Home?

I guess I've decided that I'm going to continue blogging since my travelling adventures will resume in May with a trip to Australia and New Zealand. However, I do have to warn you that things will probably be pretty bland throughout my school semester so I can't guarantee this will be an interesting read, especially compared to my fun filled weekends abroad.

After my ski-trip-filled-holidays things have kind of settled down in regards to my location as I'm stuck in E-town until at least the Family Day long weekend due to classes and my need to make some $$. I've been here for 5 days solid now -- which feels like ages to me -- and a full week of school under my belt. My course load is not too heavy (only 3 classes) so long as I passed all my classes in France (I'm still waiting to hear as grades are not due for the profs until Jan 28). I'm back to work as a server at Hudsons Bourbon Street to try and fund my August adventure. I'm keeping the location under wraps (for those who don't already know) until I'm sure about it because I think it might make me more bummed if I talk about it and get excited and then it doesn't work out for some reason.

Well...what do I have to say about being back in Edmonton? It's been mentally challenging -- I am definitely experiencing reverse culture shock even though it might not be outwardly obvious. Maybe I was expecting more comfort from seeing my friends and family than I actually feel but something still feels "off" for me. It's like everyone went about living their lives and not much changed but a whole lot in me changed, and being planted back in this monotonous seeming life is just kind of a let-down. I know I can't expect that I can travel to different countries, on weekends, for the rest of my life but it still feels strange. I am still enjoying being close to family and friends but that also means that I'm further away from other friends.

Another thing I already knew from my experience in Montreal, Panama and Bolivia, is that when you stay somewhere for either a long period of time (over a month) or when your life is affected significantly during the trip, you leave a piece of your heart behind. What you thought was your home (in my case, Edmonton) slowly becomes more simply a "home base" with numerous other places you can now call home. You leave your heart behind in the environment, in the culture of the country, in the language and in the relationships you built. All this just makes it that much harder once you've returned to the "home base."

On a lighter note, there are some things that I appreciate more now that I'm back in Canada -- things I had in France and am only working towards in Edmonton.

1) I find more peace in solitude. For those of you who know me, you know I'm an extrovert with a jam-packed social schedule. I realized I actually quite enjoyed the nights to myself in France when I was done working on homework and could just pour myself a glass of wine and read, watch tv or enjoy my dinner. Don't get my wrong, I quite enjoyed hanging out with friends in Grenoble and my busy weekends of travelling but the peace and quiet was nice every once in a while. BUT it is still a constant challenge for me to slow my life down, especially after being away for a semester, but I'm trying...always trying.

2) I have too much stuff. I kind of started learning this lesson a long time ago but it was more in the sense that I became grateful for the things that I have in comparison with those I met in both Bolivia and Panama. Ultimately, I think I still felt like I needed to have those things around me to feel comfortable. Living in France with not much to furnish my room really showed me that extra things I have don't keep me happy and don't add anything to my life. Don't get me wrong, you won't see me tossing my things and living with the bare minimum but the clutter in my life is actually getting to me now and is most definitely going to be reduced.

Just some of the stuff that has been on my mind as of late. Some of it still needs to be processed too so I'm sure you'll be hearing more in the coming months. Enjoy your weekend!

Bittersweet

Here's a little snapshot of where I'm at now. I have:

ONE full day remaining until final exam week starts (with 4 exams to write).
FIVE days until final exams are over.
FIVE and a half days until Jess and I leave for Marrakech, Morocco and most of my friends leave Grenoble.
TEN days (or just over) until I land at the Edmonton International Airport.

Every day that passes seems to be bittersweet. I'm looking forward to going home and seeing my friends and family again but everytime I think about it I am countered with the thought of leaving France and all of the friends I've made who have become my 'away from home' family. I hate the thought that I might not see some of them ever again. I'm sad that the time and effort I've put into these relationships might be 'all for not' if we struggle to keep in contact, but at the same time I'm excited to have new friends across the world, whom I can visit, as well as new travel opportunities.

I'm a little bit scared to return to Canada. Scared that it will feel different, for the adjustments I know I will need to make and scared that I will feel like I left part of myself or my heart in Grenoble. Even a little bit scared that I will settle back into my 'normal life' far too easily and not let myself be challenged by the things I've learned and what I've experienced.

No matter the mish-mash of things that I'm feeling I am certainly going to try to enjoy my last few days in Grenoble and in Europe in whatever way I even can. I write this with a sense of frustration because I wish to be living this week to the fullest and doing everything I enjoy however, the need to study for finals is a huge hinderance on my ability to follow through. Unfortunately, that means that my next 4 days will be spent in little contact with others, cooped up in my apartment, trying to pack as much knowledge in as my brain can currently handle. It also means that you should consider this my last blog post until I land on Canadian soil, or at least until I return to Grenoble (for 6 hours) after Morocco and before my departure from Europe.

Oh and with all this stuff going on its even more exciting when the thought comes to mind that there's actually only 2 weeks left until Christmas!! (just a little bit excited)

Until next time.

Chartreuse Anyone?

Just a quick post compared to the others but I wanted to mention a neat place to check out if you ever come to the Rhone-Alps area of France. After finishing two major group presentations last week, Jess, myself and Charlie (a friend from the UK) headed to Voiron, France on Wednesday November 24th. We did not pick this small town at random, rather it is home to the Chartreuse caves, unique to France and to this area specifically. So alcohol, plus the cheap train tickets of only 5 euro, were essentially what drew us to Voiron for the afternoon.

Voiron was only a 15 minute train ride from Grenoble but there was not much to look at while there, other than the Chartreuse caves. After some cafe au lait at a local shop to kill the time (since things are closed from 12-2pm) we headed down the road to the caves. Luckily, entrance was free (important for us poor students) and we enjoyed our tour, which ended with a free tasting!

Chartreuse is a liqueur made by the Cartheusian Monks since the 1740's. To create the flavour, alcohol is mixed with 130 different herbal extracts and aged for years. It ranges in alcohol content from 40-55%. Most people don't realize there are so many types of Chartreuse as restaurants and bars in Canada tend to only stock the green (55%) version and it's quite expensive at that. During the tasting we had the chance to try the green and yellow Chartreuses along with Genepi (a liquor featuring local mountain flora). In addition, there is Chartreuse VEP which is aged longer in oak casks, Liqueur du 9eme Centenaire and Chartreuse 1605. Lastly there is the Elixir Vegetal de la Grand-Chartreuse which is the original version/discovery of Chartreuse. Historically it was thought to lengthen people's lives but now you can actually find it at the pharmacy and mix a drop or two with water or sugar in order to help with digestion.

I ended up learning a lot and enjoyed the day of relaxing away from school and homework in general. We picked up some regional wine on the way home to finish off the evening with a hot dinner and glass of red. Always makes my day. Okay so I guess this wasn't such a quick post after all...

Annecy

After Venice I only had to make it through 3 days of classes before it was the Armistice Day long weekend. It was so strange to experience this holidays without seeing every second person walking around wearing a poppy on their jacket. However, I remembered the soldiers just the same and enjoyed the time away from school. Jess and I didn't have another major trip planned since travel was expensive at this time due to the long weekend, but we had decided to do some local exploration and check out the town of Annecy, France only an hour train ride north-east of Grenoble. It has been under either Swiss or French control for the last 100 years so has much influence from both cultures.

Annecy already had the reputation of being a beautiful town and oh did it ever live up to those expectations. First, the weather a balmy 16 degrees on Saturday November 13 and the sun was shining on us all day, reflecting off the turquoise-blue Lac d'Annecy and the snow capped mountains. We were able to walk around without our jackets off and bask in the sun's rays as we walked along the side of the lake watching the rowers, kayakers, playful children and just enjoying the amazing day we were given.

Our day mostly consisted of wandering around and exploring but we did discover a gelato shop with at least 30 different flavours to choose from, some tasty cookies, the old part of town and Le Chateau at the top of the hill (which ended up just being a museum inside that was not as interesting as we had expected).

I was glad we were able to get away for even just the day but it was kind of depressing when we returned to Grenoble since I realized I had no other trips planned until after finals, which was over a month away. In retrospect I lucked out because it didn't stay that way for long. But thats for another post, another day!

Thanksgiving

Okay, okay so I know that's not until next weekend (at least for us Canadians) but seeing as I will be in Amsterdam, Netherlands without computer access I will write about it now. For some reason thankfulness has been on my mind lately too. Maybe it has something to do with the amazing experiences I am having or the incredible scenery around here....or maybe just the fact that I've had lots of reflection time either on the tram, trains, busses, planes or walking. Also, I had my first option class yesterday and I'm taking International Humanitarian & Development Intervention. We talked about countries in need of aid and UN assistance and that also got me thinking on the things I take for granted, either here in France or in Canada. Or maybe God was just trying to get me to realize how lucky I am. Most likely a mixture of all those things.

Either way, during my time living in France I've gone through some periods of missing the comforts of home and sometimes missing the predictability of my life in Canada (although that part doesn't usually last for long). Because I've been fighting a brutal cold this last week it seems my desire for those things was recently heightened. However, as I was walking home from a marvellous shopping trip this afternoon, I flipped a switch in my thinking and started considering all the things I love about being here. Don't get me wrong...thats not a rare occurance as I am so enjoying my time here.

I know this list could really go on forever but these were some of my more recent considerations.

I am thankful that:

-I live at the base of the French Alps near a river full of clean glacier water with a gorgeous view to be had, everyday
- It's October 2 and I was able to wear a tank top, shorts and sandals today (even though the lady at the grocery store asked me why I wasn't cold dressed like that--which makes me consider that this is normal weather for them)
- I have hot water to shower with and a warm apartment
- I have a computer to keep in contact with friends and family
- I have friends in places all over the world
- I have the ability to travel freely, without persecution, all over Europe
- I can afford to buy food to feed myself
- I feel am living in a generally safe place where I have no fear of being shot or attacked on my way to school and to the store
- Although I may be fighting off illness, I am not in an area suffering from malaria, malnutrition, exposure and dysentry
- My walls are thin and I often wake up to screaming kids or loud footsteps but I am not waking up to bombs and gunfire
- I learned French when I grew up and can now get along on a daily basis in a language other than my mothertounge
- I got to enjoy Haagen-Dazs icecream AND a dark chocolate-banana crepe with Jess this afternoon
- There is an English speaking church in Grenoble
- I am privy to an education
- I am loved

As I walked contemplating all these things I really was overwhelmed at how much God has blessed me.

As it comes close to Thanksgiving, try to consider not only the things directly around you for which you are thankful but the things you might take for granted, which people in under-developed/war-torn countries are likely missing. Now consider how lucky and blessed you really are.

Dania

Party Time

I have to say I told you so. I told you I fail at keeping journals and thus am also failing at updating this blog AND I bet it's just going to get worse as the semester wears on. Either way, here I am again backtracking on the last week or more.

I spent most of last week settling in to life in Grenoble after all the random travelling thus far. Grocery shopping, getting internet at home, doing laundry and catching up on the things I hadn't accomplished during the first week which Jess and I spent in Spain instead. We also had more orientation sessions to attend and had to get our supplies for school. Unfortunately I learned that France does not like to use regular, lined, looseleaf paper. Nope. Instead, they use some weird graph paper type thing and their paper sizes and binders are all longer than ours in Canada. I accepted this eventually and went searching for a clipboard to carry notes back and forth to school. Nope. Couldn't find one of those either. An agenda with a monthly calendar also? Nope. And yes, randomly, peanut butter? Nope again.

Anyways, it was clearly a discovering week, discovering all the things France doesn't have that made me miss Canada just a little bit more. In the end the week was not a bust as we spent Wednesday (Sept 15) on a team building adventure where we hiked up the the Bastille on the mountain and got to play a variety of sports, eat baguettes and pain au chocolat, explore tunnels and just enjoy the 26 degrees it was that afternoon.

Let me tell you that the French like to party. It all started Wednesday evening. Yes, school was in session for some people but there was a party in one of the residences for the Mexican Independence Day from 9pm til oh, 5am...however, I decided to be lame and hit the hay that night since the sun at the team building event about drained my energy. Probably the best plan since you couldn't move within the room and I heard the police ended up at the residence to break it up anyways.

Then came Thursday. Jess and I decided we needed to integrate ourselves more with all the other students at GEM so we signed up for the Bureau des Estudiants' (BDE - Student Union type thing) Integration Weekend or Week End de Integration (WEI) as the French would say. We were to leave for an unknown location in the south of France, on the Mediterranean, on Friday at 1:30am in the morning. Well I figured I'd sleep til then, get up and catch the bus and fall asleep again til we got there in the morning. Boy was I wrong. We soon found out we were supposed to meet at 7:30 for dinner and then at 10:30pm for the pre-bus party at someone's apartment. Let's just say everyone was pretty drunk by the time it was 1:30 and time for us to board the bus. Did the party stop? Hell no, this is France. And it continued all the way until 6am, about an hour before we arrived and the point when everyone decided it was finally time to put down the microphones and sleep for a bit.

I eventually found out we ended up in Canet du Plage, France which was very near to the border of Spain. Needless to say the weekend was awesome even though it proceeded to rain most of the time. Some of the activities included hanging at the beach, paintball, bumper cars, human slingshot, mini rodeo, foam party, random drink parties, inflatable slip n slide, etc. Some sleep was had and also a lot of fun. The 6 hour drive took us home Sunday afternoon and I prepared to start classes for the semester on Monday morning! Yup...that's the boring part of this all. Haha.

The only thing about Integration Weekend that I would mention to future students of GEM is that it seemed to be mostly French students who went. As a result, not much "integration" actually happens unless you are willing walk up to a random stranger and strike up a conversation in French. They do appreciate the effort though but sometimes the conversations are short-lived.

So...I'm headed off to Switzerland tomorrow with Jess to meet up with a friend and head to Oktoberfest but when I get back I'll share a bit of my first week of school experiences as well as some of this upcoming trip.

PS- I just sucked it up and bought a replacement camera today so there should be more pictures to come on Facebook. And one of these days I'll add some to the blog so your eyes don't start to cross from all the reading.

A la prochaine (no I can't figure out accents either on here for the French words)!

EE-KAY-UH

And I'm back. Yes, I might be posting one after another today and tomorrow just to catch you all up. Don't worry, you'll have less and less to read as time goes on.

My second day in Grenoble started with an early morning wake up to meet my landlord at the school and sign my lease (yes, it was in French, and yes, I understood almost all of it). He took me and my luggage to MY apartment** to get settled in but realized he had left his key at his house, up a mountain. Jess and Kathi (another student from Germany) met up with me as I waited for my landlord and we managed to stumble across a patisserie for lunch. Once I got my luggage inside we decided to head downtown to “centre-ville” to take care of some things and look into heading to Egypt for the next week (since international orientation doesn’t start until September 9).

**In actuality I am living in Fontaine, France. Its basically right across one of the rivers that runs through Grenoble and feels just like a different neighborhood rather than a different town. Really it's so close that it still only takes me 15 mintues to walk to Grenoble Ecole de Management/school/GEM.

Once downtown, the girls and I started with getting cell phones, so we could be connected to the real world again, and stopped at the bank (LCL) to confirm my housing insurance (1 Euro per year for students) by providing my new address. Might I add this was the second time we had been to the bank since they all close, and at random times, for lunch. This isn’t just banks but stores and restaurants as well. Jess and I were disappointed to find out from the travel agents that tours to Egypt only leave Lyon (the main airport for us that is actually situated almost an hour away) on Sundays and Mondays which would mean we wouldn’t get back in time for school orientation. Thus, Egypt became a NO GO and I was thoroughly dissapointed.

After buying a few things from a drug store (Schlekers) we hopped on a tram to IKEA, which I discovered is pronounced EE-KAY-UH and if you don’t say it that way then the French will have no idea what you are talking about. We got a ride from the metro to IKEA by some random lady we had asked for directions whose motivation seemed to be that maybe we would then believe that “the French are sympatic (ie. the French are nice people)." The IKEA trip left us with heavy bags of dishes, pillows, sheets and floor mats and a sad Dania who discovered that they only serve Swedish meatballs for dinner on Thursdays and Fridays. This has been noted for next time we make a trip to IKEA.

Well, after IKEA we were hungry so of course we decided it was a good idea to stop at the Géant Casino(a superstore/Wal-Mart type thing) for some food for dinner…WITH our IKEA bags. We were wrong. This trip was followed by much complaining, hunger and impatience as we worked out our shoulders and biceps like never before whilst carrying our massive and heavy bags all the way home. In the end Jess and I arrived at my new apartment and enjoyed a meal of Swedish meatballs, salad, fruit and a fresh baguette.

Arrival

Alright so I have now stopped to breathe long enough so write a blog post after arrival. Because I said I would love future exchange students to be able to take advantage of my blog before they head to Grenoble, I will make the next few posts pretty detailed (with sometimes boring information) that would be useful for others who visit/come to live in this town. As well, I will be posting for the past week so there will be some back-tracking involved.

It has been a ridiculous first week in France so far. Many of you have been updated by my Facebook statuses or have emailed me so thank you for that. It's always nice to stay in touch with eveyrthing going on in your lives as well.

For future reference, if I haven't already mentioned, I am flying to Grenoble with Jessica Steingard, another student from the U of A Faculty of Business. We have spent a lot of time together preparing for the trip and will be traveling together in Europe I'm sure. You can check out her blog as well if you're interested.

My trip to Grenoble, France began with a 3AM wakeup call on Sunday (August 29) morning after only heading to bed at midnight. The flights were fine and there was of course a lack of sleep, some of which was made up for with my 2 hour nap, on the floor of the Toronto airport, in the middle of the afternoon. The craziness began when our flight from Toronto to Frankfurt landed a little bit late and then they didn’t let people off the plane for a good 20 minutes. This would have been fine except for the fact that we really only had an hour and a half layover, which was now reduced to one hour. Luckily we already knew that we didn’t have to collect our bag and they were going straight to Lyon but that didn’t stop the insanity. We followed all the people to the “connecting flight” area which then became a “passport control” area…ie. customs. The line up was ridiculous so I knew from immediately we weren’t going to make our flight if we waited through the whole thing. I asked one security person for advice and they pointed me to the info booth who then pointed me to the customs officer who then pointed me to the customs officer in the different line up who then said it was up to me to ask the people in the front of the line if we could get in front of them. Well, luckily at least one person could understand some English, and passed the message onto the others who let us through. Home free…we thought.

Well then we scrambled along and arrived at security and then proceeded through a similar process as there was of course, another long line. Jess and I then found out we were in the wrong terminal. Well in the Edmonton airport this is not a big deal, however, Frankfurt was a different story and we hauled our butts down some stairs, through the terminals, up an elevator and made it to the gate after everyone had already boarded. Luckily we still made it our flight and landed in Lyon on Monday (August 30) morning like planned.

We had some difficulty finding the school once we arrived as the roads turn unexpectedly and the train station seemed a little convoluted for us who are not used to taking the trains on a regular basis. After ditching our luggage in a room at the school we met the ALOHA team (welcome desk for international students). They helped me set up a bank account, get housing insurance and then started helping me search for an apartment. I could barely keep my eyes open and hadn’t had much to eat but I made it through the day. By the end of my first day I had looked at 4 apartments/studios and already informed my landlord that I wanted to sign a contract for his place, although this couldn’t get done until the Tuesday morning. I’m happy I had pre-arranged temporary housing with a student from ALOHA for that night but they weren’t very organized in that aspect and I didn't know where I was sleeping until 10PM. In the end it worked out and I finally got a warm shower and a pretty decent sleep…after a 4 Cheese Gnocchi dish and half a bottle of red wine. There was so much rich cheese on that dish that I may have to recuperate and go sans-fromage for the next few days. I really never thought I could say there might be too much cheese in a dish.

Whew, what a trip and that was only the FIRST DAY!

Au Revoir

So I'm intending for it not to be this long between posts while I'm in France because otherwise you will only see 4 or 5 up here. I just haven't had much to write about lately. My life has been going on as usual, however I have spent the last month ridiculously busy trying to see all my friends before I leave. In addition to those extra plans I am running errands and had added numerous items on my to-do list of things to get done before I leave. Combined, those things have made for an insanely busy, and pricey, August.

I woke up this Sunday and reality hit me hard for a moment. I had just been crazy excited all the way to this point and it finally hit me that I will be across the globe, away from my friends and family, the conveniences I'm used to, my car and English...until Christmas. It didn't scare me or make me less excited but it definitely created a moment of apprehension. After that I kinda stopped counting down the days until I leave since I looked at my to-do lists and the number of days and sat wondering how the hell I was to get everything done...especially since I work my full time job during the day until Friday the 27th!

Thankfully, my lists are finally getting shorter and I'm starting to get excited again.

I can't wait to:

1) Find an apartment and make it my home
2) Explore my new locale that is Grenoble
3) Live in the mountains!
4) Live somewhere where the average December temperature is 5 above
5) Travel to other countries on the weekend
6) Pay 3 Euros for a bottle of wine
7) Plan all my trips once I get my school schedule (hopefully including Egypt, Oktoberfest and, Spain and Switzerland...at least)
8) Live in Europe
9) Become fluent in French again
10) Enjoy the fresh pastries and cheese that France is so well-known for

Things I'll miss (some already mentioned):

1) My friends
2) My family
3) My car
4) My own bed
5) My full closet selection
6) Having an income
7) My cell phone and being able to text people without an international fee
8) Using Canadian Dollars and not having to constantly convert currencies in my head
9) Being fully understood in English
10) Smoke free restaurants and bars

As for my next blog, I leave way too early on Sunday morning so I won't be writing again until my feet are on French soil.

Au revoir mes amis!

Official

I'm pleased to report it is officially legal for me to live and study in France. My trip to Vancouver was successful, and tons of fun, and the French Consulate gave me my student visa on the spot. It's nice to have that stress over and done with because there's not really anything major I have left to do from this point until I arrive.

As some of you know I am a list person. Thus, I have multiple lists on the go so I dont forget anything; lists on email, Word, paper, stickies, in my mind and in my folder of France documents. You'd think that many lists would actually make me more confused, but somehow it all works out and I keep track of all things necessary.

Also, I've started packing already. Yes, I'm fully aware there are still 28 days until I leave but I figure this way I'm less likely to forget anything or not be able to find things I need when I'm desperate to pack. There's still lots to figure out such as how I am going to pack few enough items that it won't cost me a small fortune in luggage fees to come home in December. As well, I'm hoping to play rugby with "Les Givrees" women's rugby in the fall which means I'll be bringing most of my rugby gear with me (aside from the warmer clothes I might have to buy there since I'm used to practicing in 20 degree weather rather than the zero degree mark). Plus I'll also be bringing along my snow gear for skiing and boaring in the Alps (if it snows early enough since the ski season in the Alps usually doesn't start until mid-December). All of the sudden my giant suitcase and a backpacking bag just don't seem like enough space...

Anyways, I don't want to bore you with the details running through my mind. Needless to say I am distracted by France. I dont think this next month could go by fast enough but at the same time I'm quite enjoying my summer and all the activities I've had a chance to do before I leave. Let me tell you that the longer a person can go before they start a countdown the better. I think I started a good month ago at least and it just makes time seem to go by so much slower.

I'm a little bit frustrated (being a person who likes to plan in advance) because we don't get our school schedule until September 9th. This means I don't get to start planning my weekend trips to far-away-lands until over a week after I arrive in Grenoble. This seems counter intuitive to me since you'd think they'd want students to be focused on the begining of classes and have planned their trips already during their summer and prep time rather than just as school starts. Maybe they just like to play ignorant to the fact that school is probably the last priority for many exchange students and that the tally of countries visited clearly takes presedence.

Alright well this has been enough rambling for now but I'll probably make another post or two before the departure date (August 29) depending how absorbed I am in tying up lose ends and seeing whomever I can before I say aurevoir to Canada!

Prelude

Hello all!

If you read my "About Me" section you'll see that I am heading to Grenoble, France on August 29, 2010 to start a 4 month, semester abroad at Grenoble Ecole de Management (this will be the second last semester of my Bachelor of Commerce degree). This blog will begin by telling the tales of my French adventure and, if I can keep up the writing, will continue to serve as documentation of my travels. Bear with me as I'm a detailed person and parts of my blogs you might not find very interesting however, I hope you will find other parts enjoyable as you join me on my journeys.

I must say I found it especially helpful and interesting to read other blogs written by students who have already gone on an exchange to Grenoble so I'll do my best to document the process, my frustrations, what I learn, amazing places I visit and of course...the best cheese and wine I experience! That way, hopefully, other people can benefit just as much from my blog as I did from others.


The process of my exchange began in the idea stages last October/November. Although I have already been in post secondary for 5 years and will have finished the Cooperative Education program, I started seriously thinking about adding in one last experience before I graduate in April 2011. Because my major is International Business...and I ADORE traveling...an international exchange was the first thing on my mind. Deciding on a location was a tough call. I had already visited Europe twice (France, Italy, Germany, England and Greece), but it was mostly with my parents and living there on my own would be a whole different story. I thought about Mexico, and South or Central America but based on previous experience, I determine it would be a lot harder (almost a logistical nightmare) to travel between countries, during my spare weekends, then it would be in Europe. The reason I had already ruled out most other areas of the world is because I thought it would be advantageous, to my degree and to my language skills, to live in a country that spoke a language I also spoke (English, French and Spanish). Well that left me with France or Spain. I have never been to Spain but I decided I could actually communicate fairly efficiently in French so that would be better for signing leases (for my appartment), setting up a bank account, maybe scoping out a job (for after graduation) and for social reasons as well.

Anyways, point being, here I am now after much preparation and bureaucracy (which I was expecting but not really before I even arrived) I'm headed to Vancouver, BC this weekend for an appointment with the French Consulate to get my Student Visa. Hopefully everything goes smoothly since this would be the last thing that could potentially stop me from studying in France.