French Consulate, La Premiére Partie

A week ago, Ben and I visited the French Consulate in Chicago to obtain visas for our stay in France. Most people who visit France as tourists don't need visas, but if you plan to stay more than 3 months and/or work while there, you need one, and the process can be a little daunting.

First, you have to decide what kind of visa you need, and there are many different ones depending on what your purpose is for visiting France. Ben applied for a long stay visa for scientists, researchers, and university teachers since he'll be doing research while there. This particular visa allows a spouse (me) to work while in France, though it is highly unlikely I'll be able to find work while there due to my francophone deficiency, not to mention the fact that I have three small children. 

One of the key requirements of this type of visa is a convention d'accueil. Basically, that's a formal invitation from the institution hosting Ben (Institut Fourier). In order to get the document, Ben had to scan and email proof of his NSF award ($$$), identification documents, and proof of insurance. We received the convention several weeks ago via Express mail. The only English words were Ben's name, so naturally I have no idea what it said. 

Now that we knew what kind of visa we needed and had the convention in hand, we were ready to make our appointments at the consulate in Chicago. There are several French consulates in the U.S., and each one has a region it serves. I guess it's a good thing we live just 2.5 hours south of Chicago. 

I'm betting 90% of my U.S. readers would visit the Atlanta consulate.

Once appointments were made with the Chicago consulate, we sought about gathering the many documents required. Each consulate has a website with specific documents they want you to have and these may vary by individual consulates. They're also subject to change at any time, so you need to keep checking. We had heard that the French can be quite picky with their documents and possibly request more than what is listed, so we made extra copies of everything. Ben organized all of our documents into five folders labeled with our names. This made things go a bit more smoothly than they would have otherwise. We each needed: valid passport + 1 copy, 99 euro (You didn't think they were free, did you?), long stay visa application, passport sized ID photo, marriage license +1 copy (me), birth certificates +1 copy (kids), Ben's convention +2 copies, residence application form, and one postage-paid express mail envelope. 

Daunting indeed. Next up, the consulate visit and our day in Chicago.

Stuff

When we moved from our home of six years in Georgia, we paired down our belongings significantly. I essentially allowed Ben to go through our belongings and get rid of anything he wanted. We won't mention the fact that these items included many baby items that then ten-month-old Carsyn had outgrown, and since we weren't going to be having any more babies, were unnecessary.

Wait. I think I did just mention it.

Anyway, the point of all of that is to say that we got rid of a bunch of stuff. Still, a year and a half later we have more items to sell/donate/trash. Lots of these items are baby related. We will definitely not be having any more children, so I'm looking to Craigslist and a local consignment boutique to help me sell those items. We also have furniture and appliances that aren't worth storing for two years. We're not quite sure what to do about those, but they aren't staying.

Even with all the items we're getting rid of, we still have quite a few things that are worth storing, so on Tuesday Ben and I went in search of an affordable, safe, climate-controled storage unit. There were three on our list to start. The first was okay, a typical storage unit located just off the interstate. The second absolutely blew us away. Please don't judge me for making such a statement about a storage unit (of all things). This place was brand spankin' new, had a security system that would make Batman whistle, and the owner was amazingly nice. It was a few bucks more per month than place #1, but we were sold. I did ask about a discount for such a long-term rental, and the guy gave us a month for free. He even threw in a free lock!

I'm gushing, aren't I? I'm sorry, it's just that we haven't encountered many truly kind people here in the midwest. I know some of you will be offended in reading that, but it's absolutely true. Midwesterners are sort of aloof, even when they're trying to sell you something. This guy had it right. So, that's my plug for Country Fair Self Storage. By the way, we never made it to the third place. It was significantly more per month than options one and two, plus the second place was all we could have hoped for.

Today Ben began the daunting task of cleaning out the garage. He made quite a dent and transferred about 1/4 of its contents to our unit. Hey, it's progress.

I'm off now to take pictures of baby items for Craigslist, and I'll leave you with one of my favorite internet graphics ever. Ben is the brawn, but I am the Tetris expert.

We're Moving to France!

At some point I'd love to share the whole (long, drawn-out) story of how this came to be, but for now just pretend you're up to speed. The time is near, and preparations are being made. Big preparations. In fact, just this weekend we secured temporary housing in Grenoble. Ben and I are ridiculously excited about our little apartment in the heart of the city. Neither of us has ever lived in a city before, so it's bound to be an adjustment; however, we are going into it open-minded and ready for adventure.


We're thrilled with having found a place, but we're a bit concerned that it won't be big enough for us long-term. That's why we decided to reserve it for two months with the option of continuing if it does end up being appropriate for our family of five. We're optimistic, especially since we've both agreed that we'd like to keep living costs down in order to "see" Europe in the two years we'll be living there.

Our apartment building. Thanks to Google's street view, I'm becoming familiar with the neighborhood already.
 



While having a place to stay at least initially in Grenoble is a huge relief to check off our to-do list, there are still many, many things that need to happen in the very short time we have left in the United States. Next week, Ben and I are heading to Chicago to obtain our long-stay visas at the French Consulate. This requires a lot of paper work that hasn't even been started yet. Adults have to appear in person, but mercifully we're able to leave the girls with a sitter. Schlepping my three little ones through the streets of Chicago is not how I'd like to acclimate myself to city life.

So that's where we are right now. This adventure began nearly three years ago, and now we're within double-digit days of departure. I can't even begin to convey my excitement!


I'll leave you with a timeline of our adventures-to-be...

November 12: Visa appointments at the French Consulate of Chicago
December 7: T (Ben's mom) comes to help watch the girls during our final days in C-U
December 11: Depart Champaign
December 12: Arrive in MS to stay with Ben's parents until we leave for France
December 14-20: Ben, Avery, Carsyn, and I will go to Disney World.
January 12: Bye-Bye America!
January 13: Bonjour France!