This weekend was crazy! My dad and I left from home Thursday evening to begin the 5 hour trek to Washington, DC. The trip was fine and the GPS is quickly becoming one of my favorite things. We reached our hotel at around 11:30 I think and my dad fell asleep right away. I was still nervous about whether I needed the forms filled out in French or English so I stayed up until 2am translating to the best of my ability. Little did I know what the next day would hold...
We left the hotel the next morning at 9:30. I only had a granola bar and some apple juice in my stomach. First we needed to find the embassy, then we'd find some food. We finally settled on trying to drive there rather than paying for a taxi or taking a ridiculous 1hr 30min ride on public transportation to go 10 miles. This turns out to have been a good move since it only took us 20min to get there. Once there we decided to drive into the embassy just to check on stuff and then head out to get breakfast before I vomited or passed out from lack of food. Unfortunately, the lady at the embassy gate was evil. She forced my dad to leave, took my drivers license, gave me a little badge to wear, and sent me walking up the hill to the visa office. At this point I discovered that the cute new shoes I had on were never meant to be walked in. I still have a raw ankle.
Once inside, I had an 2 hours to wait until my 11:45 appointment. During the wait, I made friends with a couple other people my age who were nervous about their appointments too. We helped calm each other down and compared paperwork and stressed about whether we brought the right stuff or filled it out correctly. The first girl apparently did everything right because she was on her way home by 11:00. The guy on my other side was not so lucky. He didn't even hear them call his name, then realized he'd forgotten paperwork, then lost his badge. The entire day did not go so well for him.
I finally heard my name called at around 12:15. Not bad considering it was supposed to be 11:45. It was a little annoying though since they act like you must be on time under penalty of death. First, the woman asked for my application. She was polite but you must understand that this woman had been listening to stupid, unprepared Americans all morning and was really ready for lunch. This was the moment I'd been holding my breath for. I asked if she wanted it in French or English. She looks confused. "It is only available in French." "No, I mean, filled out in French or English." A raised eyebrow... "We have no preference." Oh, great then. I hand over the English.
A glance down and then a glance at me. "You do know we no longer offer the au pair visa." "Um...", panic, "Well, the website said you do and I followed all the directions on it exactly." "Oh, we only recently changed it." Hm, like in the last hour when I checked the requirements on some girl's iPhone? "Ok then, what should I do?"
I was sent next door to Campus France to fill out a bunch of stuff and pay a bunch of money and run around wearing an even bigger blister into my heel. For a brief moment I am alone in the office. A knock on the door. It's a French woman. "Bonjour, il y a... Oh, you do not work here. Sorry." And off she goes. It is a random story but it made me laugh.
Everything is finished in Campus France and I run back over the the visa office to catch them before their lunch break. This time a man helps me. He seems to be new at his job. Fortunately, the entire office took pity on my because they accepted a lot of papers in place of the ones they actually wanted and continued to be helpful even though I was still there when I was supposed to be finished. In the end, it all worked out alright.
I really liked the place and hearing everyone speak French or with French accents. It made me happy and I'm really excited about next year all over again. It's a good thing I liked it too because I was almost stuck there indefinitely. By the time it was over, it was 1:00 and I really needed to find the restroom. I found it, used it, and then I headed for the front door. I was locked in! I was just in time though because a nice man was still in an office and ran out to assist me apologizing the whole time and wishing me a fantastic weekend. I was free!! Then I saw the same boy who was having such a bad day. He was running back to the office to find his badge so he could get back his drivers license. I wonder if he ever got out...
So, that turns out to be a long story that's not as funny on here as it was when it happened. Sorry. I feel especially sorry for my dad who paced the road for 3 hours thinking I must have been detained or something. Phones weren't allowed in the embassy.
Then we headed to my grandparents' house in Richmond where we stayed the night. My dad left the next morning and I stayed to go to a tea house in Williamsburg with Grammie, my cousin Jackie, and Grammie's sister Eleanor. It was a fantastic, girly day. We wore cute dresses, drank way too much tea (mine was spiced plum, yummy!), and stuffed ourselves with teeny sandwiches and mini desserts (they made creme brulee in honor of me =) Then we shopped.
Later Jackie and I went to a store to get makeovers. It was a terrible experience but really hilarious. I have never seen make up look worse and I have been behind some truly horrendous looks. We were embarassed for anyone to see us that way. We left, drove to the nearest parking lot, removed all the makeup, and applied our own in the car. It took a while and we got some awesome comments from the people walking by. Great, great times.
This afternoon I had to say goodbye to my cousins, aunt, and uncle. I will definitely be missing everyone while I'm gone. I'm not looking forward to that. Then Grammie and Pa drove me home and now I'm writing this ridiculously long blog. I'm tired so I'm rambling.
I think that's it. A busy weekend. Hopefully it'll turn out for the best. I'm missing the sound of the French language already so I'm off to watch yet another fantastic French film. Au revoir!
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