Zut Alors – Part DEUX!

Do you take VISA? Andrew does! To France that is. I got a phone call at 12:00pm in the afternoon yesterday from a seemingly desperate Baylor student asking for help with an insane online application to something we so furiously refer to as... CAMPUS FRANCE (music: DUN DUN DUN DUN! Lady screaming: AHH!)

The extremely organized and accessible French Embassy in Washington D.C. requires all students studying in France to fill out an application and pay sixty United States Dollars to a program that “helps” with the visa process. (Audience Laughs: HA HA HA!) This application takes two weeks to be processed and must be done before one can meet with the French Consulate. Poor Andrew, however, doesn’t have this application filled out when he discovers that he must obtain a visa within less than two weeks notice. He decides to fill out the application as quickly as possible and send his sixty United States Dollars the day he completes his application, only to discover when he arrives at the French Consulate that his application was not complete. It seems that he missed a few steps the first time he made an attempt. This is when I get a phone call from Andrew at the French Consulate in Los Angeles thirty minutes before the consulate closes. They had sent him upstairs all by his lonesome to fill out this impossible application on some random computer. I did my best to walk him through the process in hopes that they would have mercy on him and give him his visa before Washington D.C. had a chance to approve him. Did they? You had better bet your sweet tooshy they did!

If there is one thing I have learned about the French in this crazy process we like to call “preparation for studying abroad” is that they have got to be the most laidback group of people in the world! If you didn’t catch it already, Andrew called me at 12:00pm, thirty minutes before the consulate closes! THEY CLOSE AT 12:30pm! For what? They open at 9:00am, work for three and a half hours and go to lunch for the rest of the day! What a job! In the mean time they scare little college students into thinking that they won’t be able to make their dreams come true by forcing them to fill out applications half in English and half in French! Let’s hope that the Pilot of our plane doesn’t decide to work for only three and a half hours! We might have a hard time navigating ourselves over the Atlantic Ocean and landing in a foreign nation!

Mettez la Table!

J'arrive (I'm coming)! Today I purchased an international phone card from a local convenient store in Amarillo (Toot n' Totum) and called my famille d'accueil in Caen! Mme. Groussier was the one to answer the call, but I also got to speak briefly with M. Groussier. Mme. said that she and her family were very excited about having me stay with them next semester and had wonderful things to say about Caen. Of course, she chose to live there, so I would hope she wouldn't hate it; however, it was nice to get a local's point of view rather than a random website or Wikipedia.

I have read that there is a Baptist church in Caen, so I inquired to Mme. She told me that there is a strong protestant presence in Caen, but that her family is Practicing Catholic. She emphasized "practicing" because there are many people in France who claim to be Catholic, but don't actually go to church. She seems to be very religious and was very pleased to hear that I am as well.

In the French language, there are two ways to speak to a person using the word "you". One can use the formal/plural form "vous" or the informal/singular form "tu". To signify the use of the "vous" form, one would use the verb "vouvoyer" or to address formally. To signify the use of the "tu" form, one would use the verb "tutoyer" or to address familiarly. Because the French are very private individuals, one always uses "vous" when speaking to a person for the first time. If the French person is comfortable with you, they will insist that you use the "tu" form by saying, "On peut tutoyer (we can speak familiarly)." This is exactly what Mme. said to me as we were speaking. I responded by saying, "merci (thank you)" which I think she thought was sort of funny. I guess it would be like someone in the United States saying, "We don't have to speak so formally." and the other person saying, "OH THANK YOU!". Oh well, live and learn! Either way, I know that they are going to welcome me with open arms and that I will learn a great deal while living in France.

Oh, and by the way, Mme. informed me that her family doesn't speak English! Praise the Lord!

Zut Alors!

Eight Baylor students on their way to France! Easy as pie! Not so much! While some of us might have breezed our way through the Visa application process (it must have been the suit and tie!) others have not been nearly as lucky! This morning I received an e-mail from my friend Andrew who will be joining me on this voyage. The e-mail was entitled, "So I'm screwed and Dr. Valahu's out of the country". Dr. Valahu is the Baylor sponsor of the Baylor/Caen exchange program. It seems that my poor friend received an e-mail from the Caen sponsor of the Baylor/Caen exchange program, Eve, telling him that his business classes will begin on January 3rd. This is nice and all, except for the fact that Andrew wasn't anticipating reporting to Caen until January 31st like the rest of us!

Because Andrew is taking business classes instead of French classes, it seems that his program starts a wee-bit earlier than mine. I would envy Andrew for getting to spend more time in France than I, except for the fact that he didn't find out this information until ten days before his new departure date. Because he thought that he had almost a month left to fully prepare for his departure, he had not yet applied for his Visa. This is where the French term "Zut Alors! (D!@# IT!)" comes to mind. While "Zut Alors" isn't exactly considered cursing in French, I guarantee you that Andrew was not thinking French cuss words when he discovered this wonderful information! He now has t-minus 9 days to obtain a Visa, hop a plane, and get his derriere in Caen before the 3rd of January! To top it all off, he must get to the French Consulate in Los Angeles from Colorado Springs to get his Visa. LET THE FLAMING BAGUETTS FLY!

Ma Famille d'Accueil

Today I found out who my famille d'accueil (literally, adopted family) will be in Caen! They are a couple with two kids who live at home and three who live away, but visit on the weekends. The father is a cadre de banque, which means that he works in the framework of a bank, and the mother is a professeur des écoles, or school teacher. They live in an apartment in downtown Caen, so I should be fairly close to the university! Their last name is Groussier (pronounced, grew-see-ay). I just sent them an e-mail today and hope to hear back from them very soon! This is becoming more and more of a reality as each day passes!

Pour Obtenir un Visa

In order to study in France, it is necessary that one obtain a long-stay student visa. This doesn't seem like that big of a deal until you're a week or so away from your appointment in Houston and you envision angry French mobs with flaming baguettes hurling them at you while you try to fill out all of the required documents. This was my life less than a week ago.

If you ever plan on studying in France, calm down, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. When I got to Houston for my appointment with the French Consulate, I started looking for a massive marble building with a French flag the size of a Mack truck; however, what I found was a room on the sixth floor of a small office tower very reminiscent of the Department of Motor Vehicles. Needless to say, it wasn’t quite a suit and tie affaire.

All decked out in my black suit, green shirt, and gold tie, I was ready to go! My good friend Vanessa came along for support. When I was finally called up to the glass window (sound poof of course), I handed the nice lady all of my required documents via the paper slot at the bottom of the window. She was VERY laisser-faire about everything, as are most French people I have discovered. We spoke mostly in French, but when she asked me a question in English, I responded with my dear Texas accent. She said, “When will you be departing?” and I responded, “twonny fith a january.” No big deal! She acted like she knew what I said! She didn’t. When I was finally given the Visa Vanessa and I made a b-line for the door and to the car before they changed their minds. En route to find a place to eat, I decided to look at the Visa one last time. The very nice lady had written down that I would be leaving the USA on the 25th of February. We immediately turned around and headed back to have them fix it. Upon our return, we noticed that they had closed at 12:30! Luckily they had a buzzer to press that let me talk to the receptionist who let me in the door and found someone to give me a new visa!