Just My Luck

Monday afternoon I arrived at the airport loaded with enough luggage for six months and for once in my life, I was calm. Chandra and I waited in line to check our luggage in and at this point, going to France was still unreal.
What made this concept less real is that our flight did not even exist! The sweet lady with an accent at the luggage desk informed us that our travel agent changed our flight and did not tell us. At this point you can imagine what is running through my mind. Just as I predicted- my luck has yet again created a complicated situation.
Here is what happened: Our travel agent booked our flight through STA Travel- who apparently sent her an email to an invalid address informing her that our flight had been changed (note to self- these things happen often with Air Canada and United, so do not rely on your travel agent to inform you). So when we were in the travel agent’s office exactly one week prior to our departure to check on our seats, she was unaware of this situation. The change was made July 6- the date at this point was August 20... She had plenty of time to determine if this was still the flight that we would be on- Blames were thrown on everyone and no one wanted to take the credit for this unfortunate event.
Long story short- the sweet lady at the luggage counter got us on another flight to Paris for 10 am the next morning, so Chandra and I rested in a hotel near the airport. It turned out to be nice to actually relax for a day-hot tub, pool, bed, awesome pillows, and free drinks. Of course, I did want to be in Paris, but waiting was the only solution-even after staying on the phone with the travel agency and STA Travel for hours trying to see if we could get compensated. We didn’t even get help for our hotel.
Oh yes, did I mention that I was sick during all of this... I had a great time getting from point A to B.

All my bags are packed... I'm ready to go

. . . and there is definitely no turning back now. Somehow I already feel homesick-if that makes any sense. I am in Columbia right now, nearly two hours away from my family and it has only been six hours and I already miss them terribly. I am still in Missouri, I haven't left yet, but I want to see them so badly! Wow, is this a bad indicator of how my semester is going to be? I am not at home, because I will be hitching a ride from Columbia to the airport. My father has to teach a class and I can guarantee my mother would be too much of an emotional mess to make it back to Lebanon safely, so this is how it goes!
One thing on my mind is that tomorrow is a Monday... this is usually the day where my week starts off sour, I have some huge crisis occur and it somehow becomes resolved by Thursday-ish, so I am concerned about what could possibly go wrong this week. I know that I must sound so pessimistic, but I am normally in good spirits, I just vent about the things that bother me.
New Goal: sound more positive!
The whole reality that I am actually going to be in France (and for 6 months) has not sunken in yet. I am a bit weirded out by this. I keep asking myself what is the normal feeling of someone who is studying abroad. I guess I couldn't really categorize everyone who is studying abroad as a whole.
Other thoughts....Ok this one is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. I got a haircut (wow thats random right?). I can't really decide if I like it or not. I wanted to grow my hair out, Curtis somehow mixed up "I want to keep my length" with "chop off my hair," so now I have necklength hair again. Its nice, just not what I wanted.... but I guess I can't really say that because I didn't really want anything. I am ok with it, i just don't love it. Perhaps if I knew how to do it.
I guess those are the most recent random thoughts before I depart.

Update on the greatest luck ever

Ok well, I managed to get everything fixed. Imagine that! After several frantic calls and emails to Campus France and the Consulate in Chicago, everything worked out. I woke up Monday morning and called Campus France. I knew that there would be some understanding of French that would be necessary when conducting such work, but I had hoped that there was some sort of a warning... an automated service offering me a choice for Français or English would have been helpful under my conditions. I had just woken up and called to hear the voice of a lady speaking French. I was not prepared, but I tried my hardest with my worst accent possible I declared "J'ai une probleme!" She obviously was not impressed by pronunciation/accent or somehow she knew that I was American, so she immediately announced that she spoke English. I was so relieved, because my thoughts were so muffled with the idea that I may not be able to go to France. She reassured me that everything would be ok, and I began to feel much better. I was advised to overnight my fee and proof that I have been accepted by Stendhal and when I arrive at the consulate, I was to bring an express envelope, since my attestation would not be completed by Wednesday.
Chicago was a long drive to make for a day trip. My father, who had been driving since 4 am with my brother, had arrived at 6 am and we made it to Chicago at about 1--> two hours early for my appointment, so we got to walk around the busy town and watch the tourists. PS Chicago is beautiful! I went to my appointment and had to explain my missing attestation to the lady who issued the visas. I was jokingly scolded by one of the assistants about how I should have done my homework and then I went on my way.
Luckily to say, everything is better...much better! I feel great. Now I am back to my original concern: the student loans.
Today I also received the news of my housing arrangements and I am happy to say that I will be living in a residence hall. I cannot wait. Also, the strangest part is I met a girl who is participating in the same program as me on facebook, so we have been chatting all summer- she is my housemate (or at least I think so) either way we are in the same residence, so I am super excited

Moving Day

Well, today is my last day living in East Campus. It was quite the experience- I will miss everything that went wrong in my house (no heat, no a/c, no electricity, flooding toilets) and I will miss my very interesting neighbors- the scary one down below, the creepy one next door to him, and of course the dealer above.
I am almost moved out of my house: just my suit cases with my clothes, some of my photos, and my shower stuff. I am just waiting for the girl to take my bed and I will be done. Is it weird that I am going to miss my bed? I really did like it... a lot. I am just so tired of moving it around everywhere and this time, I would not have enough room or any way to bring it to my parents' house. I will remember it fondly *sigh*

Second thought, where has my roommate been? I know he said he was going on a float trip somewhere on a river for the weekend. He left early Friday morning and he mentioned that he would be home by Sunday... or was it Monday? Whenever it was, the lease ends today and he has so much to do! I don't know how he is going to manage all the work. I know I am getting my stuff out and I am leaving. I have waaaay too much to do today and I cannot help. It's his fault for playing when we have to move. I have no sympathy. I have tried to call him several times, but his phone is turned off, so this makes me wonder if he is ok? I am sure he is fine, its Tim.
So I have decided to post a few pictures of all of the rest of the house and things we have to do before we leave

The purpose of advisors is unknown

I have had many problems with my college advisors in the past. I blame them for my delayed graduation. I have been told many lies, such as "you are track for International Business-so take some business classes this semester and you will be fine" only to find out that I was past the point to apply for IB with my credits (long story), or even to the extent of writing a date on my graduation plan, giving me false hopes that I had a chance to graduate December 2007, but a double check with Dr. P, he asked me where I got the idea of graduating in December... It was his fault! He told me, He wrote it down, He promised me that I would graduate soon. I honestly don't know why we are supposed to have advisors and report to them, when they screw things up.
Well my problem this time around is not with what my advisors have told me, but what they forgot to mention. For the past month, my CEA advisor has been out of the office, so I have been working with other advisors while she is away. Before she left, she reminded me to get started on my visa and to register with campusfrance, because I needed a number that I to bring to the consulate for my visa. I couldn't do anything about my visa at the time, because I didn't have my passport. If I wasn't listening to Chandra complain that she hasn't received her "attestation" from campusfrance in the mail, my curiousity would not have led me to the stressfull situation that I am in right now. I check out the website once again, and realize that there is a whole application process that I need to do, not just print off the email with the number on it and hand it to the consulate-which is what I thought this whole time. I need to fill out this massive application with questions about my reasons for studying in France and my resume, send it in with $60 and wait for them to send me confirmation back in the mail. This whole process takes 2 weeks, but knowing how things have been going, this could take longer.
Ok so on with my next dillema- my Consulate appointment.
So I was randomly checking my hotmail (which I rarely do, because I hardly get mail from it), and to my surprise, I received an email from the consulate explaining that they have cancelled my August 7th appointment because I apparently had two appointments (this is a no-no). So they have me down for my "original" appointment time of August 1st. The thing is, I never made an appointment for August 1st, so I don't know where this is coming from and I know there is no way that I am going to get my attestation in time (within 2 days?- no way!). Ok this could be ok, but.... the soonest appointment from August 1st is August 22nd! That is two days after I should be in France!
I am basically screwed, thanks to my MU advisor not keeping in touch with me at all, and my CEA advisor for leaving information out. Thank You! Now I am now going to have to spend my monday calling all around the US on a phone that doesn't work, explaining how I am in idiot. Once again I get myself into a tangled mess- and I thought my loan was/is stressfull, this hardly compares!

Procrastination-And I do not make any sense

For those of you who know me, you know that I am the greatest master at procrastination. I am sitting on my bed wondering if it is possible to put off a trip to study abroad. I just keep thinking about the endless "to do" list that colors the pages in my statistics notebook (which I have created over the past few days while I am not paying attention-I am certain my midterm is going to be an indicator of how long my list is) and deciding if I really want to start at it. At any rate, I keep thinking of other things that I would rather do. I just purchased the newest and last Harry Potter, should I read it? I got shots on Friday, so the effects are making me drousy and nausous, perhaps a nap sounds more delightful. All the while, I have a five page paper, which I have not even begun that is due tomorrow. I think in the end I took a two hour nap, and did some laundry (since clean clothes are sort of important). Now, instead of writing my paper (the one that is due tomorrow), or studying irregular verbs, or packing, I am writing a blog.
I am so anxious to get to France. Ironically, Rufus Wainwright's song "Leaving for Paris" is playing (not by choice, but at random on my playlist), how appropriate.
My feelings three months ago about this trip were exitement, happiness, jubilation. I couldn't wait to go. I would brag to my mother about how I would probably never return, causing a rather large dispute that would often end in tears. Now, nearly three weeks to my departure date, and I am a nervous wreck. I keep second guessing myself whether this was the right thing to do or if this was the best location. Maybe Paris would be better, or even safer-Canada! It is becoming more real everyday, but for some reason I cannot get it into my head that I am leaving soon and I need to prepare. I think once I get moved out of my house in the next few days, with my whole life packed in boxes, it will become more of a reality. For the moment, the closest vision to reality that I have and the one thing that gets me super excited are the pictures that I have to look forward to, which I will post.

JUST IN CASE

Just in case you have not heard, there is a massive delay in processing passports. Suggestion for anyone who thinks that they want to leave the country within the next six months or even year- get your passport expedited! Worst case scenario, you could end up like me which I now have to make special trips to Chicago to get my passport made.
The gentleman at the post office advised me to save my receipt for my passport JUST IN CASE something happens (ie. my passport doesn't arrive on time, it gets lost, etc). I remember at that moment thinking "yea right, nothing is really going to happen," but I filed my receipt away, JUST IN CASE. That was about three months ago. One should allow about 10-12 weeks for passport processing. My passport should have been at my house by July 10. After I was unable to view the status of my application online three weeks before its projected arrival date, I decided to call the passport agency. Ok note to self: unless you are calling from a home telephone or it is after 9 PM (whenever minutes are free), do not call the passport agency. I called three times the first day before I actually spoke to someone after being on hold for 45 minutes. The representative told me that he found my passport in LA and he would put a note for them to expedite it so that it would arrive in time for me to go to the consulate. No sight of my passport two weeks later, so I decided to follow up and touch base with the agency. It is really frustrating calling the agency, determining which buttons to press after listening to a long message about the obvious delays, waiting on the line for a customer rep (with an automated voice that says "your phone call is very important to us, please stay on the line"), to be told that all of the customer representatives are assisting other customers and are not able to get to your call-please hang up and try again... after waiting 30+ minutes! Finally I reach another person who tells me the same thing "I am going to put in comments to expedite your passport...rah rah rah).
So my passport is not here, I called the passport agency again on Tuesday. This is when I finally spoke with someone who knew what was going on and told me what to do. She informed me that I won't be getting my passport by the 23rd of July, so I need to cancel my appointment with the consulate. She also told me that the other agents lied to me to get me off of the phone. I am one person of 30,000 who needs their passport and they have to deal with everyone else so they are going to tell me anything to make me happy and she was going to tell me what I needed to do.
So now I have to go to Chicago-two weeks or less before I leave for France, get my passport made that same day and then go to the consulate the following day to get my visa! Not to mention the passport agency has my only original birth certificate, so I have to get a new one made and have it overnighted to me for $50. Thank God I saved my receipt, because I would have to pay close to $200 to have a new passport made and expedited. So I am now aware that the JUST IN CASEs do happen and to always be prepared.
So while I have been dealing with the stress of my passport, I completely forgot about the deadline for my study abroad final payment! This was due on Sunday- yesterday, I received a phone call from my advisor who left a message for me saying that I was about to be withdrawn from the program because they haven't received payment. I frantically called her back and after running around campus for 3+ hours, I got everything straightened out!
All of this stress has got to be preparing me for something big! I know they are obstacles that are thrown in the way to wake me up! I leave in less than FOUR weeks- 27 days to be exact!!!!! I cannot wait!