This is awesome.
Things are finally starting to fall into place and I'm becoming much less stressed than I was one week ago. Part of the reason is the fact that I've gotten in touch with some people from my school and city -- all extremely helpful!
But in typical French fashion -- or what I would believe is typical at this very early stage -- things didn't work out totally according to plan. Back in July/August, I received contact info for the woman at my school who deals with the English assistants and although I've unsuccessfully tried calling her numerous times, even attempting to leave a voicemail, I decided to give it another shot on Monday around 6 p.m. in France.
She answered and I think I quickly maneuvered through that conversation, only to find out the French districts re-routed and she no longer works with La Tournière in Antibes. However, she never took the intiative to actually call/email me back to notify me of the change, now did she? How would I have known if I couldn't get in contact with Mme. Serafino? I forget which city she now works for, but I think it's in the Var district. She gave me the contact info for the man she thinks is taking over for her, but of course, he doesn't believe in voicemail, so I've yet to get a hold of him. Either way, Mme. Serafino -- my "contact" in Antibes -- wasn't fazed at all by the change. She's completely go-with-the-flow about it all and acting as if she is my supervisor, giving me all sorts of advice on what I should bring and how to plan my lessons, etc. The only thing she can't answer is whether or not I'll have a place to stay.
Which brings me to my next point! I've been researching French colocation websites (roommates wanted ads) as a basic member. Premium members have 30 Euros less in their pockets each month as well as free reign of any member. I can only send/receive messages that say, "I like your post, do you like mine?" Ummm, Borat, anyone? "I like you! Do you like me?"
Again, long story short, within five minutes of posting my ad, I received a "flash message" from this guy who's renting out a room. It looks like a nice place and I consider responding.... until I see that he's 65 years old!!!!! His picture, which is strategically placed at the bottom of his ad, is of him and a girl I suspect to be his GRANDDAUGHTER. No thanks.
That's the nice thing about being a basic member. If you accept a message, I assume you get the other person's email address (since I've yet to accept a message/have mine accepted). Whereas if you reject someone's, they can't see anything. It's just like you've never received their message in the first place and everyone goes on their merry way. Not a bad deal.
Hopefully this all works out in my favor! Everyone seems so stereotypically French and really exciting! The biggest plus for me is that living with a Frenchie will quadruple my language skills and improve my chances of making some friends in the city! So far I've sent messages out to people renting in Nice (including Vieux Nice!!!), Antibes, Cannes and Juan-les-Pins.
UPDATE 12:44 p.m.: So apparently you CAN see that someone rejects your offer. The 68 year-old, yeah he wasn't 65, he changed his age on his profile today!, chastized me for responding "no." He got all pissed and explained that usually, you should just ignore someone's offer. Maybe he gets ignored frequently?
I also received another humorous offer in my inbox this morning -- in addition to three normal ones -- but these two men Edwig and Guy sent me a message saying they're renting out a room in their house, it's a nice family environment, yadda yadda... So I look up their profile and it's two gay 45 year-old men!! I must be a magnet for this kind of thing :)
This is a much better outlook with only THREE DAYS REMAINING until my plane leaves American soil.
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