Goodness, the last week sure has been extremely stressful! It's been more than a mission to get all of my paperwork together and in front of me in time for this day. If you didn't already know, applying for a student visa is THE MOST tedious process you could possibly confront when it comes to studying abroad. Not to mention I was told at my orientation that the Italian visa was one of the most difficult to apply for. Go figure. I was also told that most people are turned away the first time that they go to the Consulate, however they are now completely booked for the summer so it would have been impossible for me to make another appointment! That put so much weight on my shoulders, and I was overly paranoid that I wouldn't have everything that I needed. This led me to make farrrr too many copies of everything that I had, and also to take extra paperwork that I didn't even need. I guess it's better to be overly prepared than to miss something, right? :) Another major stressor that came along was that I discovered that I needed to apply for the "corsi singoli" no later than June 17th, in person at the Consulate. The corsi singoli are basically courses that you take at an Italian University, which are COMPLETELY in Italian. They expect a lot from you and if you choose to do it, then you are most certainly not treated like an American student at all, but absolutely like every other Italian student that's among you. This is something that I'm completely nervous for, because clearly I don't want to fall behind due to lack of understanding, however I believe that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will get to truly expand my italian in so many ways! I know that I would regret it if I didn't at least try! Anyway, it was brought to my attention that I had to get this done before the 17th, and the office isn't open on weekends. So today, which was also the day of my appointment, was the only opportunity that I had. I didn't know if I had to make an appointment, so I freaked out a bit...luckily I got a call from the passport agent who sent me all that I needed and told me to just take it all in with my Visa information. I drove down to LA last night and met my parents, and this morning we still had things to take care of beforehand. We got up and ventured out to take care of everything, however the LA traffic was absolutely ridiculous and seriously pushed us on time. By the time we got to the bank, which was our last errand, it was 11:05 and my appointment was at 11:30! We left there at 11:15 and had to fight the traffic to make it a couple miles away, and the entire way I was having a nervous breakdown, basically feeling like I had to puke. This was only because I knew that if we were late for that appointment, they would tell us to reschedule another one, however that would have been impossible because there are none left for the summer. If you guys didn't know beforehand, the Visa is the most important document of the program, it's what lets us into the country and allows us to stay! Without that, I would not be going. So maybe now you understand where my mind was right at this point. We pulled into the parking structure at 11:26 and I got out of my car at 11:29, and literally RAN all the way up there, making it exactly on time. I checked in and everything was fine, with the exception of myself. My hands were shaking with anxiety as I was getting all of my paperwork together, but I finally got it all organized. They called me up and I explained to them of my situation with the corsi singoli, and they took all of my paperwork. The lady that runs the corsi singoli had to leave on an emergency to Italy today, so she wasn't able to see me exactly. So they told me that the only problem with that was that my Visa would just take longer to process. It normally takes about three to four weeks, and now that they have to take care of the corsi singoli it will probably take about 6 weeks, but it will still get to me on time before school :) I was overly prepared and the lady appreciated that, so we gave her everything and were out of there in twenty minutes! It was so much less intimidating than I had originally anticipated, and I was SO relieved once I walked out that door. All the stress that I had worked up to this point is now GONE! I can now work on mostly the fun details to prepare for my departure...and soak up this time of relaxation that I have before I go :) Being one step closer makes me so much more excited to arrive in this beautiful place and to be back in the arms of the love of my life! 74 days! <3
