So Now What?

Life has happened yet again and The Plan has changed.

My original adventure ambitiously included me landing a rad job in Paris and my future employer sponsoring my work visa. Which would allow me to return home, apply and obtain said visa and then I would be on my merry way back to Paris within a month. Oh, how I’m laughing at that thought right now! I was quite the optimist.

I didn’t do enough research in my endeavor and found out after the fact that the process to hire a foreigner without the proper documentation was more sparse than I thought. It was just too darn expensive and too much paperwork. I would have been a nightmare! I got more rejection emails than I have ever in my life! Even Disneyland Paris said no! I was attempting the impossible and now wish I would have looked into it a little further to better equip myself with the knowledge about how it all works.

So, I am back to the drawing board.

I am not quite sure whether I will be staying in my hometown with my parents or with my friends in Columbus. I don’t know where I will be working yet, but I know that I need to get a job and STAT. I will be applying for a tourist visa (long-stay visa up to 1 year) and with that comes some extremely lofty requirements: I need to prove financial stability with the amount of 1 204 € per month for myself. That equates to 14 448 € for the duration of my visa. In dollars that is $16,181.76. Excuse me?! This is because when I apply for this specific visa, I will be signing a form that says I will not take up any work while I am on said visa and therefore I need to be able to provide for myself.

Why do they have to make it so difficult? It would seem like they want me to really work for my dream, as if I haven’t worked hard enough already! Merde.

Yes, I am home.
Yes, I will be here for a couple months (at least through the end of summer).
Yes, I will be working my fingers to the bone because $18k is a lot of pennies! (And I don’t think anyone would want to donate to that fund.)

And come hell or high water, I will be celebrating my 35th birthday in Paris, on the quai de Seine, in all of her Parisian glory. With oodles and oodles of cheese. Bah, bien sûr!