This summer we will be following the travels and experiences of one of BYU's French students. Alex Rose will be participating in an internship over in France with Les Petits Frères Des Pauvres for the next couple of months, and has kindly allowed us to syndicate his blog here. We hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave any questions or comments that you have for Alex.
...A City Near You.
One week left to go and I still feel wildly unprepared. It has been an interesting week, I have gone the rounds with BYU over some scholarship issues and that appears to have been only the beginning of the obstacles to present themselves. I must admit I am glad to have the French department on my side. So far in my expierence they have done nothing but advocate my case with the powers that be, and for that I am grateful.
As far as other complications go I now have seven days to
- Smooth things over at work and ensure that my ‘transition’ goes off without a hitch
- Sell my BYU residential contract. I ask myself why I signed a year lease several times each day. (if you know anyone who is looking… Let me know)
- Find a new place to live
- Move
- Finalize travel plans
- Get school sorted out for the coming semester
- Pack
- Leave
It feels less intimidating when I narrow it down to a list of eight “to-dos” . Lets hope it really is that simple.
I mention finalizing my travel plans, to be fair I have made some headway. Here is my “final” Itinerary*Intersting little story there. Evidently there has been a bit of a mix up and while the branch of “les petits frères des pauvres” in Lille has been very accomadting they have informed me that their accomdations expire on the 5th of August. This poses a slight problem in that my original contract had me in France until the 21st. I have been working both with them and my coordinator to find another post to occupy my last few weeks but I have yet to hear back.
- May 16-17 Travel
- May 18 Brussels
- May18-25 Neuchatel
- May 25-28 Geneva
- May 28- June 6 Barcelona
- June 6- 7 Paris
- June 7- 14 Rome
- June14-29 Paris/Versailles
- June 29- August 5 Lille
- August 5-21 undisclosed*
I must admit that I was amused by the fact that when I called to inform the branch of my perdicament their immediate response was to suggest, in true french fashion, that I take a few weeks of vacation… We will see what happens.
