Introduction: Visas, Goodbyes, and Packing

Bonjour tout le monde!
As those of you who may be following this blog may know, I'm off to Paris!
This process has been by far the most complicated and infuriatingly bureaucratic thing I have ever attempted, and has made my fall semester terribly stressful and exhausting.
BUT! The paperwork is almost over (despite a new list of things to get done once I actually get there), and now it's the moment we've all been waiting for... no, not flying,
PACKING.
In a word, ugh.
Thanks to much help from friends and family I was able to acquire all (at least nearly all) my belongings from school and home, and have unceremoniously dumped them on my side of the bedroom I share with my sister. Despite the load of it all, it probably won't take that long, considering the amount of practice I've had over the years with packing and unpacking; I'm just not particularly looking forward to carting it all to the airport, and hoping it's not too heavy.
In recent news, I received my student visa!
Do the conga with me! Chachachacha chacha!
A horrendous process at best, getting a visa is not actually that difficult to do once you have gotten all your paperwork in order and you seem like a sensible and safe sort of person to send into the country. It can just be annoying to gather all said paperwork and make the appointment after you have the say so from Campus France, but that's a whole other headache I won't get into.
Funny story about my visa appointment actually, concerning being official and all. My mom drove me to the Consulate for my appointment, and went to find a parking place. I was left to walk briskly through a golden revolving door, in new shoes, coat, and scarf (apparently the French are BIG on scarves these days, but more on that later) to look presentable. I showed my ID at the front desk and signed in, and was directed to the 7th floor. I had been warned beforehand that I would need to present my proof of appointment to the guard before being let in, but I guess I should have expected that he would search my bag too. After he let me in, I waited for the woman behind the counter to call me up. The consulate consisted of a couple small waiting rooms, with a glass window over the counter, rather like a movie theater. She called me up, and began asking for my documents, one at a time, under the counter. I was nervous, but glad I had everything I needed.
Then I heard my Mom's voice coming up behind me and I jumped. She and my sister wandered in, and seated themselves, as if this was a casual waiting area. My first thought was,
"How on EARTH did you get in here??" Then I remembered, she's my mom, and has Jedi powers.
Apparently the guard didn't need to see any official documents from her. He didn't even search their bags! Everyone else was being interrogated by the guard with the accent, but my mom? Ohh, no.
If that weren't enough, she did it again when we came back up after running to the ATM. The guard didn't even remember that he had my form, and my mom just looked at him and said,
"You don't need to see her form."
"I don't need to see her form?"
"She's all set. We just went to the ATM."
"Oh. Okay, go on in."
These are not the droids you're looking for.
And once again, our bags weren't searched.
I was just incredulous. My mother never ceases to amaze me.
I'm grateful I got the chance to say goodbye to many of my friends from school, whom I will sorely miss, and I hope they all have a good spring semester.
That's all I have for now, but will hopefully update en route and certainly when I arrive.
À Bientôt!