To Canada and beyond

I got it! I got my passport back. The package arrived yesterday already. Happy days. Now everything is set. Also, all hotels are booked at this stage. So I have to print off the booking confirmations and then the stay for my first couple of weeks are already sorted. I guess, I can finally call a few property management companies to see what they need from me as a potential tenant. And then I will have to get myself into the job hunting game. Exciting times ahead, but I'm delighted to have my visa sorted this far. Photo above: I took the photo above on my last ski trip in the US. I thought with all the snow, it might be fitting. It's a little on the ironc side, since it happens to snow in Ireland today, whilst Canada apparently experiences a rather nice day...

Last week's Monday I had my medical. Only having received an appointment on Friday, I was very happy that I actually sorted the entire examination that same day. After initial hesitation and after getting a quote I decided to go for the medical in Ireland. It worked out to be 280€ in total; examination 150€, blood 80€ and the X-ray 50€. So, there would not have been any point in traveling to Germany and paying maybe 50 - 100 € less. Also, I would have never made it this quickly. At this point I will still have to send the results to London. This will, however, have to wait for the blood result's arrival. In theory, they are due tomorrow. If they are, I will have them collected by a courier and delivered to London. The photo above was taken on Britta's beach in Wicklow.

I just got word from my laywer in Canada that my medical forms have arrived. It took a lot longer than I expected, but it's a nice new year surprise that they are on the way. My laywer confirmed that I can actually get my medical done from any medician on the following list. http://www.cic.gc.ca/dmp-md/medical.aspx That means I don't necessarily have to do my medical in Ireland. It might be worth it for me to fly to Germany and save some money. I will have to get some quotes in and compare some prices. From what I have read in other blogs and forums it might be well worth it. By the way, for those wondering where the picture above is from. I shot it today on the beach in Carmel-on-the-sea. California is always great for a visit.

So, I went to Paris and did my interview. Just to give you a mental image, I have to note that summer has broken out in Ireland. We nearly hit the 20 degrees Celcius twice and it rains a little less. Coming from this background, it is no surprise that it took me a little while to adjust to the 30 odd degrees in Paris. Marching to my interview in business casual and with a really heavy bagpack, I was very happy that my anti-transpirant deo held it's end of the bargain. I was about 30 minutes early and that served me well. My interviewer, a nice lady from Quebec, did not even leave me waiting for 5 even minutes. She paid a great deal of attention to my previous work engagements and my studies. Then it came to the most dreaded part of my interview - the French test. I feel that I have to elaborate a little more. Due to an unfortunate delay in my test result reception I only got a hold of my French marks slightly more than a week before the interview in Paris. So I decided that there i...

So finally the documents are gone. Over last weekend I managed to put together a rough version of the required statement in French. Luckily, my French teacher agreed to correct this for me. Tuesday I went to the barber and Thursday I used my lunch break to get some pass photos taken. Then last Thursday I managed to collect the last bits and pieces. For example I got the certified translation of my leaving certificate back. So Friday then I send the entire package via courier. It was an expensive week, but finally the set is sorted. Hopefully, I will be able to focus a bit more on my French study.