08 May, 2006

Preparations

I'm planning to spend next year in Grenoble, in the southeast corner of France. Right now, all I know for sure is that the UC system wants me to go, that the host university almost always lets people recommended by the UC system in, and that the official acceptance letter from the host university takes pretty much forever to come. My list of things to do before I can go is feet long, but the most interesting thing on it right now is that I have to go to the French consulate in LA and get a visa. I've never had to deal with visas before- I've been out of the country, but only on couple-week tours with large groups. No two people I've talked to have said the same thing about what I need to do to get a student visa for a year in France, so I figure I'll show up at the French consulate some day with every paper anyone's ever mentioned I might need and hope poor Jay will drive me there again if there's something I need that I didn't bring.