Thursday, July 1, 2010

Documentation Frustration

Okay, so, it's been a while. About a month, to be more precise. In that time:
- My dad broke my laptop's harddrive (he keeps denying it, but we know it's the truth)
- I went on a short trip to Pittsburgh
- I got a job

Related to those three facts are the following:
- I've bought a new laptop, which just arrived a few hours ago.
- I enjoyed the trip, but did not travel to Washington, DC as planned for my visa appointment
- There really aren't many hours.

Anyway, as this is a study abroad blog in general, I'm going to focus on the visa things going on.

Every student who wants to study abroad/work/whatever in France for an extended period of time goes through a two step process.
1) CampusFrance
2) French Consulates as per your state of residence/study

I immediately signed up for an account with CampusFrance as soon as I was accepted to my ISEP program, just as instructed. The website has this whole application you have to fill out. There are sections to fill out on education, language abilities, personal/career/whatever goals, and some other random information too. Once you complete the application, you're required to send a $70 money order and a copy of your acceptance letter from the university in France to the office which is located in the same building as the actual French Embassy in Washington, DC. They guarantee you'll have received an email from them within 2-3 weeks, and if not, there's a fax number where you can contact them in the case of urgent emergencies if your consulate appointment is coming up. The email confirmation from CampusFrance is required as a document to apply in-person (another requirement of all students studying abroad in France) at the French Consulate for your region.


CampusFrance has been one of the most infuriating processes I've encountered. Though your whole account can be translated into English upon your registering, the terms used are often confusing. Not only does this present a slight problem, but there really isn't a single solid set of instructions for the process. Instead they have at least three different sets. Oh yes, it's true. 1) ISEP offers its own suggestions for the site (If I remember correctly), 2) there's an entire .pdf of instructions to show you how to register and fill out your application in English linked from the homepage, I believe, or at least easily accessible, and 3) little side notes and information included on your actual application in an attempt to help you with the process. None of it is actually streamlined and most of the information given is conflicting. One told me to write my goals in English, one in French, and one gave me the option of "whatever you want, either is fine" basically. I've been trying to help another ISEP exchange student with her application via facebook, simply because I navigated through it on my own and she's running into the same confusion. I submitted my application on 6/1, and mailed off my money order and acceptance letter to the address given on the website on 6/2. I decided to set up my French Consulate appointment as soon as possible, given that it takes several weeks to actually receive the visa after your interview. I set it up for 6/29, taking heed of the 2-3 week delay expected to receive my email from CampusFrance. My email never came. I had emailed twice via my account with CampusFrance and faxed a copy of my registration and email in an attempt to get my email confirmation. On the 28th, I had resigned myself to having to reschedule my appointment in Washington DC, a three hour trip originally involving a hotel reservation in an attempt to make it easier travel-wise for my parents. Around 4:45, my dad forced me into calling the actual French Embassy and seeing if we could get some other way to contact CampusFrance. A nice Frenchman answered the phone and tried directly transferring me to about 4 different numbers before giving up and just giving me the numbers. I tried each of the numbers. The first was busy, the second in rapid French that didn't seem to pertain to me, and the third useless as well. I called back to the first number and a pleasant CampusFrance employee named Heidi picked up! Imagine my joy! I explained my situation quite frantically and Heidi went to check the mail from 6/1 - 6/4. She called me back within a few minutes, explaining that she'd checked all the mail and could not find my letter. Heidi told me to get a new money order and copy of my acceptance letter to send to her, specifically (you know, the whole 'ATTN: HEIDI'). I was heartbroken. I didn't want to have to start the whole process all over again. And so, I sat down today with my new laptop and thought I'd give it one last email check before I got my new money order and sent things off again by a traceable mail carrier tomorrow afternoon. Lo! Not just one email, but two! A copy of the receipt of my $70 payment, and an email confirmation congratulating me on my full enrollment and telling me to go on ahead and set up my consulate appointment at my leisure.

On the whole, I am relieved, yet still very upset. Heidi was very pleasant and nice, but they don't even offer an actual telephone number for usage, just very impersonal telephone recordings and fax numbers. The entire process is very frustrating, confusing, and difficult. My new friend, another girl from the US going to Lille III via ISEP has also had problems with CampusFrance information.

The actual French Consulate process will be an update after 7/22, which is the date of my newly rescheduled in-person appointment.

This post itself is a bit long and tedious, but I'm writing it in hopes that if any students going to France in the future have to deal with CampusFrance they might find this and better prepare.

In the near future I will be:

- Interviewing at the French Consulate in Washington, DC
- Reading more travel guides for Europe/France/Lille
- Trying to figure out what to do for phones and money while abroad
- Meeting with my high school French teacher for breakfast or lunch to catch up, chat about the coming year, and get some free worksheets to practice travel vocabulary!
- Being frustrated that I am not going to Rock En Seine, the huge, awesome, amazing music festival outside of Paris taking place the weekend before I arrive ( http://www.rockenseine.com/en/lineup )
- Being excited that I am going to be able to go to Indochine in Lille the second week of my stay ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnzs-ri0WK8 )

Till next time, mes amis.