Back to Basics...

Tuesday will mark the 1-month anniversary of my TAPIF application submission.  To my delight, the month went by pretty fast but I think agony and anticipation are starting to creep up on me; plus it doesn't help that I started the spring semester and I'm ALREADY over it after getting a 200 page reading assignment (in cell biology may I add) due in 3 days.

So after certain sequence of events, I came to an outstanding realization.........I, Ugomma Nwachukwu, am losing MY FRENCH!!! Yes! It's true, it's really true!

I don't even know how it happened! I mean it happened soooo fast! It felt like one minute I could have a almost full-on conversation about a wide variety of topics and now, I can barely get my conjugations in order! I blame myself really, I mean the last time I was in a formal French class was in June and based on the college level French classes I'm only really only up to an intermediate level and at that level you either keep taking French until you are fluent or quit and forget about it.  Of course I wanted to do the former but as life would have it, I ended up doing the latter.  I have not been diligent in doing things to practice French like listening to music, the news or even having conversations in French, plus Spanish dominated my life again and now it seems Italian my invade my linguistic repertoire!

But...NO MORE! Like the beautiful album by Christina Aguilera, I have decided to go back to basics. How? Easy, I dusted off my neglected French book from college and opened the book to page 1. I decided that every day, I would read 4 pages of my French text book until I finish the book (it's about 490 pages).  A lot of the pages have exercises so that will be extra practice.  I'm going to do this hopefully into the summer time, which I will then hopefully take another French class before jetting off to France (Lord willing, if everything works out with my acceptance!).  I made this new resolution to myself on Sunday and already I have failed.  I've only done 3 days worth of reading instead of 6; BUT that is nay the point. I promised myself I would not be so hard on my self and beat myself up for slacking off, I can't change the past, all I can do is keep trying to fulfill my resolution. 

bonne chance à moi....

J'ai fini!!!

I DID IT!!!

Today, about 6 hours ago, I submitted my application for TAPIF.  I can't believe I actually did it! I had been doubting myself and totally pschyed myself out into writing the essay completely last minute, but I did it.  I am actually in the running to be in France for 7-9 months.  Now of course I get to play the waiting game until April when I find out whether or not they even accepted me, but even with this I can't help but feel optimistic about 2011.  This application was more than just an application, it was an self-acknowledgment that if I truly wanted something, I could go after it, no matter what anyone says.  Doing this program may be one of the most frivolous things I will ever do that has absolutely nothing to do with my future in medicine, but at least it will bring into fruition a dream of mine to GO, be the pretty bird my parents named me and fly away.

As for the logistics of the application, for me the most challenging part, other than the dreaded essay, was deciding where I wanted to go.  I knew from day one that I DID NOT want to be in Paris.  I mean, yes, Paris is lovely and does have a certain je ne sais quoi, but I think it's such an overrated city in France with enough snobbery to last a millennia.  So I decided that I wanted to see the other side of France and focused on the south. I really really really want to be in Toulouse.  After doing alot of research on the city I fell in love with the city, its culture and student population.  Here are my top three choices:

1.) Toulouse (fingers, arms and legs crossed for this one!)
2.) Montpellier (BEAUTIFUL city really close to Spain and Italy)
3.) Paris (ehhh, why not?)

...so I ended up putting Paris as a 3rd choice, not because I'm a hypocrite, but Paris is a great city and its the only region where you are guaranteed to be in a city, for all I know they could throw me into the boondocks of southern France far far away from civilization with a population over the age of 45, so just in case, I put Paris.

But to be honest I like my choices and would be extremely satisfied with either one.

Bonne Année!