What have I been able to accomplish in the past two weeks? You would think quite a lot since I have no real job and plenty of free time. But that really doesn’t matter when you have to wait and wait and wait for things to be done by the French bureaucracy.

Still no new carte de séjour (though I was assured it was in Paris on June 26). Which means I still haven’t been able to change my address at the préfecture, nor have I been able to apply for my French driver’s license. I did manage to retrieve my new glasses and contacts though, as well as declare a primary physician. But of course, still no response from the rectorat of Grenoble about renewing my assistantship for next year. Apparently everyone has gone on vacation even earlier than normal.

I was finally able to finish the first page of my French & Italian comparative tutorial though! It seems like I’ve been working on it forever. Hopefully there are people out there who like learning more than one language at a time and will find it useful. I can definitely say studying Italian by comparing it to French has helped me much more than comparing it to English.

I went to the optician this morning to choose my frames (ma monture). I’m getting new glasses and new contacts for a year, for a grand total of 130 €. I could have even gotten a second pair of glasses (prescription sunglasses, for example) for only 14 €, but I don’t need them. Go Mutuelle [...]