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!