So today I made the trek to San Francisco to apply for my study visa at the Consolato Generale d'Italia a San Francisco (Italian Consulate). I had all my paperwork in order per the checklist given to me from Pepperdine. I went through the whole process of gathering everything from that checklist. For some reason unknown to me, I decided that was okay. It did not occur to me to check the SF Consulate page. Seems their checklist differed a little bit. I didn't figure that out until I got there. You can say I was a little stressed. More accurately, I was sweating bullets and felt like vomiting. What was comforting me a little is the fact that the SF Consulate does not take appointments so worse case scenario, I'd just go back another day.
Getting into the building, I presented the Consular with my packet and the documents I had. He inspected every single piece of paper I had on there and I was just waiting for the moment where he told me that I was missing something or that he couldn't process my application. Finally, he stopped going though my papers and said, "you're missing a photocopy" (my heart sank) "Just go down two blocks to the UPS store, photocopy this letter and bring it back. You won't have to stand in line and we'll get you out of here as soon as possible." HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders.
Applying for this visa was so stressful but once he stamped my application and said "okay great, we have everything, thank you" I felt so relieved and accomplished. This is just one step closer to Florence! (70 days and counting!)
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