Its what people destroy rainforests for, its what we walk for, and its even what we whipe our backsides with..
PAPER.. its a very important thing, and reading this story you'll discover why..
Yes we take it for granted, but I ask you. Stop for a second and think of your life with out paper. We use it to write reminders, to read novels, papers, magazines, to send letters, to receive receipts of purchases and to write our notes in class. We even use it to purchase essential and not so essential items from one of those most important forms of PAPER we call cash. We also use PAPER to feel out official documents and to put that magical little squigly line, resembling our names to which the date often follows.
Moving to france required a lot of paper. The first piece of paper I strived for before making the move to france was the studend visa. however to receive this paper required many other different papers for example
- letter from my australian university
- letter from my france university
- statement from my bank
- Police criminal history cheque (which required an application form for that)
- Adequate insurace policy
- Complete travel and flight itinerary
- Copy of Birth Certificate
- Proof of housing in France
And of course there was the visa application form which I had to write twice, both times identically and I had to include two passport photos. And not forgetting the piece of paper with my credit card details so they could charge me that 100 euros for giving me that little piece of paper.
After 6 weeks of stress, waiting for my visa, with no reply from the french embassy in visa I finally received my visa, in my passport 2 weeks before leaving the country. Oh I felt a huge sigh of relief that day I received that package with my visa inside.. So you would think after this I should be good when it comes to france and PAPERS, However there's more.. You see the visa gets me into the country and to stay there is another story..
In order stay in France I had to apply for a titre de sejour (title to stay) this is what i called THE PAPER, and once i received this my dealings with immigration would be over, however the beaucracry kept on coming and more papers were required.
About the 3rd day after arriving into france I was bombarded with more papers. It was an excursion day with the school. And no it wasn't one of those fun, exciting excursions where you travel for an hour on the bus and spend the day taking photos of each other infront of new and exciting places you didn't even no existed... this excursion was to the bank, to the insurance agency and to the housing group.. In these places I opened a bank account and applied for a credit card, I got an insurance policy and I signed my lease.. PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER!!!!!
Yes the PAPER story continues.. When I arrived in france the ever so friendly and lovely head on international relations at the school told me I had to pay 195 euros in order to get social security in france so I could get my title of stay. With no other option I payed this 195 euros even though i have already payed 1000 australian dollars for comprehensive travel insurance for the year (which I am still yet to use). Once I received the receipt of the Social Security I started my application for my title of stay. This also required me sending
- A copy of my passport
- A copy of my visa
- The receipt of Social Security
- Letter of acceptance to the French University
- Letter from my residence in France
- Copy of my Birth Certificate
- 4 passport photos
I had to take all these items and put them in an envelope, on this envelope I had to put a stamp, and it wasnt just any stamp its was a 55 euros stamp! yes probably one of the most expensive stamps I have ever bought and the stamp itself still look like it costs 1 euro. So even though this stamp was worth 55 euros. I still couldnt use it to mail this envelope. I had to hand deliver it to the immigration office.. Strange I know but thats france..
So a few weeks later and I received a letter in the post.. yet another piece of PAPER which had a photo of myself attached to it and was a titled as a temporary title of stay.. Which would expire in a months time. Whilst I had this temporary title I would have to wait till I receive a letter from the doctor with a time for an appointment so that I could go for a check up so that the french could deem me healthy enough to stay in their country. Which was really quite adsurb considering that my appointment was 2 months after I arrived, so any diseases that i could of had would be well and truely spread by the time of the appointment.
So after waiting for my letter, and going to the appointment where I was given a clear bill of health I received a piece of PAPER from the doctor to give to the immigration office deaming me safe and healthy to live in France. So I took this paper to the great imigration and some weeks later I received yet another piece of PAPER informing me that my title of stay was ready and I could pick it up from immigration.
So I know walk around with my title of stay in my wallet.. its not a big document, only a bit bigger that my credit card.. it feels my card nicely next to all the other cards I have received due to my stay in france..
- Ecole Student ID
- State Student ID
- Twisto Tram Card
- SUAPS Gym Card
- SNCF 12-25 card
- Carefour Carte de fidelité
- French BNP Paribas Visa Card
- CROUS Moneo Card
- SMENO Soical Security Cards...
I gues I am going to have to dedicate another blog later on to plastic.. but really I think its just a harder, fancier version/ replacement of paper anyway..
So to all those people who try an go paperless.. write their notes on the computer, send email not letters, receive online statements and get train tickets smsed to their mobile.. I say great job.. but really can we really live with out PAPER... i know I cant..
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