...And We're Back!

Yours truly got the good news last week: it's back to France in the fall, this time as an assistant étranger d'anglais at (a) primary school(s) in the Académie de Créteil!

"What the heck is the Académie de Créteil?" you ask.  Why, it's the totality of schools on the western half of Ile-de-France.  Which could be awesome (life within the bounds of the Paris Métro ligne 8, s'il vous plaît) or awesome in a more rural, La Vie tranquille sort of way.  Of course with the Irishman living somewhere between Palais Royal and the Champs next fall, I think you know which I'd prefer...

 That's Créteil hugging the eastern side of Paris for dear life in this inset. (Depressingly,  this is a graphic showing how many jobs were cut in 2011 by académie.)

Oh, and the best part: they're paying me to come over this time -- roughly 800 euros a month to speak English to French children for 12 hours a week. Mmmhmm.

Have Visa, Will Travel

So le Jumeau and le Frère and I set out for our arduous trek to Houston on July 18. We arrived just in time to see the Galleria, eat dinner, review our forms and pass out. The only problem was that while le Jumeau and I were reviewing our forms, he had a letter from his health insurance provider, and I did not. (Merde!)

Turns out, just like the English version of the CampusFrance website is a big, steaming pile of ish, the English list of documents required to obtain a long-stay student visa on the Houston consulate's website leaves out some important tidbits of information (talk about à completer).

Each region's consulate demands different documents, and the list probably changes de temps en temps, but here is the latest version of Houston's, complete and in English because I love you, my hypothetical pre-exchange reader:

*valid passport with at least 2 blank pages left. Make copies. You might not see it again for a little while.

*1 long stay application form (a cakewalk after CampusFrance)

*1 OFII form

*1 recent passport-sized photo (head and shoulders) - I'm told you should go ahead and get a bunch of these made because we'll need more when we get there.

*letter of admission or pre-admission (?) to your French university - show it to them, but give the consulate a copy. We might need this at customs.

*letter from your American university to prove you are currently registered

*proof of sufficient funds - either a bank statement demonstrating that you can provide yourself with 430 euros a month, or a notarized statement from you parents saying that they promise to send you that much. Remember to check exchange rates to see if your bank account really can provide you with that much before you present it to the workers at the consulate (more on them in a moment).

*a prepaid Express Mail envelope. Fill out your information and sign it if you don't want to have to sign for it.

*a letter from your health insurance provider stating that you will be covered in France.

•Your CampusFrance proof of payment and completion of the application, just in case.

*visa appointment receipt, again, just in case

*about $11 cash, credit, or money order. Yes, another fee.

*If you aren't an American citizen you also need proof of your status in the U.S.

For more details about proof of sufficient funds and links to the OFII and application forms, here's the URL: http://www.consulfrance-houston.org/spip.php?article1068

If possible, meet with one of the older French ladies who work there. Be nice, throw in your best French phrases, and they'll probably overlook it if you don't have your health insurance letter. Everyone I know who has spoken to the older ladies nicely has gotten away with little faults in their paperwork. The girl I spoke to seemed determined not to let me in. She was American.

A highlight of our trip to Houston (big gray skyscrapers in a big gray sky) were the sales at the Galleria, which is just down the street from the consulate. I got this darling petite robe noir for 50% off at Benetton: (picture soon)

CampusFrance: Welcome to Bureaucracy

Before she left for Germany to be an au pair, my stepsister, Hélène, encountered a German woman on the streetcar. Hélène, who only spoke a little bit of German, must've expressed some concern about being able to communicate during her trip because the nice Berliner said to her, "Don't vorry. If you make ein mistake, de German vill politely correct you... Not like de French -- Dey don't vant you to know!"

While the statement may be based on an unfair stereotype, it sure struck a cord with me and my co-exchangers and good friends, Le Jumeau and Le Chef, as we were filling out the CampusFrance form. Why? Let me count the ways:

First there's the website. I get it, we're going to France, we should have a working knowledge of the language. Fair enough. I even started the application form in the French version, but when that became a bit iffy (and I really like to be sure what I'm answering on government forms) I switched the language setting to English. Apparently, the French Embassy's webmaster speaks about as much English as I speak French because all the hard words were still en français. Awesome. The website had a few other quirks. Both my inbox and my outbox on the site's email page - you communicate with them 100% on their terms; there is literally no phone number for CampusFrance - were labeled "list of received messages," the options for the type of education you have received are ludicrous.

Overall, the layout was kind of confusing and the expectations were extremely unclear. The user guide helped a lot: http://usa.campusfrance.org/en/1.html

With the help of Le Chef, who's very precocious, as well as my university's study abroad office, I discovered that I only needed to report my social studies grades and did not need to attach the "proof" the website demands when filling out the 3 part (each with 3 steps) "Education" section. But after doing this, clicking through the point of no return, and sending in my $70, I have a little box that says "Education à completer." This ambiguous phrase is rather terrifying when accompanied by the warning that if any part of your CampusFrance application is incomplete, well, no visa for you! Yikes!

Le Chef had the same message, and he is now the proud owner of a visa, so we'll see what happens when Le Jumeau and I get to the consulate. Yay roadtrip!