Jennie en France

I went to Grenoble today for a medical visit required by the préfecture (or else no new carte de séjour). I had done the exact same thing last year when I first arrived in France, so at least I knew what to expect. But still, wasting 20 € and an entire day just to get a chest x-ray is rather annoying.

It took me 3 hours to get to the ANAEM office (bus, train, tram, walking), which was closed upon my arrival anyway. So I had to stand outside for 30 minutes trying not to freeze to death (why was it so ridiculously windy today?)

I recognized the same nurse and doctor as the previous year. I even had the same weight (you don’t want to know) and same bad left eye (I swear I got new contacts!). The doctor was just as inquisitive as before – Is Bush really as dumb as people say he is? Who do you think will be the next American president? Thank goodness Bush can’t be president for a third term!

20 minutes later and I was out the door, precious récépissé de visite médicale in my hand. I originally thought I wanted to do some Christmas shopping in the Grand’Place mall, but after dealing with so many random (and angry) people on three forms of public transportation plus the fact that I couldn’t stop shivering even indoors, I just wanted to go home and be warm.

I don’t know why, but Grenoble doesn’t impress me. Every time I go there, I find it dirty and bland; just like any other big city with old buildings. But that could be because every time I go there, it’s for les démarches administratives and nothing else. I get to go back in about 6 months for the new immigrant integration crap that Sarkozy passed into law recently. Usually it’s for new arrivals, but since I will be getting my first vie privée et familiale carte de séjour, I will have to do it too regardless of how long I’ve already been in France. Yippee.

So now my question is – what does one do with two x-rays of one’s chest? Start making a Halloween costume for next year?

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