It's visa time: A quick visit to the French consulate in Sydney!

In order to get my visa to live and work in France, I had to fly to Sydney from Melbourne. My first port of call was my visa appointment at the French consulate. On my way to the appointment, I took a little detour (I really just got lost) and I happened across the Homecoming parade for the Australian Olympians who had just come back from London. It was pretty cool to see them up close, considering I had been glued to the TV for 2 weeks.

The visa appointment went really smoothly, the only problem being that I could not figure out how to use their weird fingerprint gadget. I tried several different ways of placing my fingers until I finally figured it out. Who knew you had to do that weird Spock hand salute to make the gadget work?!

Once that was out of the way, I was able to just relax in the Sydney sunshine. I walked to an area known as "The Rocks" which is the oldest part of Sydney. I also visited Circular Quay where I was able to see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It was nice, though I think it's most beautiful at night, on New Year's Eve, when fireworks are shooting off it.

iPhone camera + sun + shadows = One-eyed me in front of the Sydney Opera House

Apart from sightseeing I was able to just relax in my hotel room and watch random TV shows which included a really interesting Titanic documentary. Yes, I'm a nerd! All in all it was a great trip, though it was nice to get back to Melbourne. I am so lucky to call Melbourne home...well at least for the next 3 weeks anyway!

Booked my flight to France!

I booked my flight to France! I leave Melbourne on the 18th September and will be in Paris 24 hours later! This flight must have the record for the longest flight in the world, because it is so so long. Luckily for me, I won't have to do it again for awhile!

This means that I leave in just over a month! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. Sometimes, it feels like just yesterday when it was December and I spent all my time on the assistants in france forums waiting to know if I was accepted. Counting the months... then the days.

Knowing the exact date I'm leaving has made it a little more real. I know that this whole experience is going to be amazing, but I also know how much is about to change. I move from being really happy to sentimental. I'm finishing work soon and slowly but surely crossing off things on my to-do list. There are lots of goodbyes and endings, but I know that there are so many new beginnings to come. Like my Grandma once told me: "when one door closes, another window opens..."

I leave for Sydney on Sunday for my visa appointment so I'll be updating again very soon! Au revoir!

Arrêté de nomination has arrived!

Today, I walked outside to my mailbox like I have been obsessively for the past week, to find the big envelope I hoped would be there. After months of waiting, my arrete de nomination has finally arrived!

The arrete de nomination is the work contract that allows you to get your visa to live and work legally in France. Without your arrete you can't get your visa, which is why all assistants (including me!) have been anxiously awaiting their arrival. I've read horror stories about people not getting their's and starting their job in France late, so when it got to August, I was beginning to think the worst.

Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones!

Getting my arrete means that I can actually start to do all the things on my massive to-do list, which is growing by the day. First on my list is to book my flights to France. I'm so excited, I can't even begin to tell you!

The next step in the process is flying up to Sydney in two weeks time to get my visa! I look forward to telling you all about it and showing you a few pics of Sydney!