Ok so to fully understand what the last three days of my vacation have been like- watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGtBovI735I
I need to demand a visa extension. Simple task, right? But wait, in France, nothing that deals with anything on that level takes less than an hour.
So vacation has officially started (as of last Friday). Where am I while the other assistants are wandering the streets exploring architecture by Gaudi? In Bordeaux, France. Honestly, it hasn't been that bad. The weather has been crisp blue and dry with highs in the mid 50s. This means my muscles aren't incredibly tense from freezing to death.
LUNDI
Anywho... So Monday marked the day that I would attempt to get my visa extension. Off to the rectorat. Wrong building. I needed to go to the prefecture. Tuesday seemed like a better day to get a fresh start on the task.
MARDI
Tuesday morning, I set off to the prefecture, but in France, lunch breaks take a while, so I had to go back to the office later on. I decided to do some research on who to contact. I did discover that there is an APP (American Presence Post) in Bordeaux, so I called to ask for advice. Voice Mail. merde! So I set off on foot to find this office. Perhaps they were on lunch too, one will never know, because when I finally arrived to this APP the only thing I found that was remotely "American" was the plaque on the side of the building with bust of our third president, Thomas Jefferson.
Feeling nearly defeated, I called the US consulate in Paris for advice. I needed to feel productive somehow...even if it was impossible to speak to someone in person. After waiting on the line for nearly 30 minutes (there goes my monthly allowance for phone credit- I need to contact Orange before they ground me again), I got through with an American woman. Unfortunately, she was unhelpful. She told me I needed to call the visa line and that I would be charged "a modest fee of 14,50."
Not worth it. The sun started to fade away as little droplets of rain started to fall. I jumped on the tram and went to the prefecture. It was a tad bit awkward since the "automatic door- do not push" would not open. I rung the night bell hoping that would signal someone to open this door. I was wearing rainbow sorbet scarf, I was harmless. So I wandered around to the other side of the building. The gate was open so I led myself in. The guards at the desk seemed a bit confused by my presence. I pulled out my passport, which is probably a bit misleading since my passport case has holographic cats sitting in front of windmills. Unidentifiable. I explained my situation. My words tripped out. They were as clumsy as myself, and less eloquent than they had sounded when I had rehearsed them in my head on my walk to the building. The woman then informed me that I needed to go to the other side of the building from 8-11 and that they were open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.... I can't remember if she said the other days. My mind was elsewhere. Her words flowed out of her mouth in slow motion, like I was a child who had just done something wrong. After this, I went to the library and did some job researching.
MERCREDI
I woke up at 4 am. It was like Christmas morning and I was the excited child. Only I was incredibly anxious and ambitious. Today I was going to get it settled. I went back to sleep of course, because I still had 4 hours until they even opened. Drats! I woke up late. I woke up at 9 am. Out the door by 10 ish. The prefecture is pretty close to my apartment. The sun was out again. Lovely day for a healthy walk. I got lost along the way, so I showed up at 10:15ish. When I got inside the prefecture I thought I would see someone immediately, but in fact I was only being led to another room filled with eager people like myself. The line made a few zigzags. It was like being in line for a roller coaster at an amusement park, except less exciting. I became very anxious. There was a woman behind me whose baby was crying for nearly 20 minutes straight. Finally, we just let her pass us all. How is it that only one person was working at the window. Nearly an hour later, I was the third person in line and they opened up a few more windows. When I finally got to the window, I told the tired woman that I needed to extend my visa. Her response, "You need to go to the consulate to get that done, we can't do that here." I asked her where the consulate was and she said "I don't know, you need to go to the one where you got your visa." I could tell by the tone of her voice that there was no way to argue with her, beg, plead or even explain my situation. She was over me. I got my visa in Seoul, South Korea. Why would I go all the way back there to ASK for a visa extension and then come all the way back to France. That completely defeats the purpose of me wanting to extend my visa.
I walked away feeling completely defeated.
Friday wasn't even better. My roommate Nadia and I trekked all the way out to Bordeaux Lac to apply for CAF. Basically welfare. We get money back for simply living in France and not making a ton of money and paying rent that consumes nearly half of our income. The same sort of situation. The angry woman at the desk snatched my papers and told me I needed an October paystub which does not exist, since we were not paid for October- we got paid for October in our November paystub, which we tried to explain. No use. The woman had already made up her mind. So there will be a few more trips back to Bordeaux Lac to come in the next few weeks.
Basically it all depends on your luck of who you get and on that person's mood. My luck wasn't so great to me.
In case you need this:
Bordeaux (American Presence Post)
10, place de la Bourse, B.P. 77,
33076 Bordeaux
Tel: 05.56.48.63.80
Fax: 05.56.51.61.97
E-mail: usabordeaux@state.gov
Website: http://france.usembassy.gov/bordeaux.html
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