Arrivée

Je suis arrivée à Aix-en-Provence hier.

After a long and mostly sleepless flight, I made it to the airport in Marseille where I was met by the directors of my program at the Institute for American Universities as well as my new host parents.  They instantly started taking care of me by holding my carry-on while I went and joined the other study abroad students who flew in on the same flight.  After finding my bag, we drove to the other airport (literally four minutes away) to wait for the other student that would be living with us.  However her flight was delayed with a blizzard at her connection in Munich.

So, we got a snack of tea and my first pain au chocolat of the trip and drove to Aix where Mireille and Robert Ragusa welcomed me to their home.  They have a cute sixth floor apartment about 15 minutes walk from school.  I have my own room with little bed, desk, armoir, and a nice big window/door.

The couple also has a dog named Poncho and their middle-aged daugher Odile (sp?) living with them.
Once back at their apartment, Mireille promptly got me some more food with sandwiches for lunch.  I then watched a little tv with Robert before starting to unpack.  I unpacked until I sat down on my bed and succumbed to a nap.

I woke to meet the other student, Cate, arriving.  She is from Tennessee and I believe we will be taking business French together as well as possibly history of Provence.  We hung out for a while watching tv (of course in French), ate a dinner of chicken, fries, and salad, and watched Mireille and her daughter make a cake for today.  She also showed us how to make mousse au chocolat and gave us recipes to keep.

After trying so hard to stay awake, we took showers and went to bed.  Today we have an open house at the school to go to where we will meet other students as well as teachers in the school.

I am missing home but I'm also really excited for what this semester holds.  My french is going well and I must have had some switch in my head that I didn't know about because I took off running with conversation.  I hope it keeps up like this!

Love you all,
Danielle

A Little French Inspiration

Well I had to do something special with my momma to get ready for France, so we dressed up as artists and went to Red Rocks for a little painting!  We may have drawn a bit of a crowd...  Got some nice compliments on the 'stache too.

My Last Weeks in the U.S.

So you may be wondering... what have I been doing with myself with my last weeks in the United States?

Well, two weekends ago I was in Winter Park!  My mom and I planned an escape to the mountains for some relaxation and enjoying the beautiful scenery.  

We stayed at our beautiful condo at the base of the Zephyr Lift.  The snow hasn't been quite up to par this winter, but the last day there, it was a complete white-out with a blizzard!  Recently, the snow has been hitting the mountains hard... woohoo!

One day we took some time to exercise and went snowshoeing!  It was my first time trying it, and it was a little hard at first, but fun.  The picture above was taken when we started walking past the frozen beaver ponds.

After Winter Park, I spent a couple days in Fort Collins where my boss gave me some time to work (yay money!).  I trained the 4 new people that he was hiring this semester.  Yeah... it takes that many to replace me... no big deal.  Just kidding.  There are a couple people leaving this semester, so some new people needed to be brought in.  I think my boss really appreciated some help getting them set up.

Then, I visited my dad in Omaha, Nebraska.  Brrr was it cold! But I had a great time... I really enjoyed hanging out with my dad (and my kitty).  We ate a lot of food, toured the art museum, checked out the city, and played card/board games.  I may have whooped his butt in some backgammon.  Now, I can't wait to see my dad and grandma when they visit me in France in April!

Here I am at the jelly bean counter at a candy store in Omaha.  Which should I choose?!

After a good past two weeks, I am looking forward to my journey to France.  I leave this Friday!  First, I have an entire list of items to get through such as getting some Euro, getting a haircut, finding a gift for my host family, and of course packing.  So much to do, but I know it will be worth it!  By this time next week, I will be living the French lifestyle.

Wish me luck!

Pictures from Los Angeles

Waiting at DIA at 5:30 in the morning... brrr.

This is the side of the building that the French consulate was on.  The door to the visa sections was actually to the right of the red awning for the Alliance Francaise.

Rodeo Drive

Sunny day on Rodeo Drive... I don't think my jeans and backpack really fit in...

Cool tree in the city

Getting a French Visa

Nothing starts my morning better than a little TSA groping...

Well I arrived at DIA at 4:45 AM and got right through to the gate (after getting to know TSA a little after I opted out of the naked body scanners).  My flight took off at 6:30 AM and even arrived 20 minutes early.  The guy I sat next to was nice and we had a lot of talk about.  Ironically he had gotten both his masters and bachelor's degrees in finance which he mentioned after I told him that would be my hardest final and I wasn't looking forward to it.  The next nice person I met was my taxi driver who originated from Armenia.

Once I arrived at the Consulate General of France in Los Angeles, I wandered around the building to find the door to the visa section.  After about 15 minutes of waiting outside, I was called in for an interview from the guard.  Once he gave me the go-ahead, I proceeded to the next waiting area.  After sitting for about 5 minutes I was called up to the window.  I proceeded to give my application, ID, passport, photo, program acceptance letters, financial support and residence forms.  It may seem like a lot but they didn't even ask for half of the papers I had brought with me.  It was definitely better to have more than less at least!

Overall, it was a lot less stressful of an experience than I was expecting.  After hearing some horror stories about people not being able to get their visas and having to return at another date, I was pretty nervous.. but there was no need for that!  Nevertheless, I'm glad I was prepared.

After arriving so early at the consulate, it was nice that I didn't have to wait for my actual appointment time, but that also meant that I had a lot of free time on my hands after my appointment before my flight took off.  So then I wandered around the area a bit.  The consulate is right on Santa Monica Blvd in downtown Los Angeles.  I visited a couple coffee shops, wandered around a big mall, and made my way to Rodeo Dr.  It was definitely a fancy area of town... and my impression of Rodeo Dr was that it was very sparkly.  There just seemed to be sparkly decorations everywhere with winter decorations as well as sparkles on clothing.  I even had to opportunity to see some paparazzi!  They were hiding outside of some hotel... don't know who they were looking for but they didn't seem to be having too much luck. Looking back on it, it's too bad I didn't take a picture of the paparazzi!  The paparazzi of the paparazzi haha!

Well just letting you know that everything went well for my visa process.  Yes, it was hassle having to actually fly to Los Angeles to show up in person, but everything worked out.  Here is proof that it is definitely feasible to accomplish a visa appointment in one day (even if I was completely exhausted after it).  And to make things better!... I received my passport back in the mail today with a big, thick stamp (my visa) so I am all ready to go!

Thanksgiving

Well my Thanksgiving break is coming to a close, and boy it has been good!

It started with a bang (after finishing up school and paperwork for working some holiday hours at Kohls) with seeing the Lion King at the Buell Theatre.  It was absolutely incredible.  So many colors and such amazing costumes.  Who knew that a person could look so much like a giraffe or a hyena or a leopard!  Every costume was unique and so creative and they were all first shown in a whirl of color with the opening scene, "The Circle of Life."  The singing also caught my breath.  And the acting.  Everything.  I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to go, and especially with the wonderful people that went with me! Virginia thank you! and Mom woohoo glad we could go together! and Jon, oh yeah, that was amazing! In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight!

Then later in the week I hung out with some friends.  Always good catching up with people :)

Much time was also spent baking... all gluten-free, all delicious.  My mom sure knows how to work things out for her gluten-free diet with deluxe chocolate cake, pumpkin bread, cranberry walnut bread, etc.  Yum yum!

Thanksgiving Day came and it was a day of food!  My brother and I went to our grandma's and had a Thanksgiving lunch with family... well most of the family.  My dad couldn't make it because of car trouble.  That was a big bummer... Dad, I miss you and can't wait to see you in a couple weeks here for Christmas time!... But we had a lot of food there, and then my brother and I came back to our mom's for more delicious food.  I can't believe how much food I ate in one day.  Two huge meals was definitely enough.  I am thankful for that opportunity though!  THANK YOU!!

Black Friday came and I went to Kohls to work from 4 PM -12:30 AM.  Before going in, I was honestly a little nervous imagining how many people would be there and how crazy it would get, but that was for nought.  When I arrived, there was one person waiting in line.  Throughout the evening, the longest the line became was about 8 people, and that moved fast enough.  Instead of being crazy, the night ended up being very quiet as a folded and refolded things to keep myself busy.  I know I helped make the store look good, but it was a long time I spent folding... 8 hours!

We received our most recent Viking magazine, and there is a tribute to the memory of July 22nd in Norway.  They included a quote that I've been trying to think of for a while.  I even talked about it in my presentations at the Sons of Norway:

     "When one man can cause so much evil, think how much love we can create together." ~Helle   Gannestad

So now I am getting ready to head back to school tomorrow.   Got the list of things and food that I'll be bringing back with me.  Soon to be working on my homework.  French essay due Monday, a different French essay due Tuesday and a presentation on what to do in Oslo on Wednesday are the things that I need to prepare for.

With that, I want to wish everyone the best for a wonderful day.  I am so thankful for all of the friends and family in my life.  I am thankful for my opportunities to travel and experience what I love.  I am thankful to receive my education and share myself with others and have others share themselves with me.  I am thankful.

Hang in There!

Whew! I've been so busy with school and getting ready for next spring!  I am very thankful that I will have the entire week of Thanksgiving off so that I can catch up!

Anyways, here the update:
1)  I finally scheduled my visa appointment in Los Angeles for early December.  Now I have to get together all of the required documents... which is a lot!

2)  I'm in the process of booking my flight to France.  This has to be completed by Tuesday!  I will be flying into the airport in Marseille, which is the closest airport to Aix-en-Provence, on January 28th.  I will meet my program hosts there from Academic Studies Abroad and they will bring me to my host family, who I won't know anything about until about 2 weeks before I depart.

3)  I've scheduled a doctor's appointment so that they can sign me off that I'm good to go.

4)  My next scholarship application is due November 21st for the Scholars Abroad Scholarship with the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.  I already received a teacher's recommendation so now I basically have to put together and fine tune my essays.

5)  I will also be applying to another scholarship whose deadline isn't due until January, so that is off my mind for a bit while I figure out everything else.

--Not only am I figuring out all of these study abroad things, but I'm doing all of my school work as well.  We have one week of school before Thanksgiving break.  Then we go back to school for two weeks and then finals week.  I'll be having four finals this year, for which I will need to study a lot... Finance is kicking my butt!

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  Thanks for all of the support!  I can't wait to tell you the good stories of what happens in France!

and P.S!
I received scholarship #2! It is from the CSU Office of International Programs :) woohoo!