Flying to France...
It's hard to believe, but I'm flying to France in less than 12 hours now.
I'm excited, nervous, and numb in a way. It's kind of hard to describe. I've been running around for so long now, that it just seems weird that I'll actually be leaving.
Anyway, I leave Vancouver at 7:30 AM, and I get into Paris at 8:30 AM the next day, with a four hour layover in Toronto. The worst part is that they serve me two breakfasts on the plane. I'm going to have to buy some real food when I'm in Toronto.
I'm planning on spending about a week in Paris, meeting some of the other assistants and seeing the sights, before heading to the Champagne region. I'm planning on going to Verdun (WW1 battle sites), and Reims (where the kings of France were crowned, and champagne cellars are). I'll arrive in Lille on October 1st. On the 3rd, I have my orientation for all of the language assistants that will be working in Lille.
I haven't actually packed yet, but I've got everything together, and now I just have to put it in a bag. Anyway, I should go pack now...

"He who would travel happily must travel light."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (he wrote "Le Petit Prince" - "The Little Prince")

Where haven't you been yet?
I saw this question a few weeks ago and thought it was really cool because people usually ask, "where have you been?" While I'm in Europe, I'm hoping to go to Morocco, Eastern Europe (Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc.), Brussels of course (it's really close), Switzerland, and so many other places.
But I thought that I would also come up with my Top 5 List of places I want to go (after going to France/Europe this year).
5. Australia and New Zealand
4. South America (especially Brazil, and Peru)
3. The Overland Route (Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Tibet, China)
2. South East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.)
1. India
OK, I know that I fudged a bit and gave more general regions than specific places, but now, where haven't you been yet? What are your top 5 places?

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware."
-Martin Buber

Saying goodbye...
I've been going around and saying goodbye to friends for the past two weeks or so. I cooked Thai food for Lyle, Sheri, and Marlin last night (I think it turned out well), tomorrow I'm going out for a friend's birthday (happy birthday Robin!) where I'll say goodbye to a lot of friends from school, and I'm seeing my relatives this weekend at a family BBQ. But there's just no way that I'm going to be able to say bye to everyone though (sorry to my friends in Richmond/Vancouver/Surrey, there's just no way I'm making it out).
Even though I'm leaving in just over four days, it still doesn't seem real. I've been thinking about going, and getting ready to go, since the beginning of July when I found out the two cities in France where I'll be working. I know that I'm leaving, but it just hasn't sunk in yet. I can't really explain it; it's almost like some sort of bizarre dream.

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."
-Miriam Beard

September 11th
What need I say?
I was reading The Peking Duck today (a blog posted by an American in Singapore), and he posted an email sent to all American expats from the US government. Part of it reads:
"...We therefore assess that European or Eurasian locations could be venues for the next round of attacks, possibly to closely coincide with the anniversary of the September 11 attack. We expect Al-Qaida will strive for new attacks that will be more devastating than the September 11 attack, possibly involving non-conventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents..."
Now I'm not one to freak out or anything, but that's still a little scary. If you think about it though, there's a better chance of me dying in a car accident on the way to the airport than being killed in a terrorist attack, but you never know.
There's no point in living life in fear, because we're all going to die at some point. So why not make the most of our lives right now?

Contact with France!
I got an email today from the head English teacher at one of the schools where I'll be working! It may not seem like much, but I was thrilled. He said that he was excited to get my email, because they've never had an English assistant before at his school.
I had asked what the weather in Lille is like in the winter (so I'd have a better idea what to pack), and he said that it rains most of the winter, and that they get about one or two weeks of snow. Being on the westcoast of Canada, it rains all winter, but we only get one or two days of snow. I can handle the rain, but I'm looking forward to the snow! (Maybe I won't be so excited once it does snow, we'll see).
It's scary and exciting to think that in a week from now I'll be on a plane headed to Paris.

"People travel because it teaches them things they could learn no other way."
-Lance Morrow

Of Various Things...
This post is a hodge-podge of a bunch of different things.
Firstly, I got an email from a girl in Baltimore, Maryland last night. She's going to be staying in the same residence as I am (Maison d'Accueil du Jeune Travailleur, or MAJT) in Lille. That's cool because I'll at least sort of know someone. However, I don't know if I'll be staying at the MAJT the whole time that I'm in Lille. If I like it I'll stay, and if not I can give 8 days notice before leaving. It's sort of a place to stay until I get housing worked out.
I'm going to have to remember not to smile while I'm in France. In Canada here, you smile at almost everyone, just to be nice. But in France, people don't smile nearly as much. In fact, that's one of the reasons why girls from over here think that French guys are hitting on them all the time. If a girl smiles at a guy in France, the guy takes it as a sign of interest from the girl.
My application for school in Lille was faxed in today, and the cheque and ID photos are in the mail. Hopefully everything will work out with that. There's an orientation meeting at the university on October 1st, which I'm planning on attending.
ID photos. Oh my word, I had no idea that I'd need so many for going to France. I've already used 9 ID photos (passport sized), and I haven't even gone to France yet! I need at least another 10, and I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to take some more. To get a pair of ID photos at WalMart costs way too much money, so I just print them off on my Dad's colour printer. The quality isn't as good as a normal photo, but they work just as well (I even used them for my visa application).
My VISA card came today! I'm going to pick it up after I go to the dentist this afternoon.
I'm sort of getting tired of waiting to go to France. I've almost got everything ready to go, so I'm just sort of waiting around. Don't get me wrong, I'll miss not being home at Christmas, but I'm excited about going overseas too.
That's all for now folks... Time is counting down!

The Movies...
Well, I finally saw Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers last night. I figured that I had better see the second Lord of the Rings in English before I get to France, when the third one comes out. It was a really good movie. I'll be for sure watching the third one in version originale when I'm in Lille.
I also saw Pirates of the Caribbean at Silvercity today. It was better than I had expected, although I hadn't expected much. The plot line was not believeable at all, but I guess that doesn't matter too much. Some of the fight scenes were cool though.

"A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles."
-Tim Cahill
I stopped by UCFV again yesterday to pick up my translated birth certificate (I need it while navigating the French bureaucracy). I ended up seeing and chatting with a lot of friends. Some I had planned on meeting, and others I just happened to run into. I even ran into a guy from my high school who just proposed a week and a half ago, and is getting married this winter. That now makes six marriages (that I know about) from my grad class, and we only graduated 2 years and 2 months ago.

VISA encore...
You may remember that I was having problems with getting a new VISA card. Well, I think that things are worked out now.
I called VISA, and they said that the card should have been ready for pickup a week ago. I check two branches of the bank, and the card isn't there. I called VISA again yesterday, and they say 'yes' the card should be ready, and they give me the address, phone number, and hours of the branch. I called the branch this morning, and they say 'no' the card has not arrived. So I called VISA again to see what is happening. The lady says that the card should have been ready for pickup, but I told her that I had just called the bank, and that the card wasn't there. The lady put me on hold, and came back a minute later to tell me that 'no' the card is not ready yet (didn't I just say that!?). So then she says that they will send it out, and I tell her that I'm leaving for France in a week and a half, and that I won't be back for 10 months (or so).
The happy ending is that she's going to put a rush on the card, and it will hopefully be here a week tomorrow, with just two days to spare. I hope there isn't a strike somewhere, but then I'm not in France yet (where they strike way too much)...

School in France...
I've found what I think that I'll do for school in France. I won't be taking normal classes (thereby saving myself from suicide), but I'll be taking a French class for foreign students at one of the universities in Lille. It's offered in the evening, so it won't interfere with my work. It will also prepare me to write the DELF/DALF, which are French competency exams administered by the French government. They are a series of exams that will allow me to study in a French university in the future (if I want to). The results of the exams are valid for life, unlike the TOEFL exam wich is only good for two years.
The only problem is that the course goes until the end of May, but I finish working the end of April, so I'll have to pay for a month of living in Lille, without making any money to support myself.

Back to School...
No, I'm not really going back to school this year (I'm going to work France in case you didn't know), but I went back to school (UCFV - University College of the Fraser Valley) today. It was great to see some of my friends again that I haven't seen since the beginning of the summer (being busy with work and everything). Plus I got a free burger and Coke, and XFM was on campus.
I also got my hair cut today. It's a different style than the way that I've had it for the past 19 years or so (since I had enough hair to comb).
Two weeks to go, and so much to do...