Big news, everyone

Oh hey guys! Remember me? MCJ? American? Francophile?

Yeah, so, I've been more than a little absent. I apologize for that. Since returning to the US of A, I immediately spent three weeks on the road hitting up three awesome weddings. And then, quite out of nowhere, I started working at a camp for refugee children. These kids, quite simply, stole my heart (they can steal your hearts, too, if you'd just click here).

I had started thinking that for the next year, I might just try to go abroad somewhere, not necessarily back to France. When something arrived in the mail to remind me that...

I, MCJ, love France.

You may recall that at the end of April, I took the TCF. Well, in my last week of working at the camp, I got the results! I had clearly been too hard on myself as I didn't get a B2, I got a C1! And a high one, at that. Suddenly, I had the possibility of applying for a masters in France and the one I had in mind was still accepting applications.

So, I spent a week staring at the list of justicatifs I would need to send in, most particularly the lettre de motivation and projet de recherche. Applying for an Ethics program and having just spent all my time with refugees, I decided to write my projet de recherche (more or less a research proposal) on immigration with respect to human rights. While trying to get motivated, I ran across a couple dates hidden on the master's website. The application, I knew, was due August 31st. I had decided to get mine in by early July in the hopes of having a response in time to get a visa for the early September start-date. The dates I ran across were the days that the admissions committee would be getting together to select candidates. The dates? July 5th and September 3rd. The date I ran across this? June 30th. The amount I had done at that point? A paragraph of the letter and a vague outline for the proposal. Everyone, let me tell you something, I got that shit done. July 2nd, around 2pm, I was in Fedex, utterly sleep-deprived and grinning ear to ear.

MCJ: "Hi! I need to get this envelope to France as quickly as possible." I gasped out, beaming, crazy look undoubtedly in my eye.
Fedex guy: "Okay!... Just fill this out."
MCJ: Stares at paper, tries to remember how to write, what her name is, etc.
Fedex guy: "So uh... you seem pretty excited. What's this for?"
MCJ: "Ahhhh I'm applying to grad school. By the way, when will this get there?"
Fedex guy: Types things and replies "July 4th by noon."
MCJ: "Oh THANK GOD."

The dossier got all packaged up, declared as being valued $1 and shipped out and I spent the next 36 hours clicking refresh on my package tracking.

July 4th (happy Independence day!), I woke up and saw my package had been delivered at 9:30am French time. Yayyyy! I decided to call their office before closing time to check and make sure they had seen my dossier and that it would be reviewed the next day.

Secretary: "Bonjour, CEERE."
MCJ: "Bonjour, c'est MCJ, je suis une candidate pour le master en Éthique. Je voudrais confirmer qu'on a reçu mon dossier?"
Hello, it's MCJ, I'm a candidate for the masters in Ethics. I just wanted to confirm that you've received my application?
Secretary: "D'accord... votre nom encore, s'il vous plaît?"
Okay, your name, please?
MCJ: "MCJ"
Secretary: "Uhhh... non."
NO. 
MCJ: breathes. "Ah, bon? Fedex m'a dit que c'était arrivé ce matin. Ce n'est pas là encore?"
Uh, really? Fedex told me that it arrived this morning. It's not there yet??
Long story short. My dossier had not made it from the postal address to the office. I called again right before the office closed to check again. The secretary, clearly amused by my crazy, apologized and said no, but assured me it would probably arrive the next morning.

Sure enough, at 3:30am, I got the following email:

"J'ai reçu ce matin votre dossier qui est examiné en ce moment par la commission. Vous aurez une réponse courant de l'après-midi déjà par email."

I received your application this morning and it's currently being examined by the admissions committee. YOU WILL HAVE A RESPONSE THIS AFTERNOON BY EMAIL. (Emphasis mine)

Another long (boring and angst-filled) story short, the response did not arrive that day. The next day (today, Friday), I woke up at 4:30am to find this in my inbox:

Objet: Avis de la commission pédagogique Master éthique 2012-2013

Subject: Decision of the admissions committee for the Master in Ethics 2012-2013.  

And what was inside? You might ask.

Guess what, y'all, MCJ is heading back to France! I will be a Masters student at the Université de Strasbourg studying Ethics.

Adventure awaits, and I'll be sharing with you all the nitty gritty details on navigating the French university system. Should be fun! You can also expect to find my exasperation at finding housing, doing laundry in the very, very cold, switching banks and any number of other things I haven't thought of yet. I can't wait!

Bisous, mes amis, France m'attend.

MCJ