Rollins College, Still On Top.

http://r-net.rollins.edu/news/2009/08/us-news.html





:)

Translation and Anticipation

The following is a poem by Jacques Prévert, written about the park that is around the corner from my homestay in Paris:

Le Jardin

« Des milliers et des milliers d'années

Ne sauraient suffire

Pour dire la petite seconde d'éternité

Où tu m'as embrassé

Où je t'ai embrassée

Un matin dans la lumière de l'hiver

Au parc Montsouris à Paris

À Paris

Sur la terre

La terre qui est un astre. »

Below is a translation of this poem, made by yours truly.

The Garden

“Thousands and thousands of years

Will never be enough

To tell the story of the small eternal second

When you kissed me

When I kissed you

One morning in the light of winter

At the park Montsouris in Paris

In Paris

On the earth

The earth which is a star”

A photo of the lake in this park.

Enjoy :)

Oh, and by the way, 18 days until departure!

Problems solved, thanks to a republican?

So here is the full story to my visa problems:

As you know, I was in Florida for most of the summer. So, I decided that after all the preliminary visa procedures were complete I wouldn't worry about it anymore until I got home again. I thought this would be fine since I was going to be home for 5 weeks. In order to gain a French visa, you have to schedule an appointment at the consulate for a one-on-one meeting with a visa official. After the appointment, it can take up to a week to receive your visa. Well, when I got home, I went to schedule my appointment, and the first available time they had for me was on September 1st. This obviously was not going to work for me, since my departure date is September 3rd.

That's when I went into panic mode.

So for a week, I did everything I could--I sent an e-mail to the consulate everyday, and I told everyone I knew about my situation, to see if someone had any sort of connection with the consulate. One of the first things I did was head straight to the office of my local congressman, Peter King. His employees weren't very optimistic about the situation, but they said they would look into it for me, and let me know. I wasn't too optimistic either, but I still kept my hopes up. Then, last weekend, a good friend of my Mother's ran into Mr. King at a party, and talked to him directly about my situation, and he said it was done, no problem. Three days later, I received word from his office that I was given an appointment for August 7th (tomorrow). I couldn't contain my excitement. It's such a good feeling to know that everything is going to work out, and I am eternally grateful to Mr. King for expediting my appointment. I can not thank him enough--it's difficult to show my emotions about it in a blog post, but I've never been more thankful to anyone in my life.

So, tomorrow morning, I am headed into NYC to meet with an officer at the consulate. Wish me luck, I am quite nervous still, but I am sure that everything will be okay, and within just a few hours, I will be approved for my visa!

Oh, and I suppose I'll have to vote republican in the next election...hahaha

Something to help with the excitement...

This video has made me feel a little better.

Update on the visa status: I have made a bit of progress, and gained a slightly earlier appointment, but it's still not good enough. I am still working on it though.

"Lose another day here, lose another year here; I'm with you..."

I've been home in New York for about a week now, and things are not going so well.

I'd rather not give too many details, but I've screwed up my visa application process, and it looks like I may not be able to get my visa in time for my scheduled departure, and I am absolutely devastated. It's completely my fault, and I'm having a very hard time with it emotionally. I feel like I've screwed up my dreams before they've even happened yet.

Enough of that.

I'm going through a stage of unexcitement. What makes me want to do this? Why for so long? It's so far away. I will miss my friends. It all sounds so silly when I write it down like this, but it's the truth. I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable about the whole thing. I'm sure that once everything works out I'll be feeling much better, but right now it's really really tough. I just wish there was an easy answer to everything that's been going through my head recently. I suppose there isn't though, and I just have to work through it on my own.