Overnighted Visa Papers!

Oh man! Getting my visa forms together has been a real nightmare. I have to appear in person on Tuesday in San Francisco in order to apply and you have to have a ton of forms done and ready in order to be accepted. The only problem is... When your program won't give them to you!!!

I sent an email a month ago asking for them and got a stupid email back saying that my program coordinator was going to be out of the office for 3 weeks... WHAT. So I said can I get them before you leave since my visa is coming up and I got another email back saying how I am applying too early because you have to be within 3 months of when you leave. Which I was at the time!!! And I don't want to be waiting around hoping it will get back in the mail in time for me to leave so I am applying on Tuesday with it supposedly being done in 21 business days, which makes me consider now to then be the perfect time to do this. But then I get an email back saying how they will send them out mid June… Uh what. So then I wait until last week before I start demanding them again. And then my program coordinator sends us a link to CampusFrance which is a program that you have to get registered in the school system of France to be able to go, which is something that has to be done before you can apply for your visa. That FYI takes 3 weeks to get processed and confirmed. So naturally I did that in March and have been done for ages. But that was all they sent me. So then I called WOU to try and get a form and they were like we can’t give you that and also we don’t understand what you need it for. It was a certificate of Enrollment. That is it… GAH. So finally frustrated I called the main boss lady of the WOU study abroad office and she was like send me the criteria for what you need and I will call them and get this all straightened out. So she did that and not 5 minutes later I get an email from someone at CISabroad and it is a new person saying she just got moved to the France programs and that she is on it like a bonnet and will get that to me ASAP and will even overnight all my forms. So as of 6:15 a.m. today my forms are in the mail and set to arrive here at my parent’s house tomorrow.

Long story short: Get the forms started and done as early as possible, because I would have been really screwed if I hadn’t and had relied on my program.

Pre-Departure Orientation

So today I had a pre-departure Orientation meeting at WOU. And this morning I was checking my email with twenty minutes before class and had an email from the Study Abroad office that pretty much said “Hey! We think that you aren’t actually going abroad because you haven’t filled out all these forms that we never told you about!” And I was like uhhh what? So I emailed back and was like I was planning on going to the meeting but I didn’t know about these forms so I haven’t done them. I would be more than happy to do it by the end of the week. But I have class all day today until the meeting so I can’t possibly get them done! But luckily she was okay with it and I had a little more free time today than I thought I would so I got a lot of them done. But it was a bit stressful to say the least. I was blind sighted more than anything. But the ladies in the Study Abroad office are pretty nice so it all worked out okay. I also learned that the course equivalencies are back with the exception of one so I need to make an appointment with them to sign up for classes. So that is exciting! The only problem is that now everyone who was at the meeting today is going to try and do it all at the same time… But that’s okay I will be around this summer too. But it would be really nice to get it done soon so that I could know what I was doing.

The meeting today was pretty good. I had thought that it was going to be really boring and more of a “let’s all meet everyone else who is going abroad!” but not necessarily anywhere near where you are going… And we did that but it went pretty quick. They covered a lot of important information like packing, finances, transportation, insurance, how to travel by yourself, how to find health information, whether to do this and that. It was pretty good. PLUS! They had it catered with free food! So that was like a special bonus treat. I remembered when I got there that one of the guys in my French class is going to Angers, France. So we sat together and talked about France stuff. They gave me a folder with my name on it with a bunch of information about culture of France and general study abroad stuff. I learned that it is really smart to use freezer bags to pack shirts because you can condense them and they take up a lot less space. But they have to be clear or else you run into customs trouble. Also they say to get a good pair of walking shoes and break them in now. So it’s a good thing that I am on the ball with that one! I was really excited when I got out and have been getting more excited as of late. But then once I got to my car to go home I realized that I had locked my keys in the car… oops. That was a bit of a buzz kill. But I got it figured out. 

I am really excited though and still a bit nervous. I also applied for an ISIC card which is like 22 bucks but comes with some more insurance and is required to have to leave. But I guess that it also gives you some discounts at different places… like Target and Macys! Woot woot! Overall a little hectic but informative day :-)

A Little Teaser Video

So I have been stalking some online blogs from people that have gone on study abroad in the area that I am going to. And I stumbled across this video that I found to be super cool. So I started following the girl who made this video and have started to kind of get a foot in the door with her to find out all I can about her experience to see what it was like and what she recommends and stuff. So that is cool that I found her on the internet. (Thanks Tumblr!)

Anyways this is a video that she made to recap her experience and I asked her if I could share it on here. But I think it is nice to kind of see a little of what happens and stuff. Also I watched it and looked at everyone's clothes which felt a little strange but important!

This past weekend or I guess yesterday really though it seems so long ago, I went with Kristen and Chelsea to go shopping for some new clothes for France. They dress a lot more stylish over there and a lot nicer than clothes that I typically wear so I figured if ever there was a time to style up my wardrobe it is now! So I bought I think two tops and four dresses as well as a few tank tops. Overall it was a fun experience to try some different things on that I typically don't wear to find things that I liked and made me look good without being too foreign. It was great to have some help along in order to get some other opinions or else I probably wouldn't have bought anything because I would be thinking "I never wear anything like this!" But it is just because it is different not because it is bad. :-) But I am very excited about new clothes and things. I want to get a pair of flat boots to take there because I think they would be very handy and go with everything, as well as a pair of not athletic tennis shoes and another pair of leather sandals. I have heard that shoes are very important there so I want to be sure that I don't stick out TOO much but rather have the true cultural experience.

It is now less than three months until I leave and with it already being June I am sure the time will just fly by!
Speaking of flying my mom got my flight changed to the new dates (with only being on hold an hour and basically being blamed for THEIR mistake!) But I again am going to be getting there a day early than I am supposed to. But it was cheaper to go a day early and get a hotel room than fly in on the correct day because it changes from a Friday flight which is expensive to a Thursday flight (which is cheaper). So today my mom booked me a night in the Best Western Marseille Aeroport, it looks nice and will work great! And it is only 300 meters from the Aeroport! I am again happy to be getting there a day early. I think that it will be nice to have the time to adjust myself to the time zone and take a shower or nap on my own time before I meet my family. :-)