Allons Enfants de la Patrie....

Allons Enfants de la Patrie.....Le jour de gloire est arrivé....

That is the first part of the Marseillaise (French National Anthem), so it is fitting to start off this blog post with that because last Friday I received my French Passport!  It was a very exciting day because since being informed that I have become a French citizen on June 22nd 2010, I have been waiting patiently for my official documents.

Back to la Marseillaise.... I felt it was important to learn the French anthem so on my flight over to France with my girlfriend Marion, we spent a good part of our 12 hour flight from Vancouver singing together. Line after line it would go until Marion was just so exhausted with the sound of my voice, she put on her headphones and watched a movie as I continued writing out the lines in the song and going over it again and again.

By the time we landed in Paris (and for the next 3 weeks) that is the only song I had in my head.

When I received that call from La Mairie on Friday morning that my passport had arrived, I simply said "J'arrive!"  (I'm on my way)

When I arrived, there was nobody there so I went right in, signed a few documents, they took my fingerprints because this is a Biometric passport, then it was official!  Right after that, being in the French spirit, I went to my favourite Boulangerie where they have the best "pain au chocolat" in the world and amazing "croissants" too.  After grabbing 2 of each, I parked the car in the Centre Ville and walked up to the Castle.  From the top of the Castle you can see the entire city of Epinal, so I sat up there and took 45 minutes to just appreciate my French Nationality and eat my treats from la boulangerie.  During that time, I just looked back upon my arrival in France and thought about how far I had come and how many people helped me get to this day.  It was almost 4 years earlier that I sat in that very spot thinking "holy crap, I am in France playing hockey....what an adventure"

It feels real now that I have my actual documentation, but the day I get to use my passport in the European Union line at the airport is that day that I believe it will really sink in. No more big long lineups hahaha.