roomie bonding.

i'm so glad that i found 2 other assistants to live with. basically they rock. for the past week we've pretty much been with each other 24/7 and we havent killed each other, but i doubt that will ever happen. since we don't start teaching until october 8, we all wanted to take this week to figure out the bus route to each of our schools and visit them. they so graciously came with me to Sorgues where my 3 schools are located. the bus route was easy enough and finding my 3 schools turned out to be a lot easier than i had expected.

we ended our lovely little trip with a quick stop at the market back in Avignon to do our weekly grocery shopping. our basket consisted mainly of fruit, salad fixings, cheese and bread, all of the necessities. our next adventure of the day was opening our bank accounts. i was the guinea pig and had my appointment first which was kinda nerve racking because i haven't even opened an account in america, let alone in france! everything turned out okay and i understood most of the forms that i signed. the lady was super nice and made sure to explain everything to me. before dinner we decided to have what id like to call, a "trust test." i think the pictures will explain:

Laura's wasn't as drastic as mine but i think she was a bit more nervous that i was. maybe i was too trusting of leslie but i figured it's just hair and it will grow back shortly. plus i wanted a new do. being a perfectionist, it took leslie like 2 hours to fix me up and we were starved by that point. we whipped together some pan-seared salmon with sautéed garlic, mushrooms, carrots and spinach and served it over a bed of pasta. naturally it was accompanied with our new selection of cheeses, brie, chèvre and edam. it was glorious and now our entire apartment smells like garlic, love it. 

Video Tour

I took some videos of the street that we live on and our lovely new apartment! Enjoy :)

the prettiest place on earth

i am continually amazed at how beautiful a city Avignon is. we've been staying in a cheap (very cheap) hostel just outside of the city walls until we find a permanent apartment. in order to get inside the city walls we have to walk across a bridge that overlooks the rhone and we have a wonderful view of the palais de papes. even though it doesn't quite compare to Aix, this is a pretty great city and i am so privileged to have the opportunity to live here. so far, i have successfully eaten at least one serving of cheese a day which is now a staple to my diet, as well as sat at a cafe every afternoon for a pick-me-up. yesterday, we discovered the cutest cafe, mainly because the only was super nice and they had mini-sandwiches. i'm hoping she will take me under her wing and teach me how to bake. the other assistants are brillant (as the English ones say) and i am so excited to finally move into an apartment with my 2 roomies (who are equally as brillant)! we had 2 viewings yesterday, one far surpassed the other, and we have 2 more today. we loved the first place we saw yesterday and we are most likely going to live there. it is off a beautiful cobblestone street (the owner promises it is the most beautiful street in Avignon) and has a sweet water wheel across from it. if only there was a goat farm next to it, then it'd be perfect. more pictures to come!

Slightly overweight

It's here! I cannot believe I am moving to France for 9 months, eek!! I'm ready to embark on this new adventure, but first I have to get there with all of my luggage. I decided it would be a great idea to leave all of my packing for the night before, terrible decision and so uncharacteristic of me. Thankfully, I had my own personal packing elf (shout out to Caroline, BIFF) who managed to fit all of my junk into 1 giant suitcase and a travel backpack. After hours of cramming and shoving clothes, shoes and books, we zipped the last of the zippers. Unfortunately, fitting everything wasn't the biggest problem, fitting everything AND being under 50 pounds was the more daunting task at hand. I was already prepared to pay the extra fee for my overweight bag. Come to find out, there is a maximum weight of 70 pounds. My smart mother decided to bring a second suitcase just in case I was over the max limit. I am so glad I decided to keep her around because not only was it overweight, but it was 30 pounds overweight, weighing in at a grand total of 80 pounds. Who knew clothes could weigh so much. So I had to decide if I wanted to pay a $200 fee for the 80 pounds or check at second bag for only $60. The cheaper fee seemed a little more appealing to me than a bag busting at the seems that cost me $200. So now I am sitting in Charlotte with my travel backpack and giant purse relieved to have the 2 bags checked and stowed...for now. Once I get into Paris, I'll have to retrieve my 2 suitcases and lug them onto the TGV train then onto 2 separate buses before I reach my final destination. It's safe to say that I am slightly nervous, but I'm still praying and I know that God will get me there safely.

visa fiasco

the last major thing that had to be done before i left was getting my visa. the french consulate for the southeast region is located in atlanta so essentially i had to drive 4 hours for a 15 minute appointment. the day before my appointment i double - no triple - checked the website to make sure that i had all of my necessary forms and documents. of course i failed to realize that my self-addressed envelope had to be fedex or ups, i guess the french don't care for usps  so i was thinking it was going to be a breeze to get one and i planned to stop by ups on the way to work. false, not so easy and even better when i tried to call, they tell me that they don't answer questions pertaining to visa over the phone. apparently return labels can only be done online (mishap #1). thankfully work was slow that day so i was able to set up a fedex account and get most of the details sorted out. after work, i print out the address label and headed for atlanta thinking that i had everything all figured out. the next morning my dad insisted that we leave extra early in case we hit traffic or got lost. little did we know that the address for the french consulate is not exactly correct by anyone's standards because it is actually located on a neighboring street. we ended up at the wrong building but one of the workers gave us a map and told us that everyone gets it wrong. so we race over to the correct building and cut it close to my appointment (mishap #2). at this point im already freaking out because we are right on time which in my book means we are late and i cannot afford to miss this appointment. i make it inside the office with a few other students and travelers and wait for my turn. i'm a little nervous because i don't know what to expect, but i feel confident that i have all of my documents. i'm called next and the guy (who might i add is a very attractive male slightly older than myself which only heightens my nerves. i've only interacted with creep, old country club men and little kids all summer long and i've seemed to have forgotten how to charm eligible bachelors). i tell him what kind of visa i am applying for and i slide all of my paperwork under the glass to him. he looks at my first form and tells me that it is out-of-date (mishap #3) and he asks for the remaning 2 pages of it which i don't have. i turn bright red and tell him that that's the form i got off their website. he gives me a hard time about it but gives me the updated version to fill out. next, he asks for my flight itinerary (mishap #4). in my head im thinking "WHAT?! that was NOT on the list. oh my goodness, i'm not going to get my visa, I'M NOT GOING TO FRANCE!!" if it is at all possible, my face turns even brighter and i sheepishly admit that i don't have it with me, but i do know the date. he kinda laughs and shakes his head and tells me to write down the date for both flights. i look at him wide-eyed and tell him more bad news, i have not bought a return flight yet. at this point i'm sure he is thinking, how in the world did this girl get this job, she can't even follow directions. i made up some excuse that the program told me not to worry about a return flight since i will be teaching for at least 7 months. he shrugs that off and tells me as long as i come back at some point then it's okay. next, i excitedly slide my return envelope under the glass because i am positive that i did this right since fedex walked me through the process. as if things could get worse (mishap #5). my form requested that the bill be sent to the sender meaning the french consulate, not me which he pointed out ever so kindly, not. thankfully he slides me a new return label and envelope and tells me how to fill this out correctly. he then has me place my fingers on a scanner but i'm still so nervous that my hand won't stop shaking and it takes several attempts for an accurate reading. after all of this mess is sorted out, i happily tell him that i did remember to bring my fee in cash, as specified on the website. this time he gives me some good news, it's free for teaching assistants!

my next french adventure.

i'm back! over the past 6 months, i have been waiting to see if i got a job with TAPIF and what God has in store for me for the next chapter of my life. in short, i got the job, got the blessing from mother teresa and accepted! then there was more waiting...finally the much awaited e-mail arrived and i found out that i will be teaching at 3 primary schools in Sorgues, France. i had never heard of this city before so i googled it. apparently google and wikipedia hadn't heard of it either because i didn't come across any helpful information. i scoured all of my french travel books and the internet and still nothing. i was a little discouraged because i was really hoping to be placed back in aix or some other well-known french city. then i realized that God obviously placed me there for a reason. i finally got smart and went on google.fr and found the city's website (sorgues.fr - for those who are interested, but good luck because it's all in french). i got in contact with the girl who taught there last year and she gave me tons of helpful information. she strongly suggested that i live in Avignon, a much larger city, and take the bus to and from Sorgues. i have been to Avignon one back in high school and the only thing i remember is that it is a walled-city. so i did more research on Avignon, the bus system and did some apartment hunting, then the excitement set in. i found some other teaching assistants who are planning on living in Avignon that could be potential roommates. of course, i am still waiting on my work contract and work visa, but now that i know where i will be living i cannot wait! i'm pretty sure i look at pictures or read more information about Avignon each day, which makes me more pumped to go. i'm content being at home, but september cannot come soon enough. i can already taste the glorious french wine and cheese.

double digits.

22, or as caroline likes to say "double digits"...which i've been in the double digits for 12 years. so really she means double numbers. pretty much this birthday rocked. the roomies (shout out to les, jess, paige and jenna) planned a great dance party in less than 24 hours. we had a DJ (who is sponsored by rockstar, hence all the rockstar pics), great food (including peanut butter m&ms, they know my weaknesses), and most importantly great people. my friends are rockstars. it was a great way to bring in my twenty-second year of living.

 i've been told that 20 is a decade of change and it's so true. this year i'll be experiencing a BIG change - the real world. i'm still in denial and although i'm gettin more excited for life post-college, it's still scary.