In the Works... Still...

Dear blog readers,

I'm just saying that this process hasn't been easy but I think that it will be worth it. This past weekend, I had to travel to Chicago for a student visa appointment at the French Consulate. As much as I didn't want to go, I made a weekend of it with my boyfriend which definitely made up for the botched meeting.

Although it was approximately 10℉ with the wind chill, that didn't stop us from being super tourists. I wasn't ashamed though because I spent an amazing weekend with Sam. I will miss him dearly while I'm gone... That is, if the French approve my application... Please God, I hope they do.

Anyways, onto the positive:

We saw the Cloud Gate in the Millennium Park or what I called "the bean," which Sam thought was so weird but I think that's a thing :)

Unfortunately, I didn't have the techno gloves that allow you to operate your phone, so my poor hands were freezing!!

We couldn't resist :)

We also went to the Skydeck. I'm not usually fearful of heights but being on the 103rd story of a building in a glass box gave me a bit of vertigo. I was in the bumpout glass chamber for all of 3 minutes and that was enough. Needless to say, I was happy to be on the ground as soon as we got there.

 Sam wasn't much better than me with the vertigo :)

 Check out the 100000 filters and such to brighten it enough to see my face :P

This was horrifying.

I'm so glad that I was able to go to Chicago with Sam because it's our last hoorah before I leave!

On the note of France, today I got my reservation for my room (in French) which is one less thing that I need to worry about. I have violently woken up every night for the last few nights waiting for an email, Thankfully I can stop burning my corneas in the wee hours of the night checking my email.

I'm one step closer to Toulouse!

Until next time,

Au revoir,

Hannah

The Difficult Part: GETTING THERE

Bonjour!

As many of my close family, co-workers and friends know, I am studying abroad this next semester! I'm going to Toulouse, France to study at the Toulouse Business School. I'll be gone from January 2014 until late April 2014. I cannot believe that my departure date is only 4 short weeks away! The process hasn't been easy: procrastination, government shutdown, language barrier (English=Anglais, one of many) among many other things. However, I finally received my passport in record time. I reached out to my congressman and it was in my mailbox the next week. He probably had nothing to do with it because it was probably already in the mail but I would like to believe that he did.

(Yes, I spent 10 minutes whitening my teeth with a photo editor, sue me).

The checklist becomes smaller and smaller each week and I am excited for the moment where all I need to do is hop on the plane.
I figured that since I'm going on this wild experience, it might be good to have a fairly accurate account of my journey. Thus, this blog. Stay tuned for updates & photos to feed your stalking need.

Au Revoir!

Hannah