France-bound?

Life comes at you fast. Ideas come at you even faster.

The other night I was thinking (as I was having trouble falling asleep) about my life... when I could start back school, what direction I might want to take with that, what city I really want to live in... you know, all the grand life questions we have to answer in our early 20's.

I have a passion that runs as deep as my love for France - the entire French culture, at that. So here's my great idea...

Ready for it?

I can get an International Marketing degree from a school in Paris... all the while working for the same company I work for now because we have a French partner.

Well hot damn.

Entertaining this thought only in my head didn't do any of it justice, so I've done a little research.

School - There are several programs the French Consulate offers in this respect. You can take an English taught course and learn French before/during your stay and be just fine. The requirements are pretty easy... 2.5 gpa, some college. I'm not quite sure how it translate with the courses I've already completed. In reality, I've already got my associate's degree in Business and am a semester in on the Marketing program here.

Cost - Since the French government values education so much, they put a lot of money towards it. It's only about 600 euros a year. Yep. That's less than $1000 a year for school. They offer housing for International students so it's only about 600-800 euros a month in living expenses. (including food, rent, travel expenses, etc) The French Consulate also grants a ton of scholarships each year.

I've pretty much no boyfriend, no "best friends" that i'd be leaving for the next 2 years... and I could literally keep my job (probably have different responsibilities at our French partner) and would be able to come back and see my family.

I talked with a few coworkers that I count upon for advice and mentoring... before I could pose the question... they both said "GO" (and I wasn't even talking with them at the same time). Any work/school overseas looks INCREDIBLE on your resume, not to mention the life experiences you gain from all of it.

The last step is to talk to my mom about it all. Logistically, when it could happen (i'm assuming not until AT LEAST Fall semester starts), what I would do with my stuff here (storage?) and my car (sell it? ohh... that's soooo :( sad) and my cat (maybe someone can keep her for just a little while). It most certainly won't be permanent... but it's something I really want to do.

And when I really want to do something, I make it happen. So we'll see how this all unfolds in the next few weeks or so. I'm brushing up on my French skills as we speak!

C'est la vie!
That's life!!

[clarification: by no "best friends" that i'd be leaving... meaning they've both moved cross country and I only get to talk to them by phone/email anyway, so it wouldn't be like I'm leaving them here.]