Finally!!!

Good luck at last! almost...

Ok, I am sorry, but I just have to rant about the drama of applying for a visa. (Sorry, but this epic drama has a ton of those false endings...)



Monday the 19th:

I haven't gotten my documents from Italy yet, If AFS USA gets them by Tuesday they can overnight them to me and I will recieve them sometime on wednesday.
I am 8 hours away from the Italian conculate so there is no way we can get our papers and drive there before they close in the afternoon.
They are closed on thursday. That means that we couldn't apply till friday. Then they are closed till Monday. Then they would have had two days to process my visa and mail it back to me!
Not going to happen..


Tuesday the 20th:

Mom wakes up with a brilliant plan!
We have AFS USA overnight the documents to my grandmothers house only 30 minutes from the consulate (without LA traffic...). Our appointment is for 12:00 on Wednesday.
We drop everything and drive to LA . Say hi to Gram. Go to bed.


Wednesday the 21st:

Wake up at Grams house. Wait some more... The documents arrive!!!
Gana and Grandpa come over. Say hi, then bye, and head for the consulate!
We arrive over an hour early and wait even more...
The woman calls us up to the counter and we start feeding her all of our documents through the little window.

WE ARE MISSING TWO DOCUMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Missing document #1 is a letter from the bank stating that I have sufficient funds in my bank account (a bank statement isn't enough... I guess I didn't read the fine print)
Missing document #2 is a notarized affidavit of something-or-other that my mom needs to sign.

THEN... we only have one hour to get these papers back to the consulate before they close for the day.
Thank god there was a WellsFargo only ten blocks down. We show up at the bank and a banker is typing up the letter we need at a pace a sloth would laugh at.
The banker needs to know the address for the consulate, including the zipcode, but of course we have already given all of our paperwork to the consulate and have no idea what the zipcode is!
Apparently they have separate zipcodes from ten blocks down. Eventually we get the banker to just look it up online and she prints it out, signs it and hands it to us.
Then we need a notary to stamp this other form, but the notary at WellsFargo won't be in till Thursday. (Right about here I am considering going on a rampage and destroying all of Southern California.) We only have about 20 minutes before the consulate closes...
The banker assures us that we need a WellsFargo notary to do it.
My mom says forget that and walks into the bank nextdoor that is not a WellsFargo and praise Allah! There is a man here sent from heaven that says he will notarize it for us!
15 minutes to go.
My mom signs the thing, he stamps the thing and even gives us an extra official thing, just in case the stamp isn't enough!
10 minutes to go.
We get back in the car, and speed back to the consulate, run all the way up to the consulates office.

Guess what?

We had 6 minutes to spare! The woman took the damn documents, and says that she has already sent off the other paperwork, and they will be able to overnight my visa to me tomorrow.

Victory has never tasted so sweet.

We get back in the car (which by the way is the smallest, most uncomfortable little two door thing that always locks you in!) and get back on the freeway to drive home when we see Dinah's!
I grew up in the LA harbor, so I had been in the area before and been to Dinah's before. Let me tell you. If you think you have had good pancakes before, YOU ARE WRONG! Dinah's makes their pancakes with heaven and glory mixed into the batter. I swear by these pancakes.

After this morning I said to myself "We deserve victory pancakes." and Victory has never tasted so sweet.


P.S. (Theres more, but I am putting it after a P.S. thing, because that last line made a good ending... )

After we were halfway back to Flagstaff, AZ we get a call from this woman Dharma that has been helping us with the whole visa thing who works for AFS.
I was about to start crying when my mom answered the phone and asked me if the woman at the consulate stamped and gave back my school document, and I said: No.

Please imagine my and my poor mothers blood pressure at this moment.

Dharma goes on to explain that we will recieve this stamped school form when they mail us the visa... then I remember that oxygen is important when trying to stay alive.

Just writing about all of this my blood pressure has probably gone up again...Oh! and I am donating blood tomorrow! Maybe they can ell me what my blood pressure is...