Waiting

I have have some good news and some bad news...

Good News: I have stopped worrying about this whole French Visa thing! I mean it is so not worth it! Despite me knowing this previously, it was difficult to do, but now I am over it.

Bad News: The French Consulate called and said that the insurance paperwork that I sent to them needed to be in French (it was in English and Italian) and I would have to get it translated from the company and send it back to the consulate.

My Decision: I am sending in my cancellation letter for my visa. I have spent some time pondering this and even ranted about it in previous posts but after sending out about 12 more emails to farms and hearing nothing back (only one place got back to me and they said that they could not accommodate me) I feel like this is just not meant to be. I am trying so hard to do this WWOOFing thing and am getting no headway! The two friends of friends who live in France and who I thought could help me with getting my visa were too busy (well one just did not get back to me, so I take it that they are too busy instead of taking that they are rude).

I just wanted to take a year off and really relax. Get some new perspective, learn from new people, get some culture, and reflect on the last two years of teaching. I should have known that nothing is an easy ride for me...and I am okay with that, but I was hoping for something different.

Once they stop "processing" my visa, I suppose I will be right where so many of my friends began, ready to take a trip. I hope to be able to stay for 8 months but I may have to do some country hopping or return early. Others have taken similar trips with no insurance, no visa, and no worries; although I have insurance (although I am not sure how good it will be since it is only applicable when I am WWOOFing) and can make no promises about the no worries, I will be just like them with the no visa part of it.

For now, I wait for some farm out there to get back to me so that I can begin getting an idea of where I will be after my three days in Paris...