Visa: I have to go everywhere to get where I want to be

Not too long ago, I decided it would be a good idea to check out how to get my visa to spend 3 months in France. I had imagined that it would involve filling out an application, and then visiting the consulate to get everything cleared. This consulate of my dreams was in a large city only an hour away from me. Apparently this only happens in a world where unicorns and fairies exist.

So what's the reality of getting a visa to study in France? Well first, I have to create a dossier on the CampusFrance website. Okay, I think as I click on website. My dad has probably done something like this before and he can...WHAT??? the website is entirely in French. Being a French speaker, this is fine for me, but it means that I have to figure the whole thing out on my own, since nobody else in my family speaks a lick of French (aside from my mother, who can say "close your mouth" and "open the window", which I don't think will be much help here). I managed to figure out how to create my dossier, but now there are 50 million other things I have to figure out on this webpage which will take me a good while.

Let's pretend now that I've figured it out. All I have to do is fill out the visa application and schedule an appointment at the consulate in...CHICAGO. Ack. That's a good 6 hours from my house, and from what I've heard about trying to schedule appointments at consulates, I'll spend a night camping on the streets of Chicago.

I can't wait.