Introducing the Flyer in France!
February 22, 2010
A recent increase in postal shipping rates is contributing to student stress regarding upcoming study abroad experience.
If this were a normal news story, that's how I would begin.
I am Rebecca Young, a staff writer for Flyer News. But this isn't my normal kind of newspaper writing. Starting this week, I'm trading in topics like roofies and railroads for questions of culture and communication.
I'm an international studies major and I'm currently preparing to spend this semester studying abroad at the Universite Catholique de L'Ouest in Angers, France. There's one thing we need to clear up right away. I'm aware it looks like the name of my soon to be hometown is simply anger with an "s" but it's pronounced "on-zhay."
I also realize this phonetic spelling looks like the stereotypical French accent we've come to expect, but stereotypes like that are in part why I'm going to be writing this column. For the duration of this semester, I'll be writing in about the deep questions surrounding a semester in France: does everyone really have a cigarette in one hand, a baguette in the other and a beret on their heads?
No, in all seriousness, over the next four months in every couple of issues, I'll be writing in about all the different aspects of life I encounter from international airport security and the experiences of being foreign to what it's like to live in a culture where you can essentially drink at any age. And if we have stereotypes of Europeans, I can't wait to see what molds I will break (or fill) in the eyes of my new classmates.
But before I can even cross the ocean into France for a whole semester, I must have not only a passport but also a visa. It's only a shiny piece of paper the size of an index card affixed inside the back of my passport, but the process to get it has been incredibly taxing.
Starting in September, I began filling out online forms and submitting documents from UD to France and Chicago. Over Christmas break I made the trip to Chicago for a brief interview and finger printing session. I had to bring even more documents (and money!) and one self-addressed envelope in which the consulate would mail me the visa inside my precious passport.
After a successful meeting I got a call from a woman with a heavy French accent informing me that the cost of express mailing a passport and visa rose by 80 cents on Jan. 4, causing the envelopes with pre-paid stamps of $17.50 to be returned in droves to the French consulate in Chicago.
To my great frustration and indignation, the consulate refused to spring for the two tiny stamps needed to get me my passport to adventure, and I had to stamp a letter to mail Chicago two more stamps.
I would like to think that this is the perfect time for the old adage that all's well that ends well; I received my passport and visa in the mail about a week after the stamp situation. However, in truth nothing has ended; everything is about to begin. Stay tuned for the tales of The Flyer in France!
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