Monday, September 6th, 2004
at 5:28 p.m.
So here's the deal. . .
I was supposed to be in Florence, Italy this Fall. In fact, I was so sure about how great it would be that I convinced all my friends to come along too.
Short story: my Visa wasn't attained, and so now they're all there and I'm here in London, now in the Kensington Campus, and don't know anyone (but since arriving Saturday afternoon I've met some nice girls so it's fine).
Long story? I lost track of my passport (terrible, terrible), but it's not my fault; it's the poltergeist that lives in my house. True story. The whole reason that I believed it was lost in the first place was because the ONLY place it could have been was in this shiny poppy-colored LV papillon bag I have, and it was not there. Seriously, I turned that thing inside out and took every single item out individually. No passport. I freaked out, I felt guilty. Since I believed that I had lost it 4th of July night, during which I was rather sloshy, I felt extremely irresponsible. So I searched the playground where we'd ridden the swings at 2 in the morning, and went to Safeway where we went to 'top up,' and even resorted to going to my local precinct. When they didn't have it I called the City Property Master. No leads, no passport. I was entering into panic mode, as the date for my departure drew closer. Oh and of course, I checked my purse many times, but the reason I even thought it was lost in the first place was because it was not there, and it was still not there. . .I think you can see where this is going.
One Sunday, 2 weeks before I was leaving, my mom looked into my purse. Well there it was. It was not there before!!! I'm telling you, poltergeist.
So with all my paperwork, moneyorders, bank statements, ID, and school letters in hand I went to the Italian Consulate in my city, where they work REALLY hard (Visa office open Monday and Thursday, 1 pm to 3:30 pm). I waited in line for 3 hours to see the one person who worked there, and since there was no office, I overheard everyone else's conversations since the process was held between a glass wall/microphone at a counter. So I heard about 5 families ahead of me request a Visa that they would need sooner than me, and she was very compliant and willing, and I was quite relieved. However, as I approached the window, I suppose she had decided that her "helpful quota" was filled for the day, and she was snide, contemptful and refusing. Every time I attempted to pass paperwork to her under the glass parition, she shoved it back scornfully at me with the back of her hand. She refused point-blank to help me at all, but we persisted. My dad even spoke to her in Italian since her English wasn't very good and she was being so stubborn. She told me that I could not possibly receive it on time because she had sooooo many others to do before me, and that she couldn't promise to even get it to me by October! This was a threat, clearly, because it would mean that she'd not only be withholding my Visa for that extended amount of time, but also my passport, so I'd be completely stranded! I mentioned how my friend Mindy (who had to also use the SF office since Seattle is in its jurisdiction) got hers within a week, and she basically called me a liar!
We continued to try, but she steadfastly (and quite rudely) refused.
I was really upset, to put it mildy, and so frustrated at how (abrasively) uncooperative she had been. And apparently she had been equally so to Mindy, but Mindy had much more time to receive it than I, so she couldn't use withholding the passport as an intimidation tool. What a bitch, honestly.
My parents told me to get in touch with the school and let them know my dilemma, and so I did and the school recommended that I let Richmond's London campus know that I may return, but in the meantime I should try to come to Italy and they would look into setting things straight from within the country. I was really apprehensive about the uncertainty of it, also since I would be on my own in a non-English speaking country, but I went along with it.
Then, the morning of my flight, when I was in Minnesota, I received an e-mail from my school telling me that the arrangement was impossible and that I would have to return to London. The morning of!
Well!
In a way this was quite a relief. It meant that I wouldn't have to face the ordeal of settling all the legal matters, that I wouldn't have to live with a girl with whom I really don't get along, that I would get to come back to London and live on the Kensington Campus, and that--almost best of all--I would get to return to San Francisco for two more weeks, since London school starts later than Italy since there's no language/culture orientation, plus I'm a returning student, so I didn't have to have regular orientation either.
I had wanted to surprise everyone but I as I was talking to Katie on the phone I simply couldn't hold it in anymore, and so I let her in on it, and we decided to plot out my course, heheh.
She got Coll and Ry together for a dinner at Park Chow (MMMM, and incidentally the place I had my good-bye dinner). It was HILARIOUS the reaction they had when I strolled in! Ryan looked right through me at first as I approached the table, because he so didn't expect to see me. Colleen shrieked and scooted away from me as a slid into the booth and stared at me in total disbelief. She said she felt like she was looking at an apparition, lol. Katie looked supremely satisfied at our accomplishment. I, for my part, acted extremely nonchalant like there was nothing up, hehe.
The rest of the two weeks was really fabulous. . .I'll get to that in the next update, which I will do in a few minutes, but right now i have to run to the photdevelopment place and pick up my pics, YAY!
What song is playing on my iTunes right now: What I'm reading: What I'm Wearing: Back to anecdotal journalism again! - Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
Plan? - Monday, Jun. 19, 2006
FINALLY things are going better!
(This month redefined my understanding of stress and 'hell') - Monday, April 24th, 2006
Just a few more days! - Monday, February 27th, 2006
Another one to chalk up to College Experiences - Sunday, February 12th, 2006