Upcoming crew change

If you've been following our crew's story you know that our daughter has been working to study abroad in France next year. What is normally a fairly involved application process both with a school and an embassy was certainly complicated by a global pandemic, but we can finally report that she has met all the requirements to leave in August! She has been accepted, matched to a family, her visa was approved, and she has a plane ticket!

APPROVED in only a week!

Celebrating with her cousin (and French pastries!)

How did we get here? After researching a bunch of programs and reading reviews and sending inquiries, we decided to use Nacel to coordinate her program. This was a gamble as we didn't have any friends with first-hand experience with them, but we went for it. We were assigned a coordinator, Céline, who guided us through the entire application process, kept us informed as Katreina was matched to a school and family, and who guided us through the visa application process. She also answered literally any question we had along the way and really kept us informed as the COVID situation changed in France. Nacel is who works to match the student to a family, enrolls them in school, provides in-country orientation and transportation, and helps should any issues arise during the program. They also offer some intense French language training before the program. So far we are happy with the program we chose.

Katreina will spend the entire school year (her "Lycée Seconde") in Tours, France with a family that has two daughters and a dog--she is wildly excited! Her program starts in a month and we are enjoying our final weeks with her.