MY VISA CAME!

Great news, all.

My visa came!  I came home this morning to find that it had arrived with the mail yesterday (Saturday).  So, for those following, that would be exactly 5 days after I applied for said Visa.  All this hype about it taking 2-3 weeks, 10-15 business days, and it comes in 5...a little annoying if you ask me.  I knew it couldn't be that hard.  I had all my paperwork, everything ready to go, all they had to do was make this little stamp.

How frustrating is it that you can't really smile for these pictures?!  Smiling is my natural face, just let me smile for the damn picture.

I hadn't become too worried about it yet, which is apparently a good thing because I didn't need to be.  So thank you, French Embassy, for processing this in a timely manner.  I knew you could do it.  Huge weight off my shoulders!

Short post today, just wanted to share the good news.  11 days to go!

A bientôt,
J

The Beginning

Well, here we go.

For a few years now, I've been reading blogs of friends, following blogs I saw on pinterest, the list goes on and on.  And people have even asked me to blog about what I was doing all the months I worked for ASP (Appalachia Service Project).  The truth about not starting a blog during my summers/year with ASP (that any other staffer can attest to) is that there simply is no time.  (Also, more honestly, I didn't think anyone cared enough to keep up.  My life is truly not that cool.)  But, this next year, I'm starting a new chapter, and I think there might be a little more time, and maybe (hopefully) some stories that may be worth your time.

(Also, before we get too deep into things, please know that I have about 0 ideas as to how to make a blog look cool/fancy/appealing, so I apologize in advance.  I think I chose a layout that has a picture as the background.  What that picture is, I have no idea.  Maybe I'll upload a fancy french one in a few weeks, but no guarantees.  This blog also automatically synced with my gmail account?  Why, I do not know.  Just going with it.)

Anyways!  I leave for France exactly 16 days from today.  Wow, that came fast.  I am leaving the be an Au Pair for a year in a small village in east France, very close to the French/Swiss border, outside Geneva, called Valleiry.  I have never been to France, never even been to Europe!  But I was looking for a new adventure and have always loved and wanted to travel.  I have been nannying/babysitting all this past year, so it just kind of seemed like the perfect thing.  One thing led to another and here we are!  16 days away.  I'll talk more about the family I am going to work for once I get over there, but for now know that I will mostly be in charge of looking after two little boys, James and Matthew (so American, right?!) who are twin 3 year old boys (see below).  From the pictures I have seen, they are absolutely adorable.  And bilingual!  So are their parents, who seem wonderful as well.  Easy going, friendly people, from what I have gathered so far.  My host mom, Sophie, has been so wonderful about making sure all the paperwork and logistics have been worked out prior to my arrival.  I am truly so excited to meet them!

How cute are they?! And hello, new mountains!

So, I was finally sparked to start this blog today after my adventure to the French Embassy.  Let me start by saying that getting to the embassy itself should have won me a prize.  My appointment was scheduled for 9:15 am.  How many of you out there would enjoy driving into DC during morning rush hour?  Oh that's right, none of you.  So I decide I'm going to be smart and take the metro into the city.  Only downfall, the embassy is exactly 1.9 miles away from the closest metro stop.  I first think, "oh whatever, not that bad, I'm in good shape, I can walk that easily" until I remember that its summer, and about 90 degrees with 1 million percent humidity.  And for those that don't know, I am a sweater.  Not a glistener, there is no attractive way to talk about how much I can sweat.  So whatever, I leave my house super early, get to the metro station and on the train, run into a Jazzercise friend (Hey, Roxanne!), get into the city, and start my trek to the embassy.  Luckily, most of the walk was shady, I was no where near in a rush because I left so early, and I made it there after about 40 minutes.  Sweaty, though, very sweaty.  I honestly thought they might deny me my visa based solely on the fact that I was a mess as I was talking to these seemingly important french men.  

I had labored over making sure I had every last document and piece of information to take with me, and talking with the embassy guy went over pretty well.  I tried to stress the importance of the fact that I was under a bit of a time crunch, since I was leaving July 31st, and only recently found out that it takes 2-3 weeks to get your visa processed and returned to you (my first of what I'm sure will be many ignorant American moments over the next year).  One man said that surely I would have it back within two weeks.  But then after asking if I could pay an extra fee to have mine expedited another man replied with "The French, we take our time.  We do not rush things like the American's."  So, that was less than comforting.  Everyone cross your fingers that my visa comes back before I leave!  I can't technically leave the country without it, and changing my flight would be a real pain, too. 

I'm now mentally in the anxious stage.  Still super excited, obviously, but like...leaving in a foreign country for a year is a little intimidating!  Mostly, how the heck do you pack for that?!  I'll be coming home for Christmas, so I guess technically I'm packing for 5 months, but still.  I'll hit summer, fall, and winter during that time period.  Also, there's now all this technical stuff I need to do.  Go to the bank, At&t, get all those electronic adapters, blah blah blah.  Oh well, it'll all get done, eventually. 

Well, I feel this is certainly long enough for my first post.  Who knew I had so much to say?  (Just kidding, all of you probably.)  My goal is to update this at least once a week.  My work schedule once I get over there will probably allow me to get away and write at some cute french cafe a couple times a week while the boys are at school.  

Thanks for reading! Au revoir!