Good news!

I received my visa in the mail today.  They said it would take two weeks or so and I got it back in less than a week.  Not much else to do until August...just shopping for supplies like dual voltage hair tools, converters/adapters, space bags for packing (sigh), etc.

Oh and P.S.- 2 months until Parisian bliss <3

VISA...or American Express?

Me and my brother Skyler near the Field Museum.

Hey ya'll.  Just got back from Chicago, where I had to apply for my visa.  The weather was kind of crappy the few days we were there, but I still love chi town.  Let me start out by saying I was unusually nervous about the whole ordeal.  I'm not really sure why, but it was a really important step in the process of studying abroad so I didn't want to mess anything up.  There was so much I had to do to prepare.  Besides filling out forms, buying prepaid envelopes, and not losing my passport, I had to make so many copies of everything!  I'm fairly certain I triple checked the list of stuff to bring twice.

When I arrived to the consulate, I had to get a security pass to go up to a special part of the building.  I guess I should've noticed things weren't going to go my way when I tried to use my pass for the wrong elevators.  Since I apparently couldn't read the sign, the nice security guard gave me some sympathy and showed me the elevator I was supposed to use.  37 floors later I arrived to the room where a french lady was waiting for me behind a glass booth, like at a movie theatre. 

Ok so three things happened that made the whole shebang a little jagged:
1) I couldn't hear her through the microphone, so I kept having to say HUH? SORRY! WHAT'D YA SAY? Poor woman probably thought I couldn't understand her accent.  I'm sure she was like ok little girl you can't even understand me and you want to live in Paris for 4 months? Good luck.
2) She had to take my picture and I thought I should smile...no, no smiling allowed.
3) I had my finger prints scanned, and from the corner of my eye I could see the smudge marks I left.  So like a good, curious, and partially concerned person I said hey should I wipe this off?  She looked at me with confusion...(ugh no Lana, no stupid questions).  And as I was leaving I kept thinking, now the next criminal to have their fingers scanned are going to get pieces of mine mixed in...lovely.

All that may sound a little dramatic but I like things to go smoothly, and I felt like that did not.  Now I just have to wait 2 weeks to get my passport back and see if I was approved for a long term student visa for studies.  FINGERS, TOES, AND EYES CROSSED PEOPLE!

Well, at least this is good practice for France...where I will no doubt look like an idiot everyday.

Come Fly With Me

YESSS! My flights have been booked, and it feels so good to have this done with (although my wallet may disagree).  Holy cow this was a process.  I was searching almost every day for the best deals, but they really weren't chainging that much.  I came across a good price at CheapOAir.com, however when I went back to buy it, it had disappeared.  Eventually I found the same flight that I wanted at Webjet.com.  I have now told myself no more looking at flights.  It would really irk me if I found something that was cheaper.  Another reason I was having trouble with this was that in order to be picked up at the airport by my program I had to arrive on August 23rd between 8am and 6pm.

I'm flying with American Airlines, and have recently entered their frequent flyer program.  So now that I have an American Airlines and a Delta card...I actually have to become a frequent flyer. :)  That is okay with me though.  I leave from Minneapolis August 22nd and fly to Chicago, and 13 hours later I arrive in Paris at 8:45am August 23rd.

And of course I have a return ticket for December 18th, but ewh who wants to think about coming back already.  Shout out to my Grandma Sherril for helping me with this crazy process.

Next thing on the list, travel to Chicago to get my visa.