East Coast

My flight from Seattle to BWI was uneventful but long. I was very happy to land and to see Leigh waiting for me near the baggage claim. We had a nice dinner out and then I collapsed and fell asleep. The next day I had my appointment for my work visa in France. Let me just say that I really, really hated that entire experience. The people working at the consulate were so very rude, even more so than I expected from the French. I have met French people before and I have never had anyone be so short tempered and presumptive of my ill intentions. For some reason I looked as though I was attempting to circumvent their very important zoning regulations for which consulate one must use for one's visa.

At any rate, my 10:00am appointment took me until nearly 1pm to complete and included an emergency trip to CVS to have my headshots retaken because the guy at Kinkos in Murray Hill didn't size my picture properly... Dumbass. I might write a letter or make a phone call about that.

After my appointment Leigh and I went to lunch at Metro 29 in Alexandria, VA. It's one of our favorite places to eat in the DC area. We had made plans to do some touristy stuff in DC, but after fighting traffic in Georgetown all morning and afternoon and my exhausting and demoralizing experience fighting for my visa, I just wanted to take a nap!

So I did.

The next day we did some outlet shopping in the morning, hit up Costco and then headed to Appalachia for a few days visiting my dad in Ferrum. We've been here for a few days and have really enjoyed our new found routine of sleeping in, snacking, taking leisurely walks around my father's property, drinking sweet tea, sitting on the porch, eating more than necessary, playing with the dog and cats, and watching a lot of bad TV.

Needless to say I haven't made any progress on the "To Do Before France" list in my head and I've declared the need to have a Raw Food Day or two upon return to Buffalo in addition to regular exercise.

Leigh and I are driving to Grundy on Wednesday morning to pick up our daughter, Juneau the Cat, and then finally return to Buffalo. Our plan is to use the remaining few weeks before I fly to France to sell off our belongings and pack up our sentimental items so Leigh can be out of her apartment by early October. I also need to finish applying for Alaska clerkships as well as handle such nuisances as deferring student loan payments, double checking my budget, buying traveller's checks and insurance.

*sigh* And I thought this whole moving to France thing was going to be a vacation of some sort! All I can do now is hope that my passport and visa are returned to me sooner rather than later AND that this will, in fact, turn out to be a relaxing experience once I'm settled in Antibes and have started my job.