Dollars & Euro

This is another installment in a series of answers to FAQ. Unfortunately, many of the questions I'm asked via social media have somewhat complicated answers, and this is my attempt at answering them completely yet simply.

The question: How much is a Euro in USD?

Well, right now, the simple answer is about $1.30. However, our situation is a bit more complicated in that we are paid in USD via a monthly direct deposit to our US checking account and have to transfer that money to our Euro account here in France.




How do we do that? Well, we've been here a month, and we're just starting to get it all straight. We brought about $2,000 USD in cash with us to help get us started. We changed this money to Euro at the airport in Lyon, lost it, found it, spent it quickly on rent and other things we needed. It went fast!

Since then, we've been setting up an account with XE Trade, which I found out about through Design Mom, a fabulous blogger who lived in Normandy for a while. Since they are meticulous about verifying your identity and credit worthiness, it takes quite some time. We really should have started this before we moved, honestly. Ah well...too late now. The good news is that we finally have it all set up, and now we are able to directly transfer money from our checking account to XE, who converts it to Euro and transfers it into our French bank account. Clear as mud?

In addition to having to wait for the verification process, it takes about a week to receive the funds in our French account once we initiate a transfer. We requested our first transfer last week, and we are expecting our funds any day. Unfortunately, we've been here one month today (yay!), and our rent is due, so we've been pulling money out of the ATM using our US debit cards each day for a few days to make sure we have enough. It does cost a bit more to use the ATM, but it's not outrageous, so it's great in a pinch. It saved our rear ends just after we arrived and lost our money. We are also able to use our US credit cards at many places (IKEA, Carrefour) for major purchases, though there is a 3% foreign transaction fee. Not ideal, but until we are able to access our money more easily, it helps to have the option.

Fortunately, Ben's grant pays us enough to actually live here quite comfortably. That being said, Europe is expensive, and we are trying to be very conservative until we can gauge just how much we need to live here. Obviously, it costs more at the start because we're eating out a good bit and having to buy supplies to get set up. We're hoping to have a budget set soon that will allow us to travel during school breaks and see Europe while we're here. We may never get this chance again, so we're going to make the most of it.

Where in France?

One of the questions I am asked most often, "Where are you in France?" Most people assume we are in Paris, since that is what most Americans think of when someone mentions France.

Actually, we aren't anywhere near Paris. We're in Grenoble. No, not Chernobyl, site of the nuclear disaster. Grenoble. Site of the 1968 Winter Olympics. Heart of the French Alps.

See...

We're the little red "A" south of Switzerland, nearly in Italy. Geneva (Switzerland) is about an hour and a half away by car. Turin, Italy (also a Winter Olympic site) is farther but only because of the mountains you must drive around to get there.

If you've kept up with me via social media, you've likely seen pictures of snow capped mountains. That's because we're literally surrounded by them.

Pretty, ain't it? Truly, it is. I will never, ever tire of seeing those beautiful peaks as I make my way around the city.

One of the coolest things (IMHO) about this city, is "the bubbles".

These fantastic cable cars are located just a 5 minute walk from our apartment, and they rise from the Isere River to the bastille, a series of ancient fortifications on a nearby mountain. We hope to go up in them if we can ever get a clear day. The weather has been very dreary lately with many days of rain. We are told that this is very unusual, as the weather is usually colder and much more clear. Given the kind of winter they're having in Illinois, I'll gladly take the rain and mild temperatures.

Hopefully that clears things up for everyone. I apologize for neglecting my blog lately. It's extremely hard to find motivation to write when there's so much else to be done, but things are finally starting to settle down a bit. I have a whole host of topics I'd like to write about (eventually), but I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have in the meantime.

Getting to Grenoble

I typed up this long, detailed post about our journey here, but I just don't think I want to go into all of that...at least not right now. Suffice to say that it was less than magical. The important part is that we arrived safely and with most of our things.

I'll start with our arrival in Grenoble...

We took a bus from Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport to the Grenoble train station. We were unclear as to how we should proceed from there. In normal circumstances, it is a 10 minute walk; however, it was raining, cold, and we had a ridiculous amount of luggage. Simply getting a taxi was a harrowing ordeal, seeing as we had to haul ourselves and our luggage through the (uncovered) parking lot to get to the taxi stand. The cars were tiny, and once they saw us and our baggage, many drivers just ignored us. But there was one guy determined to help us. He left his meter running while he did so, of course, but he was more than willing to assist. He flagged down another driver and managed to cram us into two cabs. I have no idea what all of that cost, but I can say that it was worth every penny. (Ben said it was $25 Euro.)

Our landlord, Silva, greeted us and helped us move all of our things into the apartment and began showing us around immediately. She said she would return the next day to help us further, as she knew we must be tired. Ben asked her where we could get something to eat, and she agreed to show him where the market was.

Now, this is where things get interesting. Ben began searching for the Euro we had changed at the airport, but Silva said she would pay and we could pay her back later. So, they went to the market and got bread, cheese, and bananas. I fed the girls and put them to bed.

Meanwhile, Ben couldn't find the money. If you know Ben, you know that he is constantly misplacing things. He left our keys on top of our car at Walt Disney World once. It's a real problem. However, this was money we planned to pay the rent with, as we knew there would be no quick way to get enough Euro until we got a bank account here in France. This was a major problem. We searched, retraced our steps, but it was just gone. He insisted that he had just misplaced it, but I was convinced he'd laid it down in the foyer and the cabbies had stolen it.

At any rate, it was gone. We both felt sick. As if the jet lag was not bad enough, we had just lost a major (to us) amount of money. After a fitful night, we finally got ourselves dressed and headed out to find an ATM when we ran into Silva. She only speaks French and Italian, so when Ben asked her where to find an ATM, she simply took us to a bank...her bank, Monte Paschi. Through some misunderstanding, Ben ended up opening an account. Opening a bank account in France is hard, seriously hard. Silva and our banker, Johan went to great lengths to help us.

Johan showed us the way to an ATM, and Silva (through translation from her daughter in Italy) agreed to give us another week to transfer the rent money to her account. If anyone ever says the French are not nice people, they're lying. We were still pretty sick about the money, but we decided to move on and try to enjoy our day.

We set out to explore our new neighborhood, and I must say, getting out of the apartment did us quite a lot of good. We found our way to Place Victor Hugo, a major shopping area filled with brasseries, shops, and cafes. It cheered us up to know that all of this was so close to our apartment...literally at the end of our street. It's kind of amazing.

On our second night in France, I managed to get the children into bed around 11pm, and they both stayed in their own bed all night. It was a fitful night of sleep for me, but I had to be at the bank this morning to show my passport and sign some paperwork, so I began getting myself ready. I reached into my suitcase to find some clothing and pulled out a little plastic bag containing approximately $1300 Euro.

I was speechless. I took a deep breath, made very sure I was not dreaming, and calmly informed Ben that I'd found something. As you can imagine, we were both extremely happy and relieved. I had not wanted Ben to feel any worse than he already did during the whole ordeal, but I took this opportunity to scold him a bit and threaten his life if he ever did such a thing again.

A happy ending, for sure.

Tomorrow!

I've spent approximately 10 minutes just staring at the word "tomorrow" typed on my screen. Ya know how sometimes when you write or type a common word and stop to think, and it doesn't look quite right? I have that feeling.

Tomorrow.

I have no idea how this came upon me so quickly. Ben applied for this fellowship in September of 2011, but I have had it in my mind ever since he mentioned the possibility long (a year? two?) before that. Now it's here.

Tomorrow.

There is still so very much left to do. We haven't packed a single suitcase...which sounds bad, but I assure you it won't take me long to do the actual packing. I'm a Tetris master, so I've got that down. I'm more concerned with laundry and making sure the girls have adequate clothing. Also, plug adapters are giving me fits.

Tomorrow we fly from New Orleans to Dallas. We have a 3 hour layover there before flying on to London. When we arrive, it will be 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday, but it will feel like 5:30 a.m. to us. At 1:30 p.m., we board a flight to Lyon, France that will arrive at 4:30 local time. Then, we must take a bus for the 1 hour trip to Grenoble. The station is approximately 5 minutes walking distance from our apartment. Only God knows how we're going to get three kids and a ridiculous amount of luggage from the station to our apartment, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.

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Live from Walt Disney World...

I thought I'd post a quick update while the kids (and Ben) nap here in our hotel room at POP Century Resort.

This has been a whirlwind week (plus some), but things are good with us. I had a lovely send-off with my fabulous B&N co-workers on Saturday the 7th. That same day, Ben's mom flew in to help with the girls while Ben and I finished packing up the house, which was an absolute disaster. Packing, I mean. We seem to have underestimated the time it would take, so we ended up crying uncle and calling Two Men & a Truck to save the day. I honestly do not know how we would have gotten it all done without their help. They managed to move everything to storage in just over 3 hours. Even with their assistance, it took a gargantuan effort on our parts to get it all done. We had hopes of leaving just after Ben's last lecture, but we didn't depart Champaign until nearly 5pm on Wednesday. We drove to our usual stopping point of Sikeston, MO and continued on to the MS Gulf Coast on Thursday.

Ben's mother, Terri, took the girls and I to see Disney on Ice on Friday morning, and the girls had haircuts in the afternoon. After a nice visit with Ben's grandmother, we managed to throw our stuff in the suitcases and finally got to sleep around 1 o'clock.

We woke up at 4 a.m. and left at 5:30 to drive to New Orleans for our 9 o'clock flight. Only the excitement of Disney was keeping me upright at that point. I honestly have never been more exhausted, but we made it here, thank God. The girls are having an absolute blast, and none of us want to ever leave. Avery has been such a brave girl, riding Expedition Everest, Soarin', Test Track, and Mission Space. Carsyn has loved seeing the princesses and riding Dumbo. We've had a great time, and I'll go into more detail in another post.

That's all for now. I apologize if none of this makes sense. We're exhausted, but in a good (read: Disney) way.

By the way, if you're reading, PLEASE comment! I know lots of you "like" on Facebook, but it's also nice to have comments on my blog.

Counting Down - One Week (Eek!)

Since I have a minute while the girls are occupied, I thought I'd take a minute to post some updates on "Phase I" of our move. We're leaving Champaign one week from today!

I've been posting Craigslist ads left and right and have managed to get rid of most of our junk. I gave away a very worn out, yet still comfy chair, there's someone coming for our mattresses on Sunday, and our washer/dryer set has some interest. We've hired a junk hauler for a few things, though I'm hoping that when placed by the side of the road and marked "free", someone will just take them off our hands.

Ben has done the majority of de-junking and boxing up. God bless him. It is certainly a task. He's gone room by room mostly just cleaning out things that need to be thrown away. Many things that were stored in the garage have already been moved to storage. It's a start, but there's still so much left to do. I'll jump in heavily on Sunday when Ben's mom is here to help with the girls.

Moving day is Tuesday. We've rented a Penske truck and are hoping to do it ourselves, but one thing we did decide to take some help on is cleaning the house after we get everything out. We're having a cleaning service come in and clean the carpets, appliances, and pretty much everything else. If you've ever moved, you know what a help that will be to us.

We'll be staying at a hotel on Tuesday night. Ben's mom is flying home on Wednesday and taking Avery with her. Ben and I will take Carsyn and Kendall on our long drive to Mississippi. We'll leave just after Ben's class and take two days for the trip. Then, of course, we're flying to Disney on Saturday.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it. If I didn't have three children to look after, I'd take a nap. If only I could get away with sleeping as much as Kendall.

French Consulate, Part Two

In my last post, I wrote about the various documents and procedures required in securing our French long-stay visas. Today I'll talk about the actual appointment at the French Consulate of Chicago.

As I mentioned before, children under 6 years of age are not required to appear in person, so we got a sitter for the day. It had snowed the day before, it was bitterly cold, and I was thankful that we didn't have to drag the kids out in that weather. There were a few icy patches on the roads, but we had no trouble at all getting to Chicago. 

Now it's time for good news, bad news. The good news is that we easily found an underground parking spot close to the consulate, and we didn't have to step out into the icy Chicago wind. The bad news is that we were about 15 minutes too late to get the early bird special and paid an obscene amount for our glorious spot. Oops.

Once we arrived at the consulate, we had to check in at the security desk. We handed over our drivers' licenses, and the receptionist confirmed our appointments and handed us passes with bar codes. She mumbled something that Ben seemed to understand, so we set off for the elevators to our right. He scanned his pass and entered through the gate. I had plenty of time to dart in behind him, so I did. 

The alarms blared immediately and loudly. I could have died right then and there. The security agent (smirking) came over and took my pass. She punched in a code, scanned my pass, and waved me on. I was beet-red and mortified, but we hopped in an elevator and quickly rose to the 37th floor. 

After a wrong turn despite the sign giving us clear directions right in front of us, we arrived at the visa section of the consulate. It was a small office with small uncomfortable chairs that looked very French. We placed our passes inside the window as a sign directed us to do and had a seat. There was a gardening show on a small television, in French of course. I was a bundle of nerves, but it wasn't very long before a man called Ben to the window. I stayed behind, assuming they'd call me separately. However, the man took all the paperwork from Ben and only called me over for a picture. He said our visas would take a week to ten days to process. The whole thing took less than 15 minutes.

Relieved that something so crucial to our move had been taken care of, Ben and I were without our children in one of the greatest cities in America. So, we did what anyone in our situation would do: sought out some sights. I knew I wanted to go to Millennium Park to see Cloud Gate (aka: The Bean), but we really had no other plans, unless you count Garrett's Popcorn. I count it. It's fabulous.

                                                                                                     Credit: Getty Images


We set out for Millennium Park. Cloud Gate is amazing. Truly. I wasn't expecting to think much of it, but it is fantastic. I love the way it reflects the skyline. Perfection. If you're ever in Chicago, go see it.

After walking a couple of blocks in the wrong direction, we set off north of the Chicago River for lunch. Unfortunately, we were complete unorganized and had no idea where we should go, so we stopped in one of the many Starbucks to warm up a bit with some coffee. I knew there was a burger place I was interested in, but I convinced myself it was several blocks away. In reality, it was literally right across the street from the Starbucks. Ah well, we ended up at Pizzeria Due, which is the sister store to the famous Pizzeria Uno. It was a long lunch stop because the pizzas took 40 minutes, but it was nice to be out of the wind for a while. The pizzas were good, not anything fabulous.

Next we headed to Garrett's Popcorn. I heard about this place on Oprah years ago, and I've been obsessed ever since. When faced with a decision between cheese and caramel popcorn, I just cannot choose. At Garrett's I don't have to, thanks to their Chicago Mix. It's equal parts of both, mixed together. When I first had it back in February when we were in Chicago for Avery's big American Girl birthday extravaganza, I carefully started picking out the cheese and caramel separately. Then, I got lazy and just grabbed a handful. This was a life-changing moment. Seriously, the best popcorn I've ever had. Of course, the Chicago Mix is what I wanted this time as well, so Ben and I got a large bag. We got the girls a small bag of Gingerbread Caramel and later wished we'd bought a large bag of that as well.

Sadly, it was time to head home. We made promises to return to Chicago and explore further when we return from France. We have since received our passports with visas stamped inside, so all is set. The trip was both successful and enjoyable.