Visa? Check!

            Last week, I went to Houston for my visa appointment with the French Consulate.  I knew I probably didn’t have anything to be worried about, but it still made me a little nervous.  I didn’t want to forget anything, and I also had to make sure that I was there for my appointment on time, made all of my flights, was able to find ground transportation in Houston, and get a hotel room for the night.  Everything really needed to go off without a hitch because I didn’t have a lot of time left to make another trip down there if it didn’t.

The meeting went really well except for one minor glitch.  I didn’t have the right kind of envelope for them to send the visa to back to me in the mail.  I like to think I kept my cool, but I know I probably looked a little panicked when I found out about that little tidbit of information.  I was worried that I would have to reschedule my appointment.  Luckily, there was a post office within walking distance and I was able to come back by that same morning and drop it off. 

Other than that, the entire trip went swimmingly, and I received my visa in the mail about two days later (not even close to the expected ten day wait!).  I am so glad to have that out of the way.

Now I’m just kind of waiting.  All of my friends are back at school; a lot of my future classmates are already in Toulouse; and I feel like I’m just kind of chilling.  I’ve really enjoyed this break so far.  I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time relaxing, spending time with friends and family, and doing fun things like redecorating my bedroom, sewing, baking, and hiking.  I’ve also been working full time as an intern in the accounting department of a fortune 500 company located here in Arkansas which has been an incredible experience so far!

Right now I am just trying to enjoy my last few weeks in America.  I leave exactly three weeks from today!  So exciting!

Life Lesson Number One

If you talk to anyone who has ever lived abroad, among all of their fantastic stories of discovering new places and meeting incredible new friends, they will tell you that somewhere along the way they learned a lot of valuable life lessons too.  I just learned my first lesson, and I haven’t even gotten on the plane yet. 

If you don’t know me, I am a very “Type A” kind of person.  True to my personality, I was ambitious to be on top of every part of the application process for my study abroad program.  I was very successful too.  I got my application in two weeks early, organized a very thorough study abroad folder, and secured funding before I was even technically accepted to the program.  I had heard horror stories of what happened when a student had an issue with their university, scholarship, visa, etc., and I was determined that that would not happen to me.  Naturally, despite all of my planning, something went wrong. 

In order to apply for a French Student Visa, you must visit the French Consulate in Houston in person with about ten various documents and forms.  It was a little difficult to schedule this appointment because (1) the Consulate is in Houston which is fairly far away and (2) they are only open weekday mornings and I am working full time.  I managed to get a day off, book a flight, and make my appointment with the Consulate. 

Last fall, I had read over the requirements for the appointment.  Passport, application forms, French university acceptance letter, etc.  It all seemed pretty basic.  There was one document that I had assumed was the same thing as my acceptance letter.  Much to my chagrin, a week before my scheduled appointment, as I am getting together the required documents, I realize that that document that I had assumed was my acceptance letter was actually something entirely different.  I was supposed to fill out another application and wait three weeks for it to process so that I could receive this document required to apply for my visa.  Well I didn’t have three weeks.  Remember how I said I am a very Type A kind of person? Well, Type A people generally don’t react well when their carefully laid out plans go awry.  I was no exception. 

Long story short, I was able to reschedule my appointment and flight so it really didn’t end up being as big of a deal as I made it out to be.  The moral of this story isn’t to be so detailed and cautious that you never mess anything up ever.  Although it is very important to try to avoid making mistakes, it is much more important to know how to handle the mistakes that we are inherently going to make by staying calm, taking responsibility, and putting our energy into fixing the problem.