Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Visa Application, Step Two

Wednesday, July 10.

Visa appointment? Check.

Because we both agreed it would be a lot easier to take this big step in our journey together (and because Molly has no other real way of getting to the French Consulate), Molly and I decided to make our Visa appointments together! We settled on Tuesday, July 9, just over a month before our August 16 flights to France -- late enough that we had all of our required documents and information, but early enough that we would have time to go back if something went wrong!

Molly arrived by train Monday evening. (Side note: I use Amtrak to get to and from school all the time, but for some reason, telling people I have to leave to "meet someone at the train station" makes me feel straight out of Downton Abbey!) Although I had entertained visions of us watching Midnight in Paris (a recent obsession of mine) and eating Brie while casually sifting through our well-organized Visa documents, that was definitely NOT the case.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Ma Famille Francaise

Friday, July 5.

BIG NEWS. I've finally received information about where I'll be living next fall!

Sue Watson, the British expat who is in charge of placing W&M students with Montpellier host families, emailed me just the other day with the exciting update. I quickly texted Molly and got in touch with Brooke, another W&M student participating in the program with us to hear about their housing situations! Molly will be living with a unmarried woman with a cat, dog, and big garden -- it sounds perfect for her! Brooke has a slightly different situation -- a married couple who work as a social worker and sustainable designer and who have promised to teach her how to cook. Neat!

As for me, I'll be staying just a few blocks from Molly with a physiotherapist, her husband (who works with computers), and their 13-year-old son. They have a pool and "two exotic cats" ... I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I'm excited to find out! Naturally, I looked up their address on Google Earth. It seems like a nice house, and according to Sue Watson, it's close both to the university and to a tram stop to get to the center of town.

I don't know much else about them, but it's crazy to think that after all this time, I finally have a name and address for where I'll be living in just over a month! It's finally starting to feel real.