Fromage du jour: Giordano's Chicago-style cheese pizza (that counts, right?)
Yesterday my father and I went to Chicago so that today I could pick up my student visa. We met a friend for lunch and in the evening went to see violin virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird concert at Millennium Park for free. Aside from some ridiculous animations, it was a good concert. He's friggin' talented! I think he did a little too much of the recording & layering at times-- it just got a little repetitive. I would love to see him again, though. Especially in Chicago, where security guards do not escort drunk girls who climb on the stage off of it-- no, they just push them. Today, we got my visa, we went to the Chicago Art Institute, and somehow made it home despite the flight delays on account of the incessant rain.
Finally getting my visa felt like climbing a set of stairs and thinking that there was one more step than there actually was. Painless, but mildly unnerving. That's it? That's all it took? I hand you these papers and $74, and I get to go to France? I've had such anxiety and so many nightmares about it-- I just knew that I would be rejected, I just knew there would be a problem with my paperwork like there was with a few of the other people I saw in the consulate! Last night I had dreams that I was rejected for the following reasons: my ethnicity, lack of exact change, lack of proof that I have a ride from the airport to the train station in Paris, and many other ridiculous things that I hope no embassy would reject you for!
At the airport I met Cobra Starship in the security line-- they're known for their Snakes on a Plane song. I knew it was them because "Cobra S" was written on everything they carried with them-- and because of my pure intuition, of course.
And then I went to a bookstore where I got into a discussion about books with a few people in the store. After that, I went to another bookstore to look for a book the previous store didn't have, and one of the guys from the previous bookstore was there. His name was Dwight. He recommended Jitterbug Perfume so highly that he said he would buy it for me if I wouldn't buy it for myself. He asked for a recommendation from me, and I told him to look at Welcome to the Monkey House by Vonnegut. While I was looking for the book I wanted, he went to checkout and on his way out of the store, pushed a book in my hand. Inside was the receipt, which showed that he had purchased the Vonnegut, and on it he had scrawled, "Hope you enjoy this! If not, return it! Stay golden, Dwight." No last name, number, or e-mail, and he didn't ask for any of my information. He must have been a benevolent librarian of some sort!
I like Chicago O'Hare! Obscure, indie bands and free books? Sounds good to me! I'll be passing through again on Sunday on my way to France. I'm nervous, and excited, and happy, and sad.
Showing posts with label visa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visa. Show all posts
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Things are coming together... but keep your fingers crossed.
Fromage du jour: Warm Brie
As today two of my sisters begin their first day of school I can't help but envy the fact that all they have to do in order to get there is swing by Wal-Mart to buy their supplies and then either walk or be dropped off by my dad at the school doors. I've been preparing for my first day of school since February, and I'm still not totally prepared! But things are coming together in a solid wheel of Brie, or so I hope.
+My Dell broke, and so finally, last night, I purchased a shiny new Macbook that I hope will arrive tomorrow or Saturday. It comes with a free iPod touch, about which I am quite excited. Getting new gadgets is ridiculously fun.
+I bought two pairs of walking shoes that I hope will last me the entire year, protect me from rain, and still look stylish enough so that I won't look too garishly américaine. One is a pair of knee-high black boots (Rieker), and the other a Mary Jane-style flat (Privo).
+I bought my plane ticket, but I'm still quite nervous about that, especially since...
+The earliest appointment date at the consulate was September 4. So, my dad and I will be flying into Chicago-Midway (I think) on the afternoon of September 3, perhaps enjoying a free Andrew Bird concert at Millennium Park that evening, and after a night in which I will not be able to sleep we will arrive at the French consulate at 9:00 A.M. and hope and pray that I have everything I need in order to be accepted for a student visa. If I don't, then I probably don't get to go to France-- my plane leaves three days after that, and if I don't have a visa by then, too bad for me.
+I've been talking to a few people from Caen on Facebook, and they've been very friendly and helpful. One told me that there are weekly salsa dancing sessions on campus. That's my kind of school!
I'm so nervous about getting my visa in order and finding my way from Charles de Gaulle to Gare St. Lazare to Caen. I'm trying to remain optimistic, and in this I can use all of the help I can get. Prayers and encouragement are much needed! Phone calls are also appreciated-- during the day, everyone is at work or school, and so it can get quite lonely with just my dog around!
As today two of my sisters begin their first day of school I can't help but envy the fact that all they have to do in order to get there is swing by Wal-Mart to buy their supplies and then either walk or be dropped off by my dad at the school doors. I've been preparing for my first day of school since February, and I'm still not totally prepared! But things are coming together in a solid wheel of Brie, or so I hope.
+My Dell broke, and so finally, last night, I purchased a shiny new Macbook that I hope will arrive tomorrow or Saturday. It comes with a free iPod touch, about which I am quite excited. Getting new gadgets is ridiculously fun.
+I bought two pairs of walking shoes that I hope will last me the entire year, protect me from rain, and still look stylish enough so that I won't look too garishly américaine. One is a pair of knee-high black boots (Rieker), and the other a Mary Jane-style flat (Privo).
+I bought my plane ticket, but I'm still quite nervous about that, especially since...
+The earliest appointment date at the consulate was September 4. So, my dad and I will be flying into Chicago-Midway (I think) on the afternoon of September 3, perhaps enjoying a free Andrew Bird concert at Millennium Park that evening, and after a night in which I will not be able to sleep we will arrive at the French consulate at 9:00 A.M. and hope and pray that I have everything I need in order to be accepted for a student visa. If I don't, then I probably don't get to go to France-- my plane leaves three days after that, and if I don't have a visa by then, too bad for me.
+I've been talking to a few people from Caen on Facebook, and they've been very friendly and helpful. One told me that there are weekly salsa dancing sessions on campus. That's my kind of school!
I'm so nervous about getting my visa in order and finding my way from Charles de Gaulle to Gare St. Lazare to Caen. I'm trying to remain optimistic, and in this I can use all of the help I can get. Prayers and encouragement are much needed! Phone calls are also appreciated-- during the day, everyone is at work or school, and so it can get quite lonely with just my dog around!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Visa Anxiety
Fromage du Jour: American. When you are stressed out about visas, or really, anything, like I am today, then you eat American cheese. . . on a whole-beef patty, with special sauce, on a sesame seed bun. Or however the song goes. It's unhealthy, it's processed, it's cheap, it's American.
Hannah Stone, a study abroad veteran, empathized with me when I told her yesterday about how anxious I am about getting my visa. Right now I am just waiting to hear back from my school, and hoping and praying that they get back to me sometime before I am supposed to arrive. I think that my adviser faxed them all of my papers, and while I am astounded by and grateful for the circa 1980's technology that allows a piece of paper to travel across the world by phone in less than a minute, I really feel like things should be moving along more quickly than they are. It will take a considerable amount of time for my Campus France papers to go through, and I can't begin that process until I have everything I need from school.
Hannah said that when you visit the consulate, you drop off your papers, and then it takes a few hours to process. It's near some of the best shopping, restaurants, and parks in Chicago, as well as the Sears Tower, so finding something to do shouldn't be a problem! Although, you know they charge about $10.00 for an elevator ride to the top of the Sears Tower? Crazy! It's worth doing once, though. I learned how to waltz on the top of the Sears Tower.
I also need those papers because I have been summoned for jury duty three times since March. Twice in the past three weeks, in fact. I've been excused each time, and the moment my excuse is up, they summon me once more. I finally told the nice people at the County Clerk's office (and they really are nice, I'm not joking!) that not only did I begin a new job at a law office the day they wanted me (last Monday), but I will be out of town the entire month of August, and out of the country until May after that, then out of state until August after that, and after all of this I will have classes at UK, so. . . don't waste the postage on this girl! They told me to send them the letter of acceptance from the Universite de Caen, so hopefully after that they will stop bothering me. I'm actually interested in serving on a jury, but they just send me those letters at the most inopportune times!
As I was typing this I received an e-mail from Caen giving me the link to a proficiency test. It is about two hours long. There goes my crazy Wednesday evening! Maybe I'll reward myself with a Good Foods lemonade if I score above a B1. . .
Hannah Stone, a study abroad veteran, empathized with me when I told her yesterday about how anxious I am about getting my visa. Right now I am just waiting to hear back from my school, and hoping and praying that they get back to me sometime before I am supposed to arrive. I think that my adviser faxed them all of my papers, and while I am astounded by and grateful for the circa 1980's technology that allows a piece of paper to travel across the world by phone in less than a minute, I really feel like things should be moving along more quickly than they are. It will take a considerable amount of time for my Campus France papers to go through, and I can't begin that process until I have everything I need from school.
Hannah said that when you visit the consulate, you drop off your papers, and then it takes a few hours to process. It's near some of the best shopping, restaurants, and parks in Chicago, as well as the Sears Tower, so finding something to do shouldn't be a problem! Although, you know they charge about $10.00 for an elevator ride to the top of the Sears Tower? Crazy! It's worth doing once, though. I learned how to waltz on the top of the Sears Tower.
I also need those papers because I have been summoned for jury duty three times since March. Twice in the past three weeks, in fact. I've been excused each time, and the moment my excuse is up, they summon me once more. I finally told the nice people at the County Clerk's office (and they really are nice, I'm not joking!) that not only did I begin a new job at a law office the day they wanted me (last Monday), but I will be out of town the entire month of August, and out of the country until May after that, then out of state until August after that, and after all of this I will have classes at UK, so. . . don't waste the postage on this girl! They told me to send them the letter of acceptance from the Universite de Caen, so hopefully after that they will stop bothering me. I'm actually interested in serving on a jury, but they just send me those letters at the most inopportune times!
As I was typing this I received an e-mail from Caen giving me the link to a proficiency test. It is about two hours long. There goes my crazy Wednesday evening! Maybe I'll reward myself with a Good Foods lemonade if I score above a B1. . .
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
How to Go to France
THIS BLOG ENTRY HAS BEEN EDITED so that it is more useful to incoming students!
Just like my experience thus far with going through the mess of registering for college and applying for my visa, at least, assuming it will all be worth it in the end. In this post I will tell you the steps you need to take in getting to France, and what the Universite de Caen will tell you once you have pre-registered for their school, and tell you what you do and don't need. If the links are dead by the time you read this, I'm terribly sorry! Let me know and I will see what I can do.
Firstly, you'll need to do the following in order to set foot in the country and have it show up on your transcript that you were there:
1. Passport: Apply for your passport as soon as you possibly can.
2. UK's Stuff: Turn in the study abroad form. Most of this is fairly self-explanatory. For Academic Approval forms, see the Director of Undergraduate Studies. For the Faculty Nomination form, I asked a TA. Faculty? No, but the only faculty members I had classes with were in the math and science departments, in huge lecture halls, so needless to say I did not know them very well. My TA was quite friendly and returned my form very promptly. My letter of reference also came from a TA, and no one raised a fuss.
3. Pre-register: Pre-register on Caen's foreign student website. After you do, you will receive an e-mail that will tell you what you need in order to complete registration. I will tell you what you really need:
5. Ticket: Purchase your plane ticket as soon as you know when you're supposed to arrive in France. There are many student discount websites for plane tickets, like statravel.com.
6. Copies: Make. Copies. Of. Everything. Of flight itineraries, of every single application, every form you fill out (especially your academic approval form), your birth certificate, your great-grandfather's immigration forms, your passport, and have lots of copies of your passport photo--anything to prove that you are, indeed, American and not looking for a job. Keep them all in a folder to be used when you need them, and take this folder complete with copies of everything with you to France. Maybe you should also have some copies stashed in a geocache somewhere in the Alpines, just to be sure. Also, bring lots of passport pictures. I've needed about ten since I've been here.
7. Visa: Once you have your application complete from Campus France (this can take a couple of weeks), proof that you have a scholarship/way of supporting yourself in France (obtain this as early in the process as you possibly can), the address of your dormitory, and the name and address of someone on the Twinning Committee to be a "sponsor," you have everything you need to fill out the visa form. The school will take care of sending what you need in order to fill it out. Find this here. Make an appointment and obtain your visa as soon as you can. It's unfortunately necessary that you visit the French Consulate in either Washington, D.C. or Chicago to apply for the visa in person. Convenient? No, but at least once it's done it's done. I have not yet been through this process, but those who have braved this journey before me have said that it's relatively painless, especially compared to the rest of what you had to go through to get to this point.
Chicago is about a six hour drive from Lexington, and there are cheap youth hostels to stay in if you don't know anyone there. If you can get someone to drop you off in Cincinnati, the Mega Bus runs between there and Chicago every day and you can get a bus ticket for a very low price, and arrive in Chicago in about six hours, certainly no more than seven. That's about as much time you'd spend in airports if you flew there, anyway! The Mega Bus stop is less than two miles from the French consulate, right next to the Sear's Tower and Millenium Park. I'm pretty sure there is a youth hostel around that area as well. Take a friend. Make a fourth of July weekend out of it or something.
Just like my experience thus far with going through the mess of registering for college and applying for my visa, at least, assuming it will all be worth it in the end. In this post I will tell you the steps you need to take in getting to France, and what the Universite de Caen will tell you once you have pre-registered for their school, and tell you what you do and don't need. If the links are dead by the time you read this, I'm terribly sorry! Let me know and I will see what I can do.
Firstly, you'll need to do the following in order to set foot in the country and have it show up on your transcript that you were there:
1. Passport: Apply for your passport as soon as you possibly can.
2. UK's Stuff: Turn in the study abroad form. Most of this is fairly self-explanatory. For Academic Approval forms, see the Director of Undergraduate Studies. For the Faculty Nomination form, I asked a TA. Faculty? No, but the only faculty members I had classes with were in the math and science departments, in huge lecture halls, so needless to say I did not know them very well. My TA was quite friendly and returned my form very promptly. My letter of reference also came from a TA, and no one raised a fuss.
3. Pre-register: Pre-register on Caen's foreign student website. After you do, you will receive an e-mail that will tell you what you need in order to complete registration. I will tell you what you really need:
- Copy of your passport-- Need
- Copy of your last and/or higher diploma translated into French or English-- Need
- 1 ID picture-- Need
- 1 birth certificate translated intoFrench or English-- Need
- Results of a TCF, TEF or DELF/DALF-- You take the test online.
- French transcripts if you were already registered in a French institution
- 60 euros of pre-registration fees-- This is paid for by the Twinning Committee if you're on the Caen Scholarship.
5. Ticket: Purchase your plane ticket as soon as you know when you're supposed to arrive in France. There are many student discount websites for plane tickets, like statravel.com.
6. Copies: Make. Copies. Of. Everything. Of flight itineraries, of every single application, every form you fill out (especially your academic approval form), your birth certificate, your great-grandfather's immigration forms, your passport, and have lots of copies of your passport photo--anything to prove that you are, indeed, American and not looking for a job. Keep them all in a folder to be used when you need them, and take this folder complete with copies of everything with you to France. Maybe you should also have some copies stashed in a geocache somewhere in the Alpines, just to be sure. Also, bring lots of passport pictures. I've needed about ten since I've been here.
7. Visa: Once you have your application complete from Campus France (this can take a couple of weeks), proof that you have a scholarship/way of supporting yourself in France (obtain this as early in the process as you possibly can), the address of your dormitory, and the name and address of someone on the Twinning Committee to be a "sponsor," you have everything you need to fill out the visa form. The school will take care of sending what you need in order to fill it out. Find this here. Make an appointment and obtain your visa as soon as you can. It's unfortunately necessary that you visit the French Consulate in either Washington, D.C. or Chicago to apply for the visa in person. Convenient? No, but at least once it's done it's done. I have not yet been through this process, but those who have braved this journey before me have said that it's relatively painless, especially compared to the rest of what you had to go through to get to this point.
Chicago is about a six hour drive from Lexington, and there are cheap youth hostels to stay in if you don't know anyone there. If you can get someone to drop you off in Cincinnati, the Mega Bus runs between there and Chicago every day and you can get a bus ticket for a very low price, and arrive in Chicago in about six hours, certainly no more than seven. That's about as much time you'd spend in airports if you flew there, anyway! The Mega Bus stop is less than two miles from the French consulate, right next to the Sear's Tower and Millenium Park. I'm pretty sure there is a youth hostel around that area as well. Take a friend. Make a fourth of July weekend out of it or something.
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