Baggage: Emotional or Otherwise

Well, it's all coming together, piece by tiny piece.

I have my luggage already, Dad and I went into a luggage store just to look and got pressured into buying a suitcase at a really good deal by this sweet old couple. :-) And I got some locks for it that are something-something approved, and all that means is that they won't be broken at the airport. (They're bright pink. Highlighter pink. If I can't recognize my baggage at the airport, I don't know what's wrong with me.)

And, also, I have a phone orientation scheduled for four o'clock tomorrow! (Sunday, June 6th.) All the people at CIEE have been doing country-specific phone orientations, and they sent us an online handbook on France that I immediately printed out. It's not really all that interesting, mostly stuff I already knew or boring stuff about plugs and weights and insurance, but there was a short paragraph on whether or not tap water is safe in France, which I thought was hilarious. (It is, by the way.)

Mom and Dad and I are already making plans to get my student visa, and, let me tell you, I have WAY more sympathy for all the Mexican people in the United States. It's so hard to get a visa. You have to submit so much paper work I think I might have to kill an entire tree. I can't go and get it yet, actually, but CIEE will send me some paperwork soon and then it's off to sunny California to the French Consulate in San Francisco!

School is almost over and I'm so ready for summer to start. But, of course, I only have two days of vacation, and then I'm off to summer school. Never let it be said that exchange is not a whole lot of fun, but it is a lot of sacrifice and hard work also. I'm taking two classes over the summer, the second semester of my junior English class, and a music history class to earn a fine art credit. Both are online. I still have to finish my first semester of English online, but I can get that done soon, I hope. I'd really hate to be working on three classes...

Yay for summer! 81 days until I leave. That's...eleven weeks and four days. Wow. It's so soon...I can't wait! No news on a host family yet, but I should get one soon, because you need proof of residence to get a visa.

~Josie