Wednesday, September 7, 2011

In which I meet Yannick

First exciting detail to report - I finally met the infamous Yannick. And guess what guys? He's hot.
This morning, I begrudgingly set the auld alarm for 7.30am, determined to beat the crowds and to head down to the CROUS for when their doors opened. I was ushered into a tiny backroom, and told Yannick would come and find me. Here are a few things that made this experience so much more enjoyable than your normal average French admin experience:
  • It took Yannick less than 60 seconds to come and get me
  • He had my paperwork ready and waiting, and opened our conversation with 'we've been expecting you'
  • He asked me to provide just 2 documents. My passport, and my bank account details.
  • The whole process took ten minutes.
I sat, dazed by the early morning sunshine filtering through the broken blinds, and allowed my mind to wander. I began to ask myself the kind of existential question that torments the mind of any foreign student ploughing their way through the sheafs and deadlines of bureaucracy. What document would I be missing, today? How will I have inadvertently fucked up? What error in my application process will be uncovered, like an oily slug sleeping amongst the leaves of a lettuce? Never fear. There will be no errors, not if Yannick has anything to do with it.
He appeared suddenly, and greeted me. Under his cool green gaze, and due to the early hour of the day, I was unfortuantely only able to express myself by muttering 'Me...Hannah. You...Yannick? Yes? It is?' Anyhow, we stepped into his office, filled out the paperwork, and I walked away with everything sorted.


 Now all I have to do is gather up the courage to slay the giant monster that is the CAF. I submitted all my paperwork which included proof of medical insurance (why? what's it to you? Anyhow, wonderful Yannick sorted that out), a letter stating I can look after myself financially, and proof of the scholarship. Done, done, done. Handed it in, now all I do is sit back, relax, and wait for the whingeing, stuffy "there was a problem with your application..." letter to come through.


2 comments:

  1. Hi, interesting blog,this system might have changed since you published this blog but in any case I'm about to start a work placement in France. i'm curious about what you applied for from CAF? If I understand correctly they give "allocations familiales" so grants for families, I'm assuming you're a uni student if you mentioned scholarships it would be brilliant if you could try and find the current application form and guidance with necessary documentation to submit an application form to CAF.

    Also, did the bank require proof of residence, your previous bank details, a letter or document justifying your reason to be in France (a training or learning agreement?) and proof of identity I assume?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, the bank simply requires proof of identity and proof of address as far as I remember.

    As for the CAF, it actually doesn't have much to do with families, it's housing benefit, so you can simply go online to caf.fr and put your details into their simulator, you'll see how much you could be due.

    ReplyDelete