Easier in Black and White.

Hello beautiful people,

So, this last week I happened to have my visa appointment! After all the stress about having such and such paper, what order the papers should be in, what color of pen to write in, and don't forget having to write in all capital lettering, I finally completed all my paperwork a little over a week ago. I also received all of the support papers that AFS had to send to me about a week ago.

After I finished everything, I kind of realized how un-complicated that all of the forms and such were than I originally thought it to be. When you first get the AFS email with all of the directions on how to get your visa, you're like "CRAP, what did I get myself into?" But honestly, if you compare it to the AFS application it is quite simple.

My advice to anyone still working on it, or future exchange students, is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. Follow them exactly. Especially the directions on the consulate's webpage.

I had a little bit of trouble the two days before my appointment, and I thought that I wouldn't be able to get everything approved by (I went to the honorary consulate in Salt Lake City, Utah) the honorary consulate. Want to hear about it?

So, two days before, I was going over the list of things I needed to bring to the consulate's office, and realized that I was missing one thing: round-trip flight reservations. So, I called the AFS office, and asked what I should do, the woman who helped me said that she would get right back to me. She called me the next day, and told me that she couldn't get me a letter explaining why I can't have round trip reservations, because I technically wasn't supposed to have my appt. for another couple weeks. I ended up still going to my appt. without the paper, and the very nice lady at the consulate said that one of the papers in the whole pile had the dates of which I would be returning, and didn't need anything else. She then stamped all of the papers, signed them, and gave me some instructions on sending the papers to San Francisco.

So, now I just have to wait for the SanFran consulate to send all of the papers and my visa back to me.

I think all of us exchange students just make things way more complicated than needed.

By the way, I leave in a little over a month♥♥.

Arrivederci-
Rachael


P.S. The woman (Nancy) at the honorary consulate told me that there is one thing that you have to know when going to Italy. She said "just say NO" and she held her hand out in front of her. She said Italians sometimes don't understand that you are being serious unless you use hand gestures. good to know:) 

New York and other Miscellaneous Things

Hello all:)

So this post is a little over-due, I have just been 'concentrating' on other AFS things... visa, rosetta stone, and other things that I can't remember.

It's been decided and arranged- I will be leaving for New York on September 1st, 4 days before the actual AFS orientation. On this vacation will be Me(of course), my Mom, my Dad, and my BEST friend Madi! We have plans to look around the NYU campus, take a carriage ride through central park, go to Time Square at midnight, go to the John Lennon Memorial, and so much more:) I have never been to NY before, and I can honestly say that I am super excited!

Also, a couple of weeks ago, I went to the PDO (pre-departure orientation), and met some amazing people. Megan going to Finland, Lily going to Brazil, Autumn going to Chile, and Me and Sierra going to Italy! It was pretty boring, going through rules and more rules, but I had a blast meeting everyone. There is this thing about AFS people, as soon as you meet them, you just know that they are awesome. :)

Right now, me and my family is focusing on the Italian visa. One problem-the Salt Lake City consulate will not allow me to make an appointment until I have ALL of the paper work that I need. Which, I won't be getting until the end of July/ beginning of August. I really hope it all comes in time for me to get the visa on time :/ I've had this reoccurring dream that I don't get it all in time, and have to put this off for a year. (Won't happen, but still not the kind of dream I want to be having at this point).

For all of those AFSers coming home from countries in the next few days/weeks, good luck:)

Arrivederci
Rachael