Six days ago I spent all day trying (and miserably failing) to pass the TEF French exam. For the first 3 hours you take computer based exams, then you have to have a 15 minute conversation test chatting with a real person. So you’d think I’d be out of there in a little over 3 hours BUT you’d be sorely mistaken.

Many people came to take the exam this past Saturday and the conversations were scheduled ALPHABETICALLY  so I had to wait 3 hours in between the exams. Then of course they ran 30 minutes late as well. Oh, and did I mention I was on a college campus and the cafeteria was closed so all I had to eat were a few energy bars I packed for snacks?

“So where’s the silver lining, Joan?”, I hear you ask. The silver lining was that I wasn’t the only person cursed with that wait. I met a very sweet and intelligent graduate student and we talked for the whole 3 hours. During our wide ranging conversation (in English) I discovered she lives close to my condo in Ottawa. I offered her a ride home afterward and we exchanged contact information. She’s very busy with school but we have been texting and it’s just nice to have another social contact up here.

If not for meeting Shannon it would have been a completely wretched day.