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Published: December 22nd 2009
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Please be patient, we're having some technical difficulties...
The last month has presented me with a series of technological and administrative difficulties. One December afternoon, I was singing along to cheery Mariah Carey Christmas carol covers, when my itunes keep stopping and my computer began lagging. None of the programs on my computer would respond so I tried restarting it. This is when, what I came to know as the "folder of doom," appeared alone on a blank grey screen. I tried multiple times to restart it with no luck. I looked up what this mysterious symbol of a folder with a question mark meant on Taryn's computer and the news was not pleasant. My hard drive had crashed! Maybe the world was trying to tell me not to listen to Mariah Carey?
Straight away Monday morning, I went to the Apple store. Suprise! The store isn't open until 2pm on Mondays! Whatever was I thinking...Who works on a MONDAY MORNING? That's just crazy! I returned later that day to learn that they don't even repair computers at that store, I would have to go to the Apple service store on the other side of town. The next day
I brought my computer to the
service store. The guy there told me that a new hard drive would cost 120 euro (roughly 200 dollars canadian) unless I could bring in proof of my extended warrenty. So I had to make another trip to the store the next day, after getting my Dad to email me a copy of my warranty. They said they'd find out if my warranty would work and that they'd call me...2 weeks later I went into the store to see what was going on because I hadn't heard anything. They still didn't know if the warranty was good or not! At this point I was quite frustrated, but of course I felt much better after a croissant or two...just kidding! I was still frustrated. It's not easy living without a computer, especially when you use it to contact family at home. Luckly, my kind Canadian friend who lives on my floor let me use her computer whenever I needed.
In the mean time, my computer problem wasn't the last of my bad luck with technology. I accidently tossed my cell phone in the wash with my laundry! Needless to say, it didn't work after
that. A few days later I got a phone call (
on a new cell phone) from the Apple store and my computer had been fixed and the warranty was good. All the content on my hard drive was lost, but I'm just happy I didn't have to pay for the repair.
This month I also finally had my medical appointment to get my
carte de sejour (residence permit). After that I brought my paperwork to the office to be processed. Here's how the conversation with the man there went:
*Mr. Carte de sejour: Hmmm...It says here your study Visa has expired?
*Me: Yes, it only lasts for three months (
why I need a residence permit...) that's what the consulate in Vancouver gave me.
*Mr. Carte de sejour: Well it has already expired!
*Me: (
fantastic, what would you like me to do about it, your stupid organization gave it to me!!!) I was told it may be the old Visa that you no longer use, but that's what they gave us in Vancouver.
*Mr. Carte de sejour: (phones someone) Hmm...okay... Well don't worry. We'll call you if there's a problem.
*Me: (
Awesome! Now I'm no longer technically allowed to be in the country?) Merci.
So I'm still not sure if my residence permit is valid or not. I'm just going to wait until the new year and try to sort it out then. I've had nothing but difficulties with this whole Visa/Residence permit process!
Other than those couple of bumps, the last month or so has been good. Taryn, Katherine, and I spent a day in Luxembourg (country of banks). It was really rainy, but we went to a cool museum there. It was about the City of Luxembourg, and there was also an exposition about muder and manslaughter that was incredibly interesting. I also spent a weekend visiting my friend from SFU who is studying in Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France. We went to Marseille for a day and hiked along the ocean. It was gorgeous and the weather was perfect. The old port in Marseille was really nice as well, however the downtown was a bit dirty and people were trying to sell junk everywhere. Aix was really lovely, and had a completely different feel from Strasbourg. We went to a great tea place and I had moroccan tea (which I'm addicted to!!).
Strasbourg
is known as the Capital of Christmas because of it's famous Christmas markets. The entire downtown is decorated with Christmas lights and there are
Sapins (Christmas trees) everywhere. The markets give the town a great Christmas-y atmosphere too. They sell things like Christmas ornaments, delicious food, and
vin chaud (mulled win). All the towns in the area have Christmas markets. I went to Stuttgart, a town in Germany and they had nice ones there too, however when we went there it was so cold that we could barely stay outside long enough to actually look at the markets. The last week has been very cold and finally about 2 days ago it started snowing. Today it warmed up and all the snow melted (and I'm not complaining!)
Two of my friends from home are in Europe travelling for the Christmas break so I will be spending a few days with them and some family of theirs in Rennes, which is a town in France about 5 hours away from Strasbourg by train. From there, I will be heading to Avignon in the south, to see Alex (my friend from SFU) and her family for a few days. Then I
will come back to Strasbourg and exams begin on the 4th of January! Most of my Christmas break will be spent studying, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing some familiar faces!
Joyeux Noël à tous!
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