Adventures at the Consulate

Hello all,

I took the morning off of work today to go downtown and apply for my visa at the French consulate. Having heard some mixed things about the experience, I was a little nervous. But I was going with my Dad, who is nothing if not meticulous. Hence, I arrived for my appointment an hour early with a packet of about fifty documents plus photocopies.

We snagged the last two chairs open in the crowded visa section waiting room. The clerks were clearly running behind, so we figured that we would be waiting for a while. But about five minutes after we arrived, another window opened up specifically for student visa applicants and--as yours truly was the only student waiting--I got bumped to the front of the line. I was happy; the other people waiting were not.

Aside from one snafu--they decided that they needed a letter verifying my enrollment at Northwestern, something they mysteriously failed to mention anywhere on their website--everything went smoothly, and I was out of the office by 11:11 (my appointment wasn't until 11:20).

After that, my dad and I spent the day in Chicago. We had lunch, finally made it to the modern wing of the Art Institute and browsed Barnes and Noble before he dropped me off at work.

So in two weeks, I should have my visa. One less thing to get done before I can leave for France...Now I just have to tackle unpacking and repacking in the war zone that is my room. So this blog will probably be pretty quiet for the next couple of months, until my actual departure date. Tune in then for (hopefully)actually exciting updates. Not that tales of me sitting around in Chicago office buildings aren't fascinating.