With my previous post, I mentioned how my host mother told me there'd be quite a number of exchange students attending my French high school next year. She was able to give me a round number of about 12 total exchange students worldwide that shall be attending Lycée Robespierre for the 2011-2012 school year, a record. Out of those twelve, besides myself, she also reported something she thought would be relevant to me. Her boss will also host an exchange student next year. She is to be an American, like myself, and be in the same class as me. (I'm dubbing her Mystery American Girl, with a possibility of garnering a nickname of Maggie seeing as MAG would be odd...) Hence, I'll be searching for her as it'd be nice to have a fellow American exchange student to France in very similar conditions as myself.
The countdown is nearing its end. With less than one month left, August is going to be an extremely busy month for me as I'm frantically making final preparations. I have my visa appointment this Friday which has got me stressing out as I, an AP (in my case, advanced procrastinator) student, have left everything to the last minute. I'm hoping it goes smoothly as it will be the final major hurdle to cross before I have the final green light to travel. Speaking of hurdles, the ChipIn widget's gone! Significance? Gello has managed to pay his tuition in full! The deadline was August 1st, and I sent in my final payment with just a few days to spare.
Going back to this month, I feel the need to assemble a giant checklist of all preparations before departure. However, with my horrible memory, I doubt such a checklist will have much on it as I tend to recall things in an impulse and forget them in a matter of minutes. From what I can remember right now, I have to...
- Scan the final health form addendum and email back that to AFS.
- Buy things I'll need in Europe, such as an electrical converter, special clothing for the climate, etc.
- Purchase Host Family Gifts
- Figure out a method of how I'll support myself financially whilst abroad (think, pocket money and how I'll be able to access my finances in the U.S.)
- Figure out how I'll be able to use my iPhone and iPad in France with talk/text/data "sans engagement" (without a commitment)
- Hang out with friends for a final time until I return.
- Try to find out the deal with this going-away party that I heard was in the works.
- Locate those luggage tags AFS sent me a while back.
- Formulate and get answers to a bunch of questions I have for my host family (I always forget them because of my memory.)
- Start Packing!
I'm sure the list is a lot longer than that, but that's all I was able to recall at the time of this writing. To be honest, the nerves are starting to get to me. Since midnight of July 31st / August 1st, I have had a lot of trouble sleeping at night because of thoughts that race throughout my mind. Fortunately, I know I'm not the only one and it's great that AFSers from around the country, and world, have come together by a common interest and formed a support group for one another. So far, I know 2 others that will be in the same region as me in France. Thus, we're probably going to be seeing each other often and travel by train together. Even corresponding to the same consulate resulted in communication between a fellow AFSer and me. In short, I'm appreciative of the support system we all have for each other hopefully those great long-lasting/close friendships between exchange students that the returnees frequently mention will form between us all as well!
I also found out through the group who will be chaperoning the Americans headed towards France on the flights. There's a total of 55 of us with a single chaperone! The total travel time is around 14 hours, including a 4.5 hour layover in Switzerland. Sounds like fun!
Another sleepless night ahead,
-Gello
Hooray for AP students! I sent my payment in with a few days to spare too!! xD
ReplyDeleteI would like to applaud you on being an AP, of which I am too, because it takes skill to be a procrastinator. :P
ReplyDelete