Paperwork Complete

Today I mailed off the initial paperwork for my work contract. I filled out four CERFA forms, which wasn't too difficult, except for the part where I had to make my American phone number fit into twelve squares. I turned to Claire for help on this part. She ever so cleverly suggested to put 01 before my area code. It's nice having someone along for the ride with me :) Now I still just have to wait... I wish there was more I could do now, but I'm just continuing to practice patience.

In other news, I have officially made a Top 3 list!
1. Madrid
2. Venice & Florence
3. Prague

I don't know if I can choose numbers 4 and 5. Heck, I couldn't even put just one place for the second spot! So I think I'll simply make a list of all the places I would like to visit and will allow myself to see them after I have visited my first three. Here are my other thoughts:

I'm already for sure visiting Athens and Santorini in Greece with Claire in September!
Other places I really want to see include Amsterdam, Auschwitz, Vienna, the Alps, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and I honestly haven't seen much of France, so it's a goal of mine to travel the country. Oh me oh my. A girl can dream...

Ticket: Check!

I know this is crazy, but I bought my ticket.

After reading the TAPIF information packet, I was advised not to buy a ticket until I know for sure where I am placed even though I will be filled with anticipation to do so. Well... I didn't listen. Of course I have been looking at plane tickets from the day I started even thinking about applying to the program! I gave it a couple of weeks after I was formally accepted, but I saw prices creeping higher and higher all around me, and I just went for it! StudentUniverse.com is a wonderful thing for young travelers such as myself. On this sight, I booked a ticket for only $311! BUT WAIT! After google searching "student universe promo code" (note to readers: always search for online promo codes), I found another $20 savings. So at the end of the day (April 18th to be exact), I had booked my one-way ticket leaving Tuesday September 13th from Minneapolis to Paris through Icelandair for a mere $291! That's cheaper than flying in the States!

Here's the deal. I figure that even if all falls through or I need to change flights, I either: a) have a cheap vacation to Paris! or b) will only have to pay an extra $60, plus the difference, of a new ticket. Very reasonable for the risk of buying this early.

So now I've already started planning like mad. I have a long list of things:
to bring (ex. Catch Phrase, Mad Gab, Banana Grams- great for students learning English, right?)
to get in order here before I leave (ex. debit card with no ATM fees)
to save money for right away when I arrive (ex. bedding, rug, things to make wherever I'll be staying more homey)

BUT... The list that I'm not so sure of is my travel list. I know for sure that I want to go to Spain. That is my number one place to visit. Hopefully Madrid, but I also here Seville is "quintessential Spain". And although I've been to England, I have not yet been to London. This trip, however, is reserved for my mom and I, so we can't or choose not to fit it in while she is visiting me this coming year, it will just have to wait for another time.

My mind loves planning things out, but I'm trying hard not to get too carried away, especially when I don't even know where exactly I'll be! I can see it now though. Once that news arrives, my mind will be spinning a whole new set of wheels.

Oh! Here's an idea of where I will be staying:

I'm in the pink and Paris is the navy.

(La Lorraine isn't actually that big. This photo includes Alsace, which is where Strasbourg is located. I just like that you could see where I am in relation to Paris.)

And more specifically, here is La Lorraine up close:

I could be in any one of these cities!

Accepted!

Hello hello! I'm BreAnna, a French major from the University of North Dakota. I originally was studying Secondary Education and ELL (English for Language Learners) along with French, but as this school year approached, I became hesitant as to whether or not I really wanted to go into education. So instead of wasting my time and money on another year of school for a degree I wasn't even sure of, I decided to speed up the process and get my college degree in just three years. With a year gained, I knew I had to do something that would help me decide what I should do in the future. That's when my wonderful friend Claire told me about the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).

The program gives native American English speakers the opportunity to teach English in France for a school year. The assistants only work 12 hours a week and get paid about 780 euros a month. This sounded perfect. It would give me experience teaching in a classroom, teaching English to non-native speakers, I would get to travel Europe even more (I didn't get to as much as I thought I would while studying abroad), and it would once again give me the chance to try to perfect my French language skills! There was nothing that seemed bad about this. So on December 31st, 2010, I submitted my application.

On Monday April 4th, 2011, I was officially accepted to the TAPIF Program (along with Claire)! TAPIF said that we would hear by the first week of April if we had secured our place in the program or not, but from my experience in France before, I wasn't too confident that they would actually meet this deadline. BUT LO AND BEHOLD, that very first Monday I received my email with the subject "Acceptance to the 2011-2012 TAPIF Program - Académie de Nancy-Metz". It read:

Dear Future Teaching Assistant,

Congratulations! We are very pleased to inform you of your acceptance to the Teaching Assistant Program in France for the 2011-2012 academic year, sponsored by the French Ministry of Education.

You have been placed in the Académie de Nancy-Metz. You will be assigned to one or more schools in the region, however, please note that your school(s) will not necessarily be located in the city of “ Nancy ” or in the city of “ Metz .” French school districts cover large regions and have many postings in smaller cities and towns. Do NOT assume that you will be placed in the biggest city in the region. The Académie will make specific city and school assignments this summer and will send you more details regarding your placement at that time. For now, please be patient and keep an open mind! In the meantime, you can find out more information about your Académie at: http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/

Your placement in this region is FINAL; we will not grant requests to change academies, nor will we place you on a waiting list for other regions.


Please confirm by e-mail whether you will accept the offered position as a Teaching Assistant in France . If your plans have changed and you are no longer able to participate in this year’s program, we ask that you let us know immediately so that we can offer the post to a candidate on the waiting list. Should you withdraw from this year’s program, we cannot guarantee your future acceptance into the program, and deferment is not an option. You must send us an e-mail either confirming your acceptance or withdrawing from the program by the end of the day on Sunday, April 17th. If you do not respond on or before April 17th, we will not be able to hold your spot in the program.


If you confirm your acceptance of the offered position, you will receive more information shortly about your next steps.

We look forward to hearing from you and félicitations!

That was it. So as I've been telling people about this incredible opportunity, I can't help but feel disappointed that I'm not more excited. I've waited three months to start planning that next step after graduation, but there's not much more I can do until I find out more information. We don't know where exactly we've been placed and therefore won't have any contact with the school until June. This also means I don't know if I will have housing provided or not. I'm not too worried about all of this, but what I am concerned about is buying my ticket. I found one way tickets from Minneapolis to Paris for only $315! I want to buy it right now, but TAPIF suggests holding off until you are indefinitely placed... We will see how long I can wait.

I was talking to my roommate about my current lack of enthusiasm and how it made me question whether I really wanted to do this. She told me she felt the same way about getting into grad school. It's like you've waited all this time to find out and now that you know, you can't really do much until the time approaches. She told me I definitely want this and to quit worrying about it. So that's where I'm at now. Just waiting for more...