A summer abroad program in France always sounded like a good idea. Be in France for a month, from May 25th to June 27th, while studying and earning credits towards your Degree.
After being wait-listed for the program, I applied to and got accepted into another university's summer abroad program.
However, when I was later informed that spots had opened up for the France program, I immediately gave up the chance to go to South Africa and deal with a University I had no ties to or experience dealing with. The rational was that being a part of a program organized by the institution would be less tedious as information would be more readily available and more readily accessible.
The courses being offered were also very enticing, Comparative Human Rights Law, French Business Law, European Union Law, and International Sports Law. I would have the opportunity to have taken courses and gain resume building knowledge of French Business and European Union Law, opportunities that are undoubtedly not readily available.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The Good, The Bad and the Not So Pretty.... Part 1
After deciding on participating in the program, I then had to deal with what I would have considered to be my biggest obstacle of the Program.
The problem was that unfortunately the School had not taken into consideration the fact that the School has a substantial immigrant population. This meant that not everyone was an American citizen and for those of us who were not, a visa requirement would have to be met. However, because this aspect was either not considered or just simply overlooked, the School had no idea first of all that non-citizens would have to acquire a visa and subsequently no information was readily available as to the steps needed to cure this defect.
However, I overlooked this and considered the fact that we were all at least 20 somethings, that should be able to take charge and make any arrangements obtain a visa if need be. After Googling, and browsing through the French Consulates website, the requirements to be met included a letter from the school to be visited, a letter from my home school, proof of income, health insurance, $94 application fee, and then the trip to the Miami consulatejavascript:void(0), $3.50 a gallon gas price not included.
The School however did readily satisfy the requirements of providing a letter and procuring one from University D'Auvergne in France.
The only glitch was that while at while at the Consulate, my application was refused because the letter obtained from the French University was printed on plain 8x11, no letterhead, leading one to form the impression that this was not official and anyone could have written.
However, after some first rate begging and pleading and charm and exception was made, saving me from the walk of shame.
This was still all taken with a grain of salt because as one could expect with any inaugural program, glitches are to be expected. So although it was not so pretty, with the help of a little mascara, it could come outside.
The problem was that unfortunately the School had not taken into consideration the fact that the School has a substantial immigrant population. This meant that not everyone was an American citizen and for those of us who were not, a visa requirement would have to be met. However, because this aspect was either not considered or just simply overlooked, the School had no idea first of all that non-citizens would have to acquire a visa and subsequently no information was readily available as to the steps needed to cure this defect.
However, I overlooked this and considered the fact that we were all at least 20 somethings, that should be able to take charge and make any arrangements obtain a visa if need be. After Googling, and browsing through the French Consulates website, the requirements to be met included a letter from the school to be visited, a letter from my home school, proof of income, health insurance, $94 application fee, and then the trip to the Miami consulatejavascript:void(0), $3.50 a gallon gas price not included.
The School however did readily satisfy the requirements of providing a letter and procuring one from University D'Auvergne in France.
The only glitch was that while at while at the Consulate, my application was refused because the letter obtained from the French University was printed on plain 8x11, no letterhead, leading one to form the impression that this was not official and anyone could have written.
However, after some first rate begging and pleading and charm and exception was made, saving me from the walk of shame.
This was still all taken with a grain of salt because as one could expect with any inaugural program, glitches are to be expected. So although it was not so pretty, with the help of a little mascara, it could come outside.
The Good, the Bad and the Not So Pretty, Pt. 2
Things did not pick up too well when I finally arrived in France. With no information having been dissmenated prior to the trip regarding possible ways to get from Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris to Clermont-Ferrand. I know a several people opted to fly into Paris instead of directly to Clermont Ferrand in order to save from $700 to $1000 on plane tickets.
However, my frustration was fueled by the fact that I had actually asked administrators prior to my departure about possible ways to get from Paris to Clermont Ferrand and was informed that trains were available directly form the airport that runs to Clermont Ferrand.
After lugging baggages to the all the way across the airport, I was soon to find out that this was not so, that in fact I would have to take at least two trains, the first to the middle of Paris placing me in the middle of nowhere, and the second to my destination. With my limited grasp of the French language, being foreign to a country, this was clearly not an option to be stuck somewhere with the possibility no one would understand where I wanted to get to or how to get there.
So after giving up that effort, the next option would be renting a car and trying to interpret a map to get to my location. However, after about an half an hour at the rental desk, I exasperatingly agreed to fence over $275 Euros for the car. The best was yet to come when after lugging all suitcases into the car, I exhaustingly sat in the driver's seat, only to find that I was behind the wheel of a manual transmission car. This was after telling the desk person maybe 10 times that I can only drive an automatic. So here I was again having been at the airport for close to three hours at this point.
My next and final option was to embark on getting a plane ticket from Paris to Clermont, putting me back in the same scenario that I was initially trying to avoid by buying a cheaper ticket to Paris. So there I was, the lead actor in the comedy of errors but finally on my way to Clermont-Ferrand.
This experience may have been filed under the not so pretty part of the experience, but was escalated to bad, even really bad, when a week later after deciding to go explore Paris.
I found that if proper instructions were given by administrations I could have taken the B train from the airport to Chatelet des Halles, walk across the platform and take the A train to Gare Lyon in Paris. Finally a train from there to Clermont Ferrand costing me a grand total of approximately 40 Euros, and 4 hours.
However, my frustration was fueled by the fact that I had actually asked administrators prior to my departure about possible ways to get from Paris to Clermont Ferrand and was informed that trains were available directly form the airport that runs to Clermont Ferrand.
After lugging baggages to the all the way across the airport, I was soon to find out that this was not so, that in fact I would have to take at least two trains, the first to the middle of Paris placing me in the middle of nowhere, and the second to my destination. With my limited grasp of the French language, being foreign to a country, this was clearly not an option to be stuck somewhere with the possibility no one would understand where I wanted to get to or how to get there.
So after giving up that effort, the next option would be renting a car and trying to interpret a map to get to my location. However, after about an half an hour at the rental desk, I exasperatingly agreed to fence over $275 Euros for the car. The best was yet to come when after lugging all suitcases into the car, I exhaustingly sat in the driver's seat, only to find that I was behind the wheel of a manual transmission car. This was after telling the desk person maybe 10 times that I can only drive an automatic. So here I was again having been at the airport for close to three hours at this point.
My next and final option was to embark on getting a plane ticket from Paris to Clermont, putting me back in the same scenario that I was initially trying to avoid by buying a cheaper ticket to Paris. So there I was, the lead actor in the comedy of errors but finally on my way to Clermont-Ferrand.
This experience may have been filed under the not so pretty part of the experience, but was escalated to bad, even really bad, when a week later after deciding to go explore Paris.
I found that if proper instructions were given by administrations I could have taken the B train from the airport to Chatelet des Halles, walk across the platform and take the A train to Gare Lyon in Paris. Finally a train from there to Clermont Ferrand costing me a grand total of approximately 40 Euros, and 4 hours.
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