The idea of coming to Paris started as a joke; something I thought I could never do because logically it made sense to get a job after graduating. But living in Paris wound up being one of the best decisions I’ve made. My goal in living here was to first and foremost learn French but to also fully experience another culture (of course while spending time with John). In the last few months I have successfully started my road to learning French, met my own family while seeing the South of France, met John’s family while seeing central France and Italy, I have tried new foods, learned how to read maps, celebrated my own holidays but also French ones and have embraced every new experience I could find.
I think a good portion of my friends and family assume I’ve been scheming on a way to stay longer. And I have. My parents met a CEO of a software company at a conference back in April who said I could work for a few months st his company. I have been in touch with him and his employees for about five months now. The good news is, it has definitely been a learning experience. The bad news is that I have been trying to work on obtaining a long-stay visa that would allow me to work for them temporarily (but for more than three months) for three months. One of the many lessons I have learned is that the French value their vacation. Unfortunately for me that means that during the summer it’s practically impossible to get something like a Visa figured out when everyone is on vacation. As of right now the three people I have been working with on my situation are still on vacation. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea if anything has been filed with the DDTE so that I can make an appointment for my visa application to be seen and yet I have been reassured that I will begin work for them on September 1st.
Okay, so I might not be starting work on September 1st. I might not even get the visa situation figured out at all. But I do have a ticket back to Paris for August 31st and a return for January 20, 2010. You might be asking yourselves, “so now what?” To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I still have plenty of French to learn, more to experience and see not to mention a baby to meet in October (John’s sister is expecting her first and everyone is very excited). Besides, I have a week in the states to figure out a game plan.
In the mean time, I’m sad to have part one of my Parisian adventures ending but am excited to see family and friends. True to form, my time home will be short and busy. I’ll be splitting my time between Jersey with family and Wisconsin for a wedding but hope to see everyone. Fingers crossed, by my next blog-post I will have more information on what’s to come.
I cannot thank John’s family enough for being so welcoming. They definitely made my experience that much more amazing. And I can’t wait to be back with John and Oscar for part two of my adventures.
À tout à l’heure, Paris.
(Don’t forget to check out the highlights of my summer here)
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