My co-workers are so supportive and excited for me that it makes it even more exciting. Throughout teaching and getting my students ready for the state test I am trying to get all of my paperwork ready to apply for a visa. All I can say is…overwhelming! I may have done things a little out of order but that is due to the fact that everywhere I look for guidance has said something different.
I like to get the big stuff done first and I looked up flights! I found a bunch for around $600 but waited to determine a date since it was so far off. A week later of course the prices were all $1600 even with layovers and any way I could think to get the cost down, even buying a round-trip ticket with a hotel room included and just not going on the return flight. I thought the prices would go back down but they did not. My fiancé helped me find one that did not have three layovers and was only $520 from Newark, NJ to Paris, France and I jumped on it!
The next thing I had to worry about was getting a visa since I will be there for 8 months. Finding the website with all of the information was so difficult (I do not know why!). I was following different instructions from different consulates and it was a mess. I finally found the right one for me and tried to contact them since I will not be able to pick up my visa and need it sent to my hometown (In case you live in the South East and need the website: http://www.consulfrance-atlanta.org/spip.php?article605#2-Temporary-long-stay-visa-3-to-6). Nobody has responded to me but I have decided that if I follow what student visa’s require and I bring a Fed Ex envelope addressed and with postage that I will be fine (crossing my fingers!).
As I am getting all of the documents I need to find all of the forms, translate them into French, make copies of my passport, driver’s license, get passport pictures to put on the forms, write letters in French saying I will not work for pay, get notarized letters from my bank, etc. etc. I decide to check out making an appointment again. Now I realize that I should not have waited to get all of my forms first, and my appointment is two weeks after I need it to be! After I have the appointment it takes about 2 – 2 ½ months to get the visa and if my appointment is May 19th and I leave August 2nd. I am hoping that I get my visa in time, but what is done is done though and I must move forward.
I have decided to get the insurance that WWOOF members often go with (http://www.oveuropa.com/gb/index.html) just in case anything happens but not going crazy with the costs. Next up, I need to find a place to stay for a couple of days before I begin my WWOOFing experience. I have emailed about 7 people and only heard back from two. Once place is already booked for August and the other I was interested in for February (turning goat’s milk into cheese…my new favorite cheese). They said it is too early and I must wait to contact them again. I also just found out that Aix grows and harvests lavender in June and July….two of the only three months that I will not be in France. There are so many farms though for me to visit and an opportunity to go back to France in the future (is it bad that I am not even there yet and am excited to go back?).
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