|
AllMyOwn
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Alex
Birthday: 11/25/1986
Gender: Female
Interests: art, being goofy, photography, laughing, garden state, donnie darko, what dreams may come, harry potter, reading (for fun! what a concept!) naps, shoes, sex and the city, garden state, chinese food, music: death cab for cutie, rilo kiley, the postal service, fall out boy, the academy is, anberlin, northstar, straylight run, bright eyes, the shins, wilco, taking back sunday, coheed and cambria, the early november, mae, dashboard, the starting line, the format, something corporate, armor for sleep, waking ashland, hit the lights, number one fan, cursive, brand new, the rocket summer, matt nathanson, copeland, spitalfield, sufjan stevens, billy joel, ben kweller, motion city soundtrack, steel train...and lots more...
Expertise: sarcasm
Message: message me
Member Since:
6/2/2002
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Une Fille et ParisProcess COMPLETE. Visa Obtained.
In what was the easiest part of this WHOLE process, I now am the proud owner of a visa. THANK EFFING GOD. As my mom will tell you, I walked in the French Consulate in Chicago ready and willing for battle. Turns out, my entire interaction with someone lasted about five minutes:
My appointment was at 10:40 and after walking around in search of a copy machine (Thanks Loyola University Library Dude!) we arrived probably about 20 after. So I had only been waiting about five minutes when Visa Guy calls me up: "Alleeexxsdra" (name misspelled purposely this time. I can't do a french accent in writing. just pretend like you have a whole lot of gunk in your throat after the x)
After that he said he needed about 5 papers, my passport and 3 passport photos. "Okay, your visa will be ready in about an hour to an hour and a half. come back around 12."
c'est tout. voila. (that's it. voila!-do i need to translate voila?) came back around 12. called my name. handed me the passport. done. over. FINI. (finished)
So, paperwork wise, I am all set to go. Mentally and physically...i'm not there yet. i got new luggage, which i love ps, but have yet to put anything in it. and mentally i'm still all, is this real?
two weeks.
"Hey, lets cross the sea
and get some culture.
Red wine with every meal
and absinthe after dinner"
Snapshots from Chicago:
                   | | |
| Une Fille et ParisUpdate: J'ai mon passport! (translation: I have my passport!) Obtained a couple Sundays ago, and is now in a secure area. Some people think it's funny to joke about puppies eating it up...others, comme moi (like me) don't find it quite as entertaining. Next mission: Visa. We're leaving on Saturday to arrive in Chicago early Sunday. Visa mission is being tackled Monday then home. I need it to go smoothly....
The other day I was walking to work and there was a mom and a little girl, maybe four, behind me...
"I hope it's my birthday today" - little girl
"It's not. But don't worry, I'll tell you when it is okay?"
(this comment by the way made me smile all day. Still does.)
My creative writing teacher talked to us one day about how people tend to overuse the word "hope" and "hopeful" and its correct uses. Mary Grimm, I love you, but if that isn't the correct use of hope, then I'm not really sure what is.
This is how I feel everyday...
"I hope I'm leaving today!" Excited, for one split second that today might be the day. The end of work, the end of being tired, sitting on a plane thinking about all that is to come...
and then I realize that today is not the day. Not yet.
I'm starting to get excited...and nervous too-like "Oh shit-I'm actually going to a country where I can't walk into every single place and speak English..." I know that a lot of people speak English in Europe but this is not the point of "studying" abroad. Hasn't truly hit me that I'm going yet. It's not real.
24 days...
| | |
| Une Fille et Paris...
so, it's been a while....but here goes...a new beginning...
To be honest, I hadn't intended on starting this
until much closer to my departure date, but I feel the events leading
up to leaving are worthy of beginning a little early. I had visions in
my head of how I would begin such a tale and how I would try to convey
my excitement at the opportunity of being able to study abroad...
"I think I can smell the buttery, flaky croissants (obviously pronounced kwa-sonts in my head) already!"
"I
promised my boyfriend I wouldn't start a relationship with anyone while
overseas...unfortunately I met some wonderful men named Louis Vuitton,
Yves St. Laurent (A saint nonetheless!) and Christian Dior...I may have
cheated a little. just a little though."
but in actuality, I
think the beginning of my story actually begins more with a head tilt,
a furrowed brow and words something along the lines of, "wait...WHAT?!
YOU'RE KIDDING ME RIGHT?!" (more appropriately it would have started
with many four letter words, but I'm not sure who's reading this and
didn't want to offend)
story of my life...and so it begins.
Let's back things up a bit...set the mood if you will...
April
18th, 2007: the calm before the storm. it was on this day in history
that i applied for a passport. "Okay ma'am, you're all set. you should
receive your passport in six to eight weeks. Happy travels!"
...fast
forward to June 25th. still no passport and no sign of it arriving any
time soon. Panic mode begins to set in as I have not applied for my
student visa and of course the backup about what a clusterfu*k
situation the government is in with the increased amount of
applications for passports is all over the news. Eff me. Horror stories
about people not getting their passports in time prompt me to call the
National Passport Services.
after waiting for about ever on hold
I finally reached someone who was able to help me and suddenly my
departure date was not only August 8th (not really, although I wish, I
just wanted them to hurry up the process) and my passport was in New
Orleans, Louisiana being worked on actually but would then be
expedited. YAY! problem solved.
June 28th, 2007: Thursday.
Leaving for a mini vay to Chicago (which conveniently is where the
French Consulate that all Ohioans would go to...) on the 29th. Mom
calls. "Hey Al, you got your passport!) I'm pumped as this means I can
begin my long visa process. I need the number from my passport so I ask
mom to e-mail it to me and this is the first line of what I get in
response:
ALEXNDRA (spelled on passport btw)
...
...
what??! WHAT?! my.name.is.spelled.wrong.
NAME. SPELLED.WRONG.
namespelledwrong!
WHO SPELLS A-L-E-X-A-N-D-R-A wrong?
immediately
I am on th phone with the passport people again (please believe, at
this point the passport number is in my speed dial. my fav five if you
will)
Me: Uhm, hello ma'am, I'm trying really hard to be
patient, but i've waited over ten weeks for my passport and after
needing it to be expedited because i need to order my student visa, I
received it today and my name was spelled wrong.
her: Okay, and what state are you calling from?
me: Ohio.
her: okay, well ma'am it looks like we're going to have to send it back to the agency in which it was issued to correct it.
me: okay...
her: Looks like it was in New Orleans...can you go to the agency?
me: ...excuse me?
her: can you go to the agency?
me: do you mean call the agency?
her: no. can you go there? can you bring your passport there?
...(at
this point, a lot of not-nice things are running through my head...I'm
not sure who taught this woman geography but they need to be fired. Or
maybe she was just absent that day in third grade. I'm not sure.)
I
managed to say a blunt and simple "NO." with only a slightly raised
voice. So passporty (maybe I should give him a name...like pete the
passport..yes?) is then overnighted BACK to New Orleans where it will be corrected.
July 10, 2007: I still don't have pete. BUT! I also learned today that i actually NEED TO GO TO CHICAGO
FOR A PERSONAL APPEARANCE AT THE FRENCH CONSULATE TO OBTAIN MY VISA. I
called the french consulate and oui. it was confirmed that "eet eees
ahhbsoloootely neceessarry" that I come to "Shee-cahhhgo." so. now!
instead of bring my passport with me THE FIRST TIME I WENT TO CHI-TOWN
THIS SUMMER BECAUSE I RECEIVED IT IN PERFECT CONDITION WITH NO ERRORS,
I HAVE TO GO BACK. five hour bus ride --> ten minute meeting
(literally) --> 6 hour ride home.
and
that's where we're at. called the passport people again today (here's a
thought, what am i going to do when I actually get the damn thing? A
large part of my day is spent talking to Judy* or Rob* or insert other
random name here from the NPS. Maybe i'll just call to chat....See how
they're day is going...ask them if they've seen any good movies lately.
who knows.)
Roberta* said I *should* get my passport tomorrow. If i don't, start collecting bail money.
*denotes a name change in order to protect the most-of-the-time friendly employees of the government issued passport services | | |
| insurance companies/doctors offices suck. Yesterday I had to pay $20 dollars for a doctor to look at a mole on my arm and go, "nope, you don't have cancer." thanks jackass. I mean, of course it's better to be safe then sorry but still. What if they did want to have it removed? I wouldn't have had to pay for that. in that case, they would have been like, welp, turns out you weren't really lying to us about being sick. So in return, we'll slice that freckle off your arm-FREE OF CHARGE! WOOHOO! have a nice day!
eight books for one class? seriously?
sometimes, things happen to me and i like to keep them to myself. not bad things-good things. They are just nice to have, all to myself, to think about on rainy days i guess.
i'm going to see rascal flatts with rich and calvin this weekend. I'm super excited!  i can't wait to see them
school starts in two and a half weeks. I think i'm excited. I still can't tell.
I've been reading A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time anyone?) it's very good. It amazes me how avant garde she was in her thinking, and how some of the things she was writing in 1972 are still effective today. It definately makes me think.
whoaaaa. i can't believe i've gone until this point w/o mentioning death cab and flaming lips. Death cab was amazing, of course. Most of their songs gave me goosebumps everywhere. Its just really incredible to hear all the songs i love live. Sooo good. and then the flaming lips came on. I had no idea what to expect really. and then, the craziest show i've ever seen came on. First of all, they had about 10 dancing santas on the right side of the stage. then on the left side they had 10 dancing girls dressed up like aliens. then! they had this HUGE screen with about 4 projectors projecting things onto it. The lead singer had a video camera attached to his mic, so inbetween songs you got an extreme close up of his face. THEN they would shoot streamers and confetti into the crowd during almost every song (i bet the workers at blossom were thrilled about that!) and then they had all these crazy balloons thrown into the audience to be bouned around like beach balls. Some were as big as small cars. it was crazy and amazing and I loved every second of it! I def want to see them again!
ok welp, peace out playas!
| | |
|
|
how could you not?