Trials and tribulations

11 July 2006

Well, my departure for Chile is fast approaching. I leave in five days, I am excited, nervous, and stressed about the whole thing. There is so much that has to happen before I can get on that airplane to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. The main stressor is my student visa. It has been quite an ordeal; I started applying and getting all of the information I would need before I left for Peru, only to learn that one of the things I needed (acceptance letter from a Chilean University) would not arrive until 3 days before my departure for Lima, so I had to wait until after I returned to apply. However, everything that I had previously gotten together had expired, since everything had to be dated within 30 days of applying. This meant I had to have another physical and HIV test done and request background checks again. Everything was going well in acquiring all of these materials, until the letter of good health and the results of the HIV test didn't show up, and didn't show up, until I couldn't take it anymore! I was calling the doctor's office almost daily (they didn't like me very much!) Finally after 2.5 weeks of waiting, I couldn't wait anymore because I had to get the application in at least 3 weeks before I left, and the 3 week deadline had arrived. I asked for the letter and the results to be faxed, so they faxed them, well the letter. I was reading the letter and discovered that they had put the wrong birthday on there, so it didn't look like me! I called the doctor's office to have them change it, and waited on hold for an hour. When I finally got through, I talked to a very nice lady who told me that they would have it faxed before the office I was having it faxed to closed. A half hour before the International Affairs Office closed, the fax had still not come, so I called the Doctor's office and was told that they would fax it before 5 pm, which would have been 2 hours after the IAO closed! AHHHH! So I told her that I needed it in a half an hour. I went and wandered around, and came back...still no fax. Finally I called back and was like where is my fax? She put me on hold and went an faxed it! This time, again, no HIV results...(they didn't get faxed until 5 pm, so lots of good that did me). I went home because Dr. Compton had to go home as well. I had a letter to the janitor from Compton to let me into the office to get the fax, so I could go in early, get it and then head to the UPS Store to mail it, and I would have to pay for same day delivery. Well, I got home, and what was in my mailbox, but the letter and the HIV results that I had been waiting for! I was so excited. I jumped in the car and drove to the UPS store to send it to Chicago. My Student Visa application made it to the consulate in Chicago, exactly 3 weeks before I needed it.

On the checklist for all of the application materials, it says that you will be contacted by the Consulate to set up an appointment to appear in person to sign and fingerprint the visa, so I waited for a phone call. Finally it reached the point where I needed my passport back (you have to send your actual passport to the Consulate...a bit scary!) So I called the Consulate yesterday to see what was going on. I had plans to leave Marquette on Thursday after saying goodbye to Chris and then head to Chicago, stay overnight at my friend Mike's, then go to the Consulate on Friday morning sometime and head home after doing that. All of this had to happen in this way because I am working a 60 hour shift that began Monday evening at 9pm and was supposed to end Thursday morning at 9am. When I called the Consulate, they notified me that I could come get my Visa today (not possible...working) or Thursday morning at 8:30 am, which also did not work because I was still supposed to be at work for another 30 minutes, and unfortunately the drive to Chicago is more than 30 minutes! When I told the lady this, she said that she could squeeze me in at 12:30 on Thursday...doesn't help much since I am would only have 3.5 hours to get to Chicago, which is at least a 6 hour drive from Marquette. What to do? I called mom in tears because I was so frustrated, and then I called some people from work. There was pretty much only one person who could cover my shift...I called him and he said YES! Whew! So now I am leaving Marquette at about 5am to drive to Chicago for a fingerprinting and signing of my student visa at 12:30, then going to Mike's house to stay overnight, and then heading home on Friday. Oh the drama. I hate drama, especially when it is drama that directly concerns me. But at least I should now be set to get on the plane on Sunday afternoon!