21 Days

And counting. I went to the bank today to open a second checking account and get everything in order financially. My banker suggested another checking account that I move money into as I need it and that way if someone (heaven forbid) gets a hold of my card or card information, they can only burn through the little bit of money I've put in the account before I realize it and/or cancel the card. I also got a credit card for the hotels and things, which sometimes won't take bank cards. I got a pretty good intro deal on it too (0 APR for the first 15 months), which will help me build credit even after the trip. I just need to make sure I'm using it wisely.

I also looked at some apartments online near my school. It's actually just outside the city, so it's not as expensive as I was expecting, and I even found some that are a pretty decent size for a good price. The important thing is for me to see 2 phrases: "Meublé" which means "Furnished," and "Court séjour" meaning "Short stay." Internet access would be a perk, though, and both of the apartments at the top of my list have it.

The other hard part was visualizing the amount of space. I happened to find a pretty good site (http://www.adele.org) that had pretty detailed information, including the distance from the school, services, prices, etc. The most useful feature was the virtual tour, though it wasn't available for every apartment building. It gave a pretty good idea of the size and floor plan of the space. Another thing I did was find out how large my dorm room was at my school. I would say my dorm is pretty average, and it's a 10.6x16.6 ft room. That's just about 175 sqft or about 16 1/3 meters squared. Most of the apartments I found were 18-24 square meters, so just a little bit more space. The smallest I found was 17 sqm, or 183 sqft, and the largest was 20.9 sqm, or 225 sqft. Prices ranged from 329.55€ to 593€, though price wasn't always linked to size, or even to services. So when you're looking at apartments think of your average dorm room with a washroom added on and a little extra space for a small fridge, sink, and stove top, and expect to pay about average housing costs for on-campus housing to several thousand more, depending on where in the city and how far from your school/amenities.

Woah. My math skills just got a work out. And my calc final isn't even until Thursday! As I get settled in and decide on an apartment once I arrive, I'll keep everyone updated. Hopefully that can give a little insight to anyone planning a trip like this so they don't walk into it as lost as I was.

Between all the banking and apartment hunting (in French) today, I'm feeling very accomplished and adult-like. Since I was too excited and forgot to share an image last time, I've really dug around in my portfolio to find this gem.

This was from a senior photo shoot I did with my wonderfully beautiful friend, Katy. She had been begging me to take her senior pictures for a couple months, so when I was home for winter break a couple years ago, we got them done. Little did we know that the day we chose to do it was going to be a snow storm. Still, the cold and snow were worth braving, since all of the pictures from that day have wonderfully playful flakes of snow, and the velvety white made a beautiful backdrop. Of the nearly 200 portraits we shot that day, ultimately only 7 made it to the final round, and only 3 were deemed worthy of printing. Shows how intense photography and the creative process can be, and that was at an amateur level. Sometimes I feel like photography should be its own game show. I bet it would make millions...

I'm off to keep studying and packing. These next 3 weeks won't go fast enough, yet will slip through my fingers all too quickly. So much work done, so much left to do.