Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Hah, it hit you before it hit me, I've been hysterical crying since 5am and I can't stop! Flight tip: PARIS AIRPORT DOESN'T TAKE CHECKS! So if you need to pay extra to bring an extra bag, or to bring a bag over the weight limit, have euros on you. My fiance had a check from his mom, they wouldn't take it. Good thing his dad was there, his dad gave him the euros. If his dad hadn't been there... we would've been in trouble lol. And they require to see the brown envelope before you board the plane. They didn't open his, they just needed to see that he had it.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-23 04:54:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Yeah, it will. Crazy to think that this time next morning he'll be on a plane!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-22 06:05:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	His plane comes in at 2pm. At this point with all the fighting we're doing we'll be lucky if we make it that long. I know the fighting won't be so bad once he's here, though. It's just the stress and the 15 months worth of distance that's doing this to us.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-21 18:49:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay congrats!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-21 17:32:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Bostonparis... GOOD LUCK with today's interview! Bring your baby home, and let us know how it goes!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-21 06:09:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	I'm telling ya girl, the interview's a piece of cake! He'll do just fine! Just make sure he knows your name, what kinda work you do, how you met... ... oh and just make sure he has a response lined up for the "what do you plan to do once you're in the States?" question. Hey - how did his medical go?	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-18 13:03:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Bostonparis, if your fiance flies in on a Saturday or Sunday my fiance and I might be tempted to hop on a train to the city to hang out with you two for a bit if you wanted. And yeah, we're lucky that JFK is the closest POE to me anyway - but we're definately hoping for that temp EAD!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-17 23:24:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Congrats Brian&Elise and adelaarsvaren! Keep us posted on how your journies progress! Good news from my side too, I just got time off from work approved for next Friday - I'm leaving work early so I can scoot out to JFK to pick my baby up! I didn't think I'd be able to be there myself so my dad was going to go, but he's injured so he can't, and I wanted to be the one to get him from the airport anyway.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-15 17:10:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	It's funny, it's been so long since I've had a "me" weekend that I have no clue what to do! $480 later, it's official, Friday the 23rd is the day - tickets booked!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-13 20:58:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Okay, Saint-Clair and I thought about it and he'll be coming home next Friday, the 23rd. Only 4 days isn't enough time for him to wrap everything up and say goodbye to his friends and family... especially his mom that JUST started drinking again, after months of being sober. I personally am afraid that tearing him away from his mom in just 4 short days would plunge his mom further into alcoholism... he'll have the rest of his life with me, but who knows when his mom will be able to see him again. And I mean, closing out his bank account... packaging stuff and mailing it to me... getting his money back from the driving school... giving the final word on his apartment... he gets out of work at 6pm his time this week, there's no time for him to do anything. He's taking off of work this Friday, and he's hoping to get next Wednesday and Thursday off too. (If not, they have to give him his money for his paid days, then.) When I get home from work today we'll buy his plane tickets. And we've decided that next weekend will be "me" weekend. Each of our weekends have been as stressful and hellish as our work week. So next weekend we're each doing something for ourselves, and we're going to make our weekends happy and truly relaxing. Although neither of us have a clue what we'll do... LOL. Edited by Angilla, 12 March 2007 - 06:00 AM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-12 05:59:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	You know, I hadn't thought about that. Maybe he could come this Friday instead of next Friday. I don't need to set up an apartment anymore. I just need to clean my bedroom. Hmmm. It's going to depend on the price of plane tickets, and what my fiance wants to do. Off I go to look at ticket prices.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-11 15:28:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	I'm so upset... The landlord's an a**hole. He used the excuse of needing to see original proof of my fiance being legal. I tried to explain the visa is in his passport and my parents wouldn't let him stay in their house, so we need a place for him to live before he came here on the visa. The idiot didn't even know what a visa is. I ended up hanging up on him because he was getting rude and wouldn't let me finish my sentences and kept demanding originals proving his legality in the US. My parents are going to let my fiance stay in my room for a month or so til we get on our feet. No more of this "you'll be coming with your fiance?" "no my fiance's in france" "why's he in france?" "he just got a visa to move here" "uhh, oh" conversations. We'll buy the tickets and move him here, and go apartment hunting together. I knew that apartment was too good for us. I f*cking knew it. Better to see this side of the landlord before we sign a lease rather than later, though. *sigh* Edited by Angilla, 11 March 2007 - 01:11 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-11 13:11:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Well... it's a ground-level complex, there's about 8 apartments in the building. When you walk in, to the right is a big living room with a big window and air conditioner. Straight ahead is a kitchen with a cieling fan, stove/oven, marble countertops, lots of cabinet space, a microwave, and a big refrigerator/freezer. There's a back door leading out to the patio and private back yard, where landscapers mow the lawn and snow removal shovels snow off the patio. Back inside the house there's a door, one way goes to the bedroom with another cieling fan and a good closet in it. The other way goes to the bathroom which has a sunroof in it, and I just have to brag, it's the best part of the place! (Just sort of weird to look up from the toilet and see sky! ) It's $875/month and all that includes is hot water. But as far as apartment complexes go, that's awesome, most 1 bedroom apartments in complexes go for over $1,000. I was hoping for more like $850/month INCLUDING utilities but those are all in private houses, like people's basements and stuff, and there's a lot of psychos around here... plus all the ones I've seen in the last two weeks have been dumps. You get what you pay for, basically. It's gonna be really hard to stretch the money, but we'd struggle no matter where we went so... we might as well struggle in a roomy, pretty apartment! Across the street is a library. Across the street in the other direction is a huge park with lots of walking trails and woods and stuff. I'm gonna bring my bike, and my dad is giving his bike to my fiance. We'll chain them down on our patio. So there will be things for my fiance to do while I'm not home! If he gets the temp EAD... well... there's huge chains of stores and even an office building within walking distance! Basically he'll just walk down the street and see if he can find someone that's hiring. My approved time off from work for our civil marriage is April 4th - 16th and there's no way he'd be able to get that much time off with a new job, so basically we figure he could just get a cruddy local job for a month... quit it... then when I go back to work on April 17th I'll bring his resume and try to get him a job at my place for 2 months, then he could quit it when his temp EAD expires. By the time he gets his next EAD he should have his driver's license, and hopefully we'd be able to afford a second car, so he could be more independant in finding a good steady job. Oooh, and another cool thing is... 10 minutes in one direction is my job, 10 minutes in the other direction is my parents' house! It's perfect, right in between! And... across the street, right next to the library, is a Chinese restaurant. There's Greek and Japanese restaurants there too, I never tried either type of food before. There's also a bagel place a little ways down the street. So there's plenty of options for when we burn dinner! Can't really afford it, though, so we'll have to... erm... be careful. Speaking of burning, a fireman lives in the apartment complex. So if we ever need help it's right next door! Anyway. I'm going back tomorrow to fill out the paperwork for them to run a credit check on me. As long as the credit check doesn't show anything horrendous, the apartment's mine! We'd like to move my fiance here on Friday, March 23rd. As soon as the apartment is finalized we'll buy the tickets. It's bittersweet, though. I've fought with my parents my whole life, and now that we're not fighting... I don't want to leave. I still have the I don't want to grow up feeling, and while I'm excited I also feel so sad to be getting older and starting another part of my life... and leaving a part of my life that I'll never be able to get back again. My fiance's mom just started drinking, after being sober for months. It's been hard for him to say goodbye to his friends, and his family... especially since he doesn't know when he'll be able to return to France. As much as he hates his life in France he also loves it. We'll be happy once we're together, but the move is going to be rough on us both. Edited by Angilla, 10 March 2007 - 09:48 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-10 21:47:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Welcome danyfra! How do you like New Jersey? What was the change from France to USA like for you? Good news on our part... I GOT AN APARTMENT!! I don't know when we can move in yet, I have to go back tomorrow to fill out some paperwork. We're hoping for no longer than 2 weeks!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-10 16:27:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Brian, I do think that makes us some sort of neighbors. We could have a bi-national get together sometime. Shayrene, I've heard that being raised on two languages will make them pick up English slower than they would otherwise... but they catch up. And, in my opinion, the gain is worth the delay. Their minds are little sponges at young ages, it's the perfect time to teach them another language. And all the romance languages are so similar - if the child is raised on French it should be nice and easy for him/her to pick up, say, Spanish later in life if they decide they want to! I know I can read French fairly well because it looks just like Italian, speaking is where I have problems because it sounds so different from what I'm used to.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-09 20:20:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Hehe yeah, like me and my mom talking Italian in front of my dad so he can't understand it. Teehee. We're bad. You should be getting your NOA2 any day now! Read back to find my posts about my fiance's interview and medical, that'll give you some insight on the France side of things - it's so easy! Start gathering your stuff for the France side of it all NOW. Talk to your employer about the letter you need for the I-134. Packet 3 requests the I-864 but they've been taking the I-134 anyway - so prepare both. Have your fiancee get her vaccination record from her doctor. Click on "embassy info" up top, then click on F for France, bring up the France embassy page for info on what's in packet 3. Go to the downloads section and have her fill out all the packet 3 forms so they're ready to send back when she recieves packet 3. Put together everything you need to send her - a copy of the I-129F, evidence of ongoing relationship, blahblahblah and ship it over to her in France. Etc. The time FLIES after NOA2 and he and I ended up doing it all at the last minute, he got my package on a Friday... his interview was that Wednesday. Don't do that lol it really freaked us out! I see you live in CT. Do you live anywhere by Bridgeport? I'm about 20 minutes from where the Bridgeport ferry docks in Port Jeff.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-07 07:18:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	If you had done DCF you might've gotten caught in the freeze... having your interview cancelled last minute for your files to be sent to Rome for security checks, not knowing when your interview would be re-scheduled. Who knows, maybe filing the K1 was a blessing in disguise for ya.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-06 20:50:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Welcome Brian! I see you'll be filing through VSC so things should work out well for you. Take a look at my timeline to see how things go through VSC and Paris without a RFE (request for further evidence). 3 months and we were done. I know 3 months can seem a lot to a pregnant lady, and nervous daddy, but considering it can take 6+ months through CSC you're lucky. That whole DCF mess really is a shame. I'm not sure how much of a help the consulate would be, but it couldn't hurt to try. What questions do you have? How can we help? In other subjects... do you two plan to raise the baby bi-lingual? My fiance and I are thinking about what we'll do with that. I don't speak a word of French (no, that's a lie... I can say... oui... je t'aime... je ne parle pas francais... ummm... heh) ok so I barely speak a word of French, how about that. He's intent that I'll learn, but the sounds are just so hard. He knows my language so I'd consider it respectful for me to learn his, but French and German were the two languages I decided I'd never learn because I hate the way they sound. And now I'm engaged to a Frenchie! So I guess I'll give up and learn French, and I'd imagine we'll probably raise the kids bi-lingual. But at some point, at a young age, I want to start teaching them Italian as well - I don't want to lose my heritage any more than he wants to lose his. Tri-lingual kids... well, why not, their brains are like sponges, it'll be good for them!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-06 18:40:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	In the envelope was the brown "do not send" envelope... You know what I meant! Do not OPEN envelope.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-05 18:37:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Hey more good news! My fiance picked up his visa from the post office today. In the envelope was the brown "do not send" envelope... the passport with his visa... and... the original photos that I sent with the I-129F! Is it normal for those to be returned? In other news, my fiance talked to his boss today and got permission to leave as soon as I have an apartment. So as soon as an apartment is secured we'll buy the plane tickets! Edited by Angilla, 05 March 2007 - 06:04 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-05 18:03:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Well, my fiance didn't go home last night, he stayed at his mom's house instead. He went home tonight and found... a notice that a package from the embassy is waiting for him at the post office! He got his visa already! He's gonna go pick it up Monday!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-03 21:15:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Your fiance has to bring a chronopost envelope with him (my fiance said there's a machine where you can buy them in the embassy if need be) and they mail it to him in that. It can take up to 10 days to get it in the mail, they said.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-03 15:41:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	You're welcome for the details - I'd love to help any way I can! And thank you shayrene. Bostonparis, I know, my fiance's supposed to give a month's notice at work too - but look at my approved time off for the civil marriage, 4/4/07 - 4/16/07! Eek! I don't want to try to push back my time off from work because I'm afraid I won't get so long. He's going to talk to his boss Monday and see if two weeks would suffice. Oh, an idea for you all! Have the Frenchie get a letter of recommendation from his/her employer before leaving, translated into English if the boss only speaks French. When Mr/Miss Frenchie gets over here and gets working papers (s)he'll want a job, and the employer will want references. But they won't want to call France, and probably won't speak French anyway. So get a letter of recommendation that the Frenchie can bring copies of to their job interviews!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-03 11:53:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Edit: He just remembered they asked him a 4th question at the interview - how we met. Edit again: As he's reading my post he keeps remembering things. He said they asked for my tax returns with the I-134. He forgot I told him I attached it to the I-864 (I didn't think they'd ask it for the I-134). "I did not know if I had it so I said I did not know much about it and did not know if ya gave it to me or not." He said she saw he looked really lost and confused and he was starting to panic, so she said it's ok forget it, the tax returns don't matter. Edited by Angilla, 28 February 2007 - 09:14 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-28 21:09:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	I'm going to ask my fiance to write up a detailed experience, but this is the info I've got for ya'll so far: Police certificate For anyone needing to know how to get the police certificate: don't go to your local police station. My fiance said he did that and they didn't know what he was talking about. Just go to https://www.cjn.just...fr/cjn/b3/eje20 and request a casier judiciaire. Military letter My fiance's military letter was what they wanted. He was before 1979 so he just got a letter from the military stating he was waived from the military requirement. He got it by going to the bureau du service national in his town, he said you could find them by going to http://www.pagesjaunes.fr . He said to type in bureau du service national and the name of your town, or the name of the biggest town near you. I'm not sure if the process is different for those born after 1979. Medical Dr. Anne-Valérie Meyers is an absolute sweetheart with a great sense of humor! My fiance was in and out of the physical exam portion of the medical in about 10 minutes. I know one of the commonly worried about things with the medical is do they have to examine the private regions - NO, they did not! It was mostly questions that my fiance said no to. You don't even have to ask for a copy of the vaccination supplement. When my fiance asked for it she said she was going to hand it to him anyway! Interview The interview was a piece of cake. SC and I have been seperated for 14 months and they did not ask for a single shred of proof of an ongoing relationship. I loaded him up with tons of phone bills, 45 pages of chat logs (and to think that was only a sample of one coversation every 3 months or so... we have 18 saved archives LOL), photos of us together in scrapbook fashion, etc. They didn't even ask for it. I thought they would since we haven't seen each other in so long! They asked him three questions: what is your fiancee's name, what kind of work does she do, and what do you plan on doing in the States. His response to question #3 was "Marry my fiance, get the first job I can get after I have my working papers, and live happily ever after" to which the interviewer laughed. He was in the embassy for a total of an hour and a half and a majority of that time was waiting around. He had both my I-134 and I-864. They asked for financial documents and he handed them my I-134. We really didn't want them to take the I-864, my tax returns stink. So it was bostonparis' idea for him to just hand them the I-134 and play stupid. They didn't say anything about it, they just took it! He asked how many paystubs they wanted. The lady looked at the stack I sent - which was all my paystubs since November. She photocopied the most recent one and handed them all back to him. So basically, it was a piece of cake! Paris is an EASY embassy guys! None of you have anything to worry about! Edited by Angilla, 28 February 2007 - 08:57 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-28 20:56:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Juju? Thanks for the juju - but I've never heard that word before. What's it mean? Edited by Angilla, 28 February 2007 - 07:03 AM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-28 07:03:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Thanks Shayrene! Medical complete. My fiance said the physical exam part took about 10 minutes. I asked him to write up the details of his day so we could post them here for future French couples. His interview is at 1pm tomorrow.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-27 06:54:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Thanks Cécile. Yeah, I can make the strufoli because I love them, I'm proud of them, and I've been making them since junior high school - I always made them for my Italian classes, my teachers always went nuts. If I can make dough without a bowl I can cook something. I just don't have any confidence in myself at this point. I'm sure that'll change after he moves here. Speaking of which... FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE DAYS TIL INTERVIEW! B)	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-23 07:06:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Sheigh, could you plan a trip back to Paris for the little one's first birthday so he doesn't have to miss it? That stinks that his interview date was re-scheduled so far away... but at this point, I'm just glad he HAS an interview date!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-17 07:32:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	So Saint-Clair is not coming until you get an apartment? That must be killing you knowing he'll have his visa but won't be here! My parents won't let him stay here - we tried that already to save money. We asked them if we could rent a room for, say, $400/month or something to help us get on our feet. Didn't work. So, until I secure and set up our apartment, there's nowhere for him to be. You'll do just fine when you're in your apartment. It's kinda like bringing your first dog home. You have no idea what to do or how to take care of him, but it just happens. True. A part of it is just that... I'm ending a part of my life that I'll never be able to get back, being a "kid" at home with mom and dad. For the next 70 or whatever years I'll be living completely different and it'll never be like this again. But I'm unhappy the way I'm living right now, so I should wholeheartedly want it to change... part of me doesn't, though. Part of me doesn't want to let go of something I'll never be able to get back. Does that make any sense? With cooking, start slowly. Try boiling water (literally, just boil water - watch it, see what happens). Hehehe there was one time in the Bronx back when Saint-Clair was a friar... after cleaning the stove he had put something back together wrong that really messed the stove up. A pot of water was on the stove for SO LONG and... it wouldn't boil. Word spread that Brother Saint-Clair couldn't even boil water and oh did we tease him! Angilla -- how's Saint Clair's cooking? That could be the answer to your cooking questions...... Christimas Eve 2005... he was making crepes, I was making strufoli (the only thing I can successfully cook LOL)... we set off all three fire alarms in the house - one on this floor, one on the floor above, and even the one in the basement! My dad was running up and down both flights of stairs disabling one fire alarm after another! My mom, in all her years of cooking, has never set off all three! He claims he's a good cook, but I'm not totally sure about that! (When he gets home I'm gonna tell him to read this... ) Edited by Angilla, 10 February 2007 - 02:56 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-10 14:55:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	All that's left to get in check, after the visa's in hand, is finances... I need to find an apartment that I can afford and make sure we have at least $1000 in the bank after all the moving and first month's expenses as emergency money. It might take another month's worth of paychecks to do, I have to keep playing with my excel spreadsheet. To be honest, I'm kinda scared! I've never had an apartment before. The longest I've ever been away from home was 2 months, being able to come home for a few days 1 month through. I don't know how to cook - and when I do cook baaaaaaaad things happen. But yet I know that I'm not happy with my life the way it is right now, so I have to change it to where I'll be happy - and that's with Saint-Clair by my side. It's just scary, ya know? Bostonparis, I'm glad he got the police certificate, one less thing to worry about!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-10 10:57:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Awww I'm sorry sheigh87.. I hope that gets straightened out for you soon. Congrats Orc - thanks for the info! bostonparis - my fiance returned packet 3 on January 16th, recieved his letter with his interview date on February 9th, and his interview is February 28th. We didn't need to call like Orc and Larig did. Edited by Angilla, 09 February 2007 - 07:26 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-02-09 19:25:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	Here's a list of all the French/American couples who have posted, plus two I've been talking to in PMs who haven't posted here yet. Let me know if I screwed anything up. To those still in the process, let us know when your status changes! CR-1/IR-1 In process -nobody- Completed kittykatwoman: Interview June 29th, 2006 emmysphere: Interview ? DCF In process koalas: Interview February 7th, 2007 Completed groomit: Interview May 23rd, 2006 K1 In process larig: Interview date February 1st, 2007 Orc: Interview date February 7th, 2007 Angilla: Awaiting interview date bostonparis: Preparing to mail back packet 3 nordique: Awaiting NOA2 sarahandroland: Awaiting packet 3 severinep: Still preparing to submit Completed laetinusa: Interview January 3rd, 2007 amwo: Interview September 21st, 2006 Shayrene: Interview November 29th, 2006 claire d: Interview November 9th, 2006 sleepless in OR: Interview October 4th, 2006 Jay-s: Interview May 18th, 2004 Bertrannnd: Interview April 29th, 2004 BeZenK3: Interview March 16th, 2004 colinlieu: Interview January 9th, 2003 K3 In process adelaarsvaren: Awaiting NOA2 Completed sheigh87: Interview January 31st, 2007 Still thinking about what to do Cécile Embassies other than Paris esisko, K1 completed, Interview ?, Senegal MHandMB, K1 completed, interview date April 2nd 2006, Algiers Algeria Edited by Angilla, 31 January 2007 - 08:18 PM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-01-31 20:17:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	I do miss French bread... Hehehe... oh do my fiance and I have jokes about French bread, and other items with "French" in their names. Like French fries, and French dressing, both of which he insists aren't French so they shouldn't be called French. And then there's French horns, French vanilla, French braids, French kissing... and of course, using "French" for catheter sizes! He insists no French bread here is like real French bread so it shouldn't be called French. You get the point. We joke about it all the time! The French are used to free healthcare, a great public transportation system, and a more relaxed way of life. Coming to the US, the healthcare insurance system sucks, public transportation is non-existant in some cities, and most people live for their jobs. One thing my fiance's not going to miss is needing to get a letter from a doctor to take even a single day off from work sick, and having to stay in his house during certain times to make sure social security doesn't show up if he does take a sick day. But getting reimbursed for medical bills, not having to let medical/dental insurance decide what job you take and cause you ulcers that need more medical insurance... yeah, I think he's going to miss that. He doesn't have a driver's license because he can get anywhere he wants by train in France. It was sort of culture shock when he visited here and you can't even walk to the train station. I personally hate the rush rush rush of typical American life - we plan to move down to Virginia at some point. He has excellent vocabulary with a really cute accent to go with it. I would love to learn French, but I haven't picked up much, really nothing. Isn't the French accent CUTE? When people find out I have a French fiance I usually get comments about two things - the cooking and the accent. I agree with your wife thought, I think the big difference is that we take more time to cook in France, and meals are a family thing where everybody sits down at the table. And with more time and the motivation of sharing a meal, I guess it leads to better meals. That's true. I miss the family meals. My grandparents were from Italy and Poland, Sunday dinner was a big family event each week. The family would get together from all over the island, tons of food, talking, and laughing. Even at home we always used to sit down at the table and eat together. My grandparents died when I was 8... now most of my family hasn't seen each other since their funeral, and we eat meals around the TV and computers. It's pretty sad. I'm hoping someone can help with approximate time once Vermont approves I129F petition. Does anyone have some practical experience with this regarding times? I understand they send it to the NVC, and then they send it to the US Consulate in Paris. Does anyone know how long it takes from there? I haven't seen anyone here trying to get a fiance to the US from France... In the "timelines" on this website, on the same page one list says 58 days, the other says 76 days. If anyone has an experience they can share, that would be great. Just so others reading this area aware... larig waited 5 weeks for their interview letter, recieved it on January 27th, and the Frenchie's interview is February 2nd. Orc waited about a month for their interview letter, recieved it on January 30th, and the Frenchie's interview is February 7th. So it seems to be about a month of waiting and then a week til the interview. We'll know more once bostonparis and I go through the process. The Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners are so different than here. I had oysters (2!), but won't try them again... there was a fish cake/fish loaf, foie gras (delish!), lamb, cheeses, desserts... it was great, but I did miss my traditional Christmas dinner. I may be the only person on the planet who lost weight during the holiday season! Oh tell me about it! My fiance's family has goose liver every year for Christmas... I don't particularly mind not being able to attend. I try to try new foods but... uhmmm... my limit falls around there - goose liver, tartar steak, escargot, caviar, beef head, sheep intestines, marmite... I haven't gotten myself to try half the stuff he has yet. Anyway, this is a lot of fun!!! It's like everybody is coming out of the woods or something!! I had no idea there were so many French/American couples out there! I agree, it's great to see! I was from the east of France, Besancon, and left in 2003 for Oklahoma. Now we live on Maui, and weare planning on coming back to the Mainland this year. Ooooh, Maui... what brought you there? Want a guest? We had snow last night.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-01-31 19:53:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	I have another question. For those of you that completed the medical in Paris (physical/vaccinations, blood test, and chest xray) - are the 3 different doctors offices far apart? Edited by Angilla, 17 December 2006 - 11:11 AM.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2006-12-17 11:10:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	My fiance just arrived on Tuesday. He is originally from Togo, a francophone country in West Africa, but has lived in France for almost 10 years. He has lived in Paris, Lille and Caen. I am trying to learn French, but it has been difficult. I was with his family this past week and felt lost. But, it is ok because now I have a live-in tutor. LOL. Check out the foreign embassy forum. I just placed a review of our experience with the Paris embassy. Congrats on his arrival! I bet that must feel good! What does "francophone" mean? Live-in tutor, that's a great point, I never thought of that! My fiance's family lived in England for 2 years so at least most of them speak fairly good English. His mom is going to get the internet soon so I'm hoping to be able to talk to her over MSN a bit. I've chatted with his sister over MSN... when she hacked into his MSN to get my e-mail address and talked to me trying to convince me to convince him of something. Needless to say, I don't exactly like her. Heh. I've told him that I definately want him to take me to France, show me around, and introduce me to his friends/family. Just need to be able to afford it and get the time off from work, first. I have yet to learn how to post my timeline, sorry I've been pretty busy lately. Oh that's okay. Click on "immigration timelines" up at the top. Then on the left under "Timeline Functions" click on "Edit / Add my Entry" to set up or edit your timeline. I got my interview date with the US embassy in Paris a couple of days ago and I'm sooo excited. ... By the way, how long does it usually take to get the visa after the interview (if you've been approved of course!)? Is the interview that stressful?! Personally, I don't feel too worried about it? Should I be? That's great! Congratulations! You'll do great, I know it. Let us know what the interview is like so we can have an idea of what to expect! I don't know how long it takes to get your visa afterwards, but read Shayrene's Paris interview experience post if you haven't already. Don't get nervous/worried - it is what it is, you answer questions and swear you're telling the truth and provide any additional evidence that you want to. Make sure you know a lot about your fiance - what kind of work your fiance does, how you met, etc. As for the French "r" Angilla, I wouldn't worry too much. I will probably never be able to pronunce the American "r" anyways!!! And American people speaking French with an accent is just so cute! That's what he tells me, too! He said the way I pronounce the French R is cute. I'm embarassed, though, and when he tries to teach me a word with an R in it I jokingly groan and protest. You can see if there is a Alliance Francaise near you, they provide very good French lessons and have all kind of ressources about French culture you can call the local French consulate/embassy to send you a list of French organisations too. Thanks! I checked and the closest one is 50 miles away in NYC. I'll check to see if there's others around here that have free/cheap lessons as I can't affod much. I would sort of prefer to have him move here and teach me, though. As bad as it is... I don't like the French language. I love languages and always wanted to learn more EXCEPT French and German. And now I'm engaged to a French guy who wants our kids to be bi-lingual, and I want our kids to know all about their French heritage too (but I want to teach them about their Italian side of it also), so... time for me to start liking French! I think I'll like it a lot more once he's here because he just sounds so sweet when he's speaking it. My 85 year old grandma told him that he has a sexy voice, LOL, so maybe that has something to do with it! As for me, I am now currently seeking a job, did not think it would take that long But maybe I don't do it the right way... Where do you other frenchies live in USA? I'm American and it took me 2 months of interviewing to find a good job. Before that it took me another 1 or 2 months of interviewing to find a bad job that I had to quit. So... it's tough these days. If you'd like, send me a PM and I'll give you my e-mail address. Send me a copy of your resume and cover letter and I'll see if I can suggest any changes. Are you sending thank you letters after interviews? If so, send me a copy of that too. If not, I'll send you the one I sent out after all my interviews. I live in New York, by the way. Hi all, I am the frenchie in our marriage. Shawn is the american one... We got my green card August 2005! YAY! That was the biggest relief in my life when I got this priceless card in the mail... anyway I'm glad to see that I'm not the only french woman to marry a gringo! You guys keep in touch! -Em Congrats on the marriage and green card! Okay I have to get ready for work, I leave in 10 minutes and am still in my pajamas... lol... I'll respond to the rest of you when I get home later.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2006-12-08 07:18:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	France/America couples	I don't know why, but I've been thrilled to meet other French/American couples here on VJ. I know there's a French-speaking thread here but lots of countries speak French... I'm curious to meet other couples where the foreign fiance(e) is in or came from France. For the French/American couples here, where in France does/did the Frenchie live? Does the USC speak French, and if not, is (s)he learning? My fiance lives in Rambouillet. I managed to learn some French during his last visit but without having him pointing to things and being able to watch his mouth I'm just clueless... guess I'll have to wait til he's here again to learn. Written French is similar to Italian at times so I can figure some of it out. But spoken, hoo boy... I joke with my fiance a lot that the letter R needs to be obliterated from the French alphabet because I can't figure out how on earth to pronounce it!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2006-12-06 20:57:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	Scandinavians	I feel like being Scandinavian now, because I have some weird desire to learn Swedish - hejsan! So I'm just going to drop in on your little Scandinavian hangout here.	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2007-03-04 15:05:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	Yay, we're sprung!	Congrats! and we're gonna get married and make teh cute chubby babies	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2006-11-30 19:31:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	On to the embassy!!!!!	Congrats!	RosaMystica7	Female	France	2006-12-12 19:53:00