It's not so bad...

Well, today is a good day in terms of France news. The woman who I should be babysitting for contacted me on Skype, and we talked for a while. I guess that they are getting a shower and small sink installed in the room I'll be living in, so I need a place to stay for a few days until that's done. No big deal. I also talked to her about my travel plans, and the strikes yesterday. She told me that if there is a strike that big, the public schools will just cancel school that day, and maybe have the local teachers come in just to watch the kids who actually make it. So, my snow day theory was actually correct! Awesome. That and Courtney once again made me realize my fears are unfounded (thank you!). I think that it's really annoying how stressed I get just because of the unknown...because once I find out the real answers or situations it's rarely actually something to be stressed about. Courtney told me before that one of her biggest lessons was to learn not to stress out and just relax with a glass of wine when things are out of your control. I think I REALLY need that lesson. I'm just so used to the American way of planning everything in advance, confirming, timely paperwork, responsive customer service contacts (or customer service AT ALL). But that's okay. I'm going with the intent of experiencing another culture. I'm sure it'll be frustrating at times, but there are a lot of pros to French culture (and the TAPIF program) as well:


1. I am actually going to get paid to teach instead of the slave labor I've been doing for the College of Education.

2. Health care (if they do the paperwork in time!)

3. Living in a place where traveling around the country and even Europe is easy and relatively inexpensive. Plus, being under 26, I can get discounts on said travel. Sicily, here I come!

4. An opportunity to build my fluency, and therefore get myself employed upon my return.

5. On the employability note, this whole experience of teaching in English in France will look pretty snazzy on the resume of a potential French and English teacher.

6. Making friends across the globe, and having the chance to actually experience another culture.

7. I am lucky enough to be babysitting for a family in exchange for rent, so I won't have to worry about spending my salary on housing. That, and spending time with a child and the whole family really will probably keep me from getting too lonely/homesick.

8. I won't need a car, and therefore do not have to drive in the winter, which I HATE. I really freaking hate Michigan winters, especially the torrential snow that lake effect creates in West Michigan.

9. Wine!!!!!!!!

10. FOOD. Getting fresh food everyday, the reddest strawberries I've ever seen, my favorite combination of mozzarella, basil, and tomato, and OOOOOOH the pastries! You can't fool drool! That list really did make me salivate...but in my defense I haven't eaten yet today.

I'm off to fax another letter to my school just in case, make copies of ALL of my paperwork, and get some more passport photos taken. Ha, as I was typing that I thought, "Meh. Maybe I'll do all of that tomorrow...I feel like relaxing." I might be better at the "relax and have a glass of wine" thing than I thought! ;)

Let's play catch up, shall we?

Oops. A lot has happened in terms of me preparing for France, and just in terms of life itself. Let's see…

1. I graduated from college!!!

One of the rare pictures of my entire immediate family, plus the best Grandma ever.

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My college roommates and I. The best friends a girl could ask for.

Even Dave came home! :)

Now, as the new school year is gearing up, I feel strangely free to no longer be in the choke hold of education and not have to go back to school. Now I am going to be on the other side of the educational process. After seventeen years, it feels wicked good.

2. I spent one last summer in Grand Rapids with my amazing friends, who I already miss like crazy. I lived off of barely any money but tried to do as much as possible. I spent time at Millennium Park, Lake Michigan, enjoying Grand Rapids in general, all sorts of summery activities, and most importantly I spent a lot of quality time with all of the amazing ladies (and gents) who I have become extremely close to. I got downstate to see my Ypsi friends and extended family. I went my cottage and spent time with my dad, and we went fishing for the first time in about ten years. Turns out I've still got it. I also got to see my Boston family, which I am so blessed to have. These pictures speak for themselves. They are also giant, but it was the easiest way I could figure out how to post them without making myself insane. Maybe I'll find a better way before France. I digress...

<3

On August 14th, my dad came to get me and we left for Livonia, and on the 16th, I officially moved to Los Angeles. I HATE goodbyes. Leaving Heather and DeAnna was the worst. When my dad pulled up we were all sitting on the porch bawling. I guess it wouldn't hurt so much if we didn't all love each other as much as we do.

So, now I am writing to you from Los Angeles. When I got here Dave greeted me with Peace Tea, a welcome balloon, and my very own set of keys to the apartment!

I must admit, it feels like a dream to actually live with Dave after four years of long distance. It's so great to see him EVERY DAY. We've been having a lot of fun, and our friend Kelly came to visit from Michigan for a few days, so we were in vacation mode (i.e. hemorrhaging money mode) for a while there. It made for a nice transition, and she is someone I feel very close to. That, and I have always wanted to live somewhere with palm trees.

Since then, I have been spending my time doing preparation for France. A friend of mine from Grand Valley who did the TAPIF program last school year introduced me to a family who she is babysitting for. They have a room available in exchange for babysitting their 3-year-old. It is in the heart of Paris. I am so lucky that I knew Courtney and that she was nice enough to give me a leg up.

Also, I now have my plane ticket. I leave September 20th, and arrive in Paris on September 21st. I found this airline called Air Tahiti Nui that has direct flights from LA to Paris. I Yelped it, and apparently it is the way to go. They seem to have the most legroom for an overseas flight, and when you board you get a pack including ear plugs, a sleep mask, and socks. There is free wine and the flight attendants wear flowers in their hair. Sounds pretty alright to me as far as 10 hour and 55 minute flights go.

Wednesday I braved the French Consulate. Man, they do NOT make the visa process easy. The forms have to be filled out in French (how non Francophones would do it, I have no idea) and if anything is incomplete you get rejected. Without a printer at the apartment that was a bit stressful, and filling everything out properly (and in CAPS, ugh). I took two buses to the Consulate. I found the building around 12:30 PM, and my appointment was at 2:15. I figured I'd go in and check it out so I knew what I was doing later. Apparently that was a mistake because the sassy security guard told me if I came in the front door again I'd be banned from the building for a month. THAT would have been nice to know. It turned out that you had to walk around to the back of the building and wait outside of a door with a bunch of word processed signs posted all over it saying things like: "RULES APPLY", "WAIT HERE TO BE CALLED", "HAVE YOUR PAPERWORK READY", "TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE NOW", etc. I was the first one out of the group waiting to be called in on the intercom, and I passed through a metal detector to show my documents to another security guard. I was told to wait in the next room. I presented my paperwork again, had my fingerprints and photo taken, and waited some more. After hearing horror stories, I was actually pretty surprised by how nice they actually were. The security guard even gave me a thumbs up on the way out.

So for now I am waiting for my visa in the mail, enjoying spending time with Dave, seeing/making friends, and getting set up in Los Angeles.