Manjula Padmanabhan
My path towards citizenship was hugely augmented by Attorney Claudia Grégoire and her warm, friendly legal assistants and staff. The process of filing the application, getting all the details right IS unfamiliar and scary. Even when an applicant has no obvious obstacles blocking their path, it’s scary. It feels like being a new kid on the first day of school. But Andy (whom I met a couple of times) was just so commonsensical and patient! It was really, REALLY great to meet her. I didn’t meet Anllely, but she was friendly and helpful in her communications. And then, at the time of the final interview, to have Janne Reisch alongside me was absolutely fabulous. Every little bit made a huge difference. Tomorrow is the Oath Taking ceremony – and I’m STILL NERVOUS. Because changing one’s citizenship is a big deal. I hope to come back here to post one more note, this time with a photograph to show that it has really happened. With warm, sincere thanks.






