Tic toc....t-minus 6 days

Six days in which I will go CUCKOO! I will know whether I got in to school or not in 6 days. Honestly, I don't have a grasp on what my chances are, but I'm preparing myself for the worst. The guy at the school said there are always spots available, but it depends on if they find you qualified or not. So what are these criteres they ask for, you may wonder. The first two you have to have and the rest just give you priority over other candidates, the more you have.

Well, I've compiled a list for your(and by your, I really mean my) pleasure:

Two years of higher education studying English.
I gots 4 and it was IN English, will that work?

Six months abroad in an anglo country is highly recommended.
Let's see...carry the 1, minus 5, plus 3. So I have umm...276 months, is that good?

Honors
Well, I took AP classes in High School and had a decent GPA in college...but, of course you had to have proof, so even though I wrote it, they prob won't count it.

Maitrise or master 1 acquired before submission of application.
Well, licence which is 2 years is equal to our 4 year degree, so this one's a no unless they are somehow unaware of that.

Assistantship or lecture position in an anglo country.
Yeah, I kinda did my assistantship here in France. So, again no.

Teaching experience.
This I have and it was in English for two years, so that's good to go. Plus, I tutored English and French for 1 year, although as I have no proof, this doesn't count.

Modules of preprofessionnalisation et/ou de...
Yeah, let me just stop that right there with a big ol' NO.

Language training sessions.
No, as I don't think my 8 days of stage for the assistantship would count so much.

So, do you see why I have all this confuzzlement? Luckily I am spending the day tomorrow(I get up at 4:30!!!) flying back to the states and then this weekend is the wedding and I don't get back until late Monday night. So, I will be very distracted up until Tues when roomie will call in for me and email me the answer(yikes!!) It will be nice to be back, but as it works out, I only have one full day at home with my fam and the rest are just parts of days or late nights. If only I could stay a bit longer, I know my parents and sis are pretty bummed about that. But, I had to buy a ticket leaving Wed night in order to get in Thurs morning to get to Rennes Thurs afternoon to be here for Fri morning in case I ever get into school and have to start. Why they have to start on a Fri, I do not know. Classes at the Fac would start Mon, Sept 24...grr. Oh well, can't change anything, unfortunately.

I have been absent for almost a week at this point. And, guess what? I will be absent again for a week after. My apologies to my dear readers aka I'm probably just apologizing to myself. I will update on University status next week once I know the answer, so keep those doigts croise-d because I still have a bit of a wait. Please wish me tons of merde(eww, sounds gross!)

Drumroll, please

.....................................I am happy to announce that:
a)I made two friends at the Prefecture which made my hour there(even though I arrived right at 9 AM) go by much faster.
b)I was right-I didn't get my carte de sejour and who doesn't like being right?

Ok, totally kidding about b I would have taken being totally wrong and admitting it to the world any day over not getting my CDS and being left in this uncomfortable and anxious state. Ugh! I buttered that lady up at the Prefecture as sweet as a freakin slice of pain de mie. I laughed when she did, I smiled when she did, did I maybe even wink at her? No, I didn't really, but I would have if that would have given me the CDS I wanted.

What's funny is that the reason I didn't get the CDS was not AT ALL one of the gazillion reasons I conjured up in my head that I saw as obstacles. I could change CDS status WITHOUT having a visa, the letter of pre-inscription was perfectly fine, the lady was unexpectedly pleasant and smiled...SEVERAL TIMES! No, all would have been in my favor had I had in my possession a freaking CARTE D'ETUDIANT which of course I won't have until I know if I'm accepted or not which won't be until after I leave France to go back to the US. Arg! She explained that now they insist that you have to have the carte d'etudiant and then lowered her voice to share this secret with me "there used to be so many people who were signing up for school and getting a CDS etudiant just so they could legally stay in France." I shook my head in disbelief as I grasped the paper saying I had only signed up for school and was not yet admitted. "How could anyone ever do such a thing?" Errrr...yeah, I totally agree.

After I had buttered her up, made up something about me not being able to get a carte d'etudiant right away because everyone was gone en vacances(thanks, Sam!), offered my student card from the US and my CROUS Student Number...I just gave up. I am not good at talking people into things and I had really maxed myself out and I didn't see it advancing no matter what I offered her or how nice I was being. Her niceness was GREATLY appreciated and I cannot stress this enough because I now know of two ladies at the dreaded Prefecture who are nice instead of just the one, so I now have more of a chance of talking to someone nice than before. I did go through my documents with her and she did make a suggestion to add another document to my justificatif de ressources so as to be sure to get approved when/if I come back to get my CDS. She was also like, "don't worry, your CDS expires at the end of September, you have time!" Ah, if only she knew.

As nice as she was, I was not about to explain that I didn't know whether I was going to get into school in the first place and that I'm leaving for the states next week which complicates things what with leaving my cat, monthly bills and my stuff behind and not knowing if I will come back for good or not. And that I might possibly have to buy a plane ticket just to come back and take my stuff with me. All in all, there was no vomit nor tears which is always good, I only waited an hour(could have been 3 or 4 just to hear no), the lady was super nice and I now know what I have to have. I'm trying to stay positive, but I'm super bummed of course. If anyone has any suggestions on how I could finaigle a carte d'etudiant before I find out if I'm accepted, I'm all ears, baby! Should I try to apply to the Fac? When I studied abroad, I remember not getting my carte d'etudiant until like 2 or 3 months in, but maybe that was because it was a study abroad program? As is with everything here, on verra bien.

Luck be a lady tomorrow?

Tomorrow is IT. Tomorrow morning I will be at the Prefecture with freaking bells on. Despite the fact that so far in Project Edumacate me, France is up by approximately 5 gagillion points to my 1 point, tomorrow will be winner takes all.
Pros
I now have in my hot little hands the following documents:
Passport+copy
Translated Birth Cert+copy
Justificatif de domicile+copy
Justificatif de ressources+copy
Attestation de pre-inscription+copy
Certificat de visite medicale+copy
3 HORRIFIC identity photos
S.A.S.E.

I will also be bringing my life in paperwork form with me, of course.

I'm a good person.

I have a good feeling about this.

I still have yet to toss my cookies or cry my eyes out.

Cons
Another girl in the same situation already tried to change status and they told her she HAD to go back to the US. Uh oh.

Everything paperwork-wise has gone really smoothly for the most part and I've been waiting for some sort of nightmare. Double uh oh.

Bad things come in threes and I've already had two majorly bad things happen this year. Triple uh oh.

I'm not actually accepted into the school yet(which brings up a whole nother set of worries!)

I will probably end up with some nasty witch(replace w with b) who hates Bush and, therefore, me.

France doesn't care that I'm a good person.

Wow, a good feeling? That's promising(insert sarcasm.)

The vomit and the tears are soon to come!

As is tradition, I am expecting the worst so that I can hopefully be pleasantly surprised. But, like I said, everything has gone smoothly for the most part except with the *@&$!%^# rectorat, so I have been just waiting for whatever lucky charms I have fallen upon to fail me at any point now. I know it sounds pessimistic, but I just don't want to get my hopes up and be crushed if it doesn't work out(I literally just almost typed when it doesn't work out, you see how I am?!) So, I will give it a go and please wish me luck because honestly, I think that's the only thing that will guarantee me the opportunity to stay here and get into school. Yikes!

Luck be a lady today?

Remember that teeny tiny miniscule possibility of me being able to stay here in France? Well, I'm about to head off soon to try and get some more info. So, here's hoping a)it's open and b)that I can even finaigle them into giving me some info. I feel like I'm going to gerbe because I really just don't know what's going to happen and I'm a bit(understatement of the century) stressed. So, wish me luck because I'm scaaaaared!

Update:
Bad news-I cannot find out any earlier than debut Septembre.
Good news-I did manage to get an attestation of pre-inscription and the guy I talked to was shockingly very nice and seemed hopefulish for me.
Worst news-I have to go to the dreaded Prefecture and see if I can convince them to give me a carte de sejour without having gotten a visa first for a school I might not even get into.
Best news-I have not yet tossed my cookies.

I think this deserves this much luck-wishing...

TIMES INFINITY!!!

Blast from the past

No, I don't actually mean that awful movie starring Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone. I meant this discovery I made while looking around online...

This

this

and this!

And the ultimate source!!!

1990s, I missed you so!

Happy Blogiversary to me!

One year! I know I sort of abandoned ship for a good bit there, but I did get bit by the blogging bug back around April and have been going strong(for the most part) ever since. To celebrate my Blogiversary today, I watched a marathon of some ridiculous reality show from the states where the girl has to choose from 20 suitors, however, they are all(wait for it)...MASKED! It's called Mr. Personality and personally, the masks kind of freak me out and it's an absolutely ABSURD idea, yet somehow I got myself sucked into a marathon. Darn you, reality tv! Last night, Jen and I made a homemade pizza and it sure was bonne. Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure...

And you thought this method was only used for wine...au contraire, mes amis. When you don't know how to use a French can opener this is what happens.


Pizzer before shot...


...and after! Chicken, red pepper, onions, pineapple, emmental and fresh mozzarella...it was delish!

PS-I could really go for that piece of cake right about now!

Just call me mamie

So, for whatever reason, my P.O.S. mattress has decided to slowly age me by 50 years. The past few nights, I've woken up with a sore neck and back, but it was definitely something I could deal with, though rather painful. However, this morning takes the freakin gateau as my neck and upper back are KILLING me. I literally have to turn my entire body if I want to look to the right or left and look like a complete ARSE, otherwise it feels like teeny tiny knives are ever-so slightly stabbing at my left shoulder blade. I also am more comfortable at a slightly hunched over Quasimodo-like posture, how pretty. Not to mention that when something is funny, I start out with "haha" and end with "owwww holy BEEP". Ahh, how agreable!