Getting It Together

Hello!

Finally got the acceptance letter from ULg in around mid June. Due to the post office strike of the last couple weeks and a shuffle in exchange coordinators, it has been quite the endeavor to get everything together to send off for an exchange visa. For anyone who does this exchange in future (or any exchange), definitely get an early start on things like the medical certificate, police records check, and anything to do with financial statements. Make lots of photocopies of any and every document to do with your exchange and make sure to read the instructions closely. For example, I screwed up and sent the Belgium Embassy the wrong type of self addressed prepaid stamped return envelope for them to return my documents and passports to me. It was supposed to be a courier envelope (i.e., FedEx) and I sent a regular office Canada Post one. Now I get to call in and ask them what they want me to do about it. My prediction is that I will probably get to mail them an envelope within an envelope. More money and more delays! Sheesh. My own oversight too.

Scholarships for exchange were due July 1st. I managed to get them all in despite an extreme lack of motivation. It is hard to justify filling in a bunch of paperwork and jumping through the hoops when the scholarships:
A) Don't tell you how much they are worth
B) Ask really ridiculous questions about your finances
C) Specify that if you are awarded scholarship A you are ineligible for scholarship B and vice versa. Tedious and unnecessary work is unavoidable.

Because the pre semester French course starts on August 29th, I hope to fly out on the 28th or 27th, spend a night or two in a hostel and house hunt like crazy. It is really stressful not knowing where I am living when I get there. However, living in the residence is so inconvenient, CityLiving is way too expensive, and house hunting internationally is the next best thing to impossible. Fingers crossed for a quick find once I get there.

I hope to book flights in the next week or so. It's slowly coming together. Less than two months!

Jacqueline