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.