Consulate is, and arrived 40 minutes before my appointment.  There was paid parking for the Lenox Building or free mall parking a mere five feet away, so I opted for the mall parking of course. I went inside the building and wandered around before asking a random lady where the French Consulate was. I proceeded to the 5^th floor, and there it was—The French Consulate.

I had been waiting for this moment for so long; it was surreal. I was finally here, everything had gone smoothly so far, so I was waiting for a snag to happen at any point now. I immediately walked through a metal detector into a room with glass doors on the right and left, and then an office (behind a glass wall) in front of me with no one inside. There were people inside the left-hand door, so I tried to open it, but it was locked. So, I just waited for a few minutes hoping someone would tell me what to do from here. Eventually a man came into the office and greeted me with, “Bonjour.”

When French people speak French to me, I immediately respond with really fast English because I feel awkward not speaking French back and then even more awkward talking in English, so I replied with, “Hi,I’mhereforavisaappointmentat9:40am,” but  the man was nice and checked my name off the list and let me inside the left-hand door.

I walk inside and see two officials behind glass walls, and five people waiting to be assisted. The set-up was awkward because people waiting for their appointments were in the same room as people in their appointments, so I was all up people’s bus-nass.

A few people were ahead of me, and one Asian guy was getting a visa for just a seven day vacation to France? I was confused, but I he was Asian, so maybe he wasn’t an American citizen or something. But like I told you, I felt weird because I knew all about these people and why they were getting visas. Also, I could tell that the official behind the glass wall was really amiable, in a good mood, a generally pleasant fellow I’d say—not what I was expecting. To give him credit, I don’t think he was French.

Finally the guy called my name. The moment of truth (I really psych myself up for moments like these). I had read the list of what I needed to bring a million times , made copies of everything, looked business casual in my dress, had my visa money, had my phone on silent—I was ready. I walked up and told him I wanted an au pair visa (now all the randos get to hear my story), and he asked for all my papers.

I gave him everything, and he looked through each document doing his official business stapling and highlighting things. Then he asked for my flight itinerary. Here was the snag I just knew would happen. Um, this was not listed on the website anywhere. I read through that list a million times; it definitely didn’t mention a flight itinerary. So, I proceeded to tell him just that—what else could I do? He didn’t respond and kept doing his official handling of my papers.

Then he made me write out something to the effect of, “I, insert name here, intend to arrive in France on this day,” sign and date. I don’t know the purpose of this at all; it would make more sense if I had written a document stating when I would leave the country. After that I did some finger prints and a picture. He said to get the hair out of my face, so I swept my bangs to the side and my hair behind my shoulders (I think I look better with it in front of my shoulders), so there’s no telling how god awful my visa picture turned out. Can’t be worse than my passport picture. I have a deadpan expression with my eyes glazed over looking like I’m high on crack.

After that, I was free to go. I felt so elated because everything went so smoothly! Now I am just waiting for the Consulate to call and tell me my visa is ready. Hope it’s any day now. That reminds me… I need to call the Senator’s office to give them the “receipt number” of my appointment because they are going to try to pull some strings to ensure my visa is ready well before my departure date. Never knew the Senator’s office could do things like that, but they actually are worth something!

I wouldn't trust me to save a life

I took a CPR/AED/First Aid training class a few days ago. My French family wanted me to be CPR certified before I arrived in France, which seems understandable. However, I do not think I really should be certified after this five hour class. I only practiced on a creepy looking dummy for a few minutes after hours and hours of lecture, and we were given all this safety equipment that I will never have in a real life situation.

But alas, apparently I can save lives now. I hope I am never put in that situation.

In a few days, I am headed to Atlanta with my mom to go to my visa appointment. I am very nervous because (I know I am stereotyping here) French people just aren't that nice and friendly. I called the consulate a few weeks ago to discuss my appointment problems, which are fixed now (not because of their help), and they only told me exactly what the website said. They had accents, spoke fast, and didn't sound like they cared about my general well-being, so I quickly said, "Thank you," and hung up the phone.

Anyway, I am triple checking all the documents I need to make sure I will have everything. I have read they basically kick you out on the spot if you don't have everything, which will officially screw me over if that happened. So fingers crossed!

Also, mon petit ami officially got a job in Paris today! I am very proud of him and super excited. Everything is working out. He starts the day I start au pairing, so that's parfait aussi. Looks like I am going to Nice to visit him for a few days before we start our new lives together in Paris.

All in all a good day... 26 more days until I board my plane, but who's counting?

Je suis une fille au pair!

I have debated on when to start this blog, but I figure today is just as good as any other. So without further ado... this is me. I am a 21 year old recent college grad, and I am about to start my life as an au pair in Paris. A visa appointment finally opened up for July 19th, so I officially changed my flight today. I will arrive in Paris the morning of August 12th... a little more than one month. Since my my decision to be an au pair and finding a family in March, I have not known the exact date of my departure, so this is a monumental day for me. I finally know! (Not being able to plan this drove me absolutely cray).

How did I decide to become an au pair? Well the summer of 2011 changed my live when I studied abroad in Lille, France (as far north as you can get- a dreary and rainy, but absolutely lovely college town). The day I left Europe was a sad day indeed, but I knew it was a "see you later." I vowed to go back. (I kept a blog about this experience as well: http://francesummer2011.blogspot.com/).

So all through my last year of college (go wolfpack!), I contemplated how I was going to get myself back to France. I signed up with www.greataupair.com in August and didn't do a lot with it until 8 months later. I had ventured into other avenues to get to France-- grad school? a real job? backpack? But I finally decided au pairing would be my best (and most economical) option. So instead of spending Spring Break in a Caribbean paradise, I spent the whole week on my computer. I talked to numerous families. I skyped two, and the second one offered me a position! I took it a week later after seriously considering everything. In hindsight, I wish I had shopped around more, but I think I am going to be really happy with this family.

I am in contact with their current, American au pair. She stayed an additional year (she must have liked them well enough, right?), and she has been giving me all sorts of advice. Les enfants are 10 and 11 (so at least I am not changing diapers), so hopefully I will be more of their friend than anything else.

The one downfall is the family lives outside Paris (they say a 30 minute train ride). Not to sound unappreciative of this opportunity, but I wish I was living inside the city. But I am choosing to see this as a way to see more of France than just Paris. I will be able to escape the city and live with a real family-- not living that too-good-to-be-true fairy-tale Parisian lifestyle. Plus this town seems really quaint and cute-- I think I can deal with that.

I am also extremely lucky because I am moving to Paris (well-- close enough) with an already good amount of French friends and (yes!) a French boyfriend! Another reason my beloved N.C. State is awesome-- it partnered with a French Business school, so I made a lot of friends with French students this past semester including mon petit ami. Now my au pair in France idea came way before I met mon petit ami, so I did not make the decision based on him, but I am all the more excited now because of it.


So my next step is this visa appointment in Hotlanta. Hope everything goes smoothly. My airline flight cuts the 15-21 visa processing time pretty close (22 days), so I am in contact with the Senator's office (yes, I recently learned they can help you with "federal agencies"). Hopefully they can speed up that processing time a little bit, so I will be 100% in the clear!


Au revoir for now!