Hella long entry, Part 2
Yes, there is a part two to the epic novel I wrote last entry. This one details my trip to NYC and how it sucked balls. yay. Once again, I encourage you to stretch properly before engaging in any strenuous activity and please note where the exit doors are in case of an emergency. Enjoy Part 2...
So I got back to Jersey all find and dandy. My dad had gone into the city once before to try to get me my visa but at the Consulate in NY, they said I needed police clearance. My dad went and got that and sent me into the city to get that taken care of.
I was not comfortable with driving in the city and I was using my sister's car, so I decided to just take a bus in from Parsippany to the city and go from there. The Brazilian Consulate only accepts non-Brazilian citizens between ten and noon, so I wanted to catch a bus by nine, nine-thirty at the Latest. I end up catching the bus at nine-thirty and ride it the hour to get into the city. The Bus station is at 40th and 8th. The consulate is between 46th and 47th and on the 6th Avenue side. I waste like twenty minutes trying to figure out which way the Avenues go down, and then make my way to 1185 on the "Avenue of the Americas." (btw, I'm in sandals, mind you, so my calves really became disgruntled quickly at all the walking).
I head over there and get through the security, telling everyone that i had to go get a student visa. I get up there and get a number, E904, and get sent over to window seven. The gate of hell...
This--woman with two lazy eyes, glasses, and hair like i don't know what takes my number. I tell her that I'm here for a student visa and she says that I need to come back tomorrow because the person for that is not in. I ask her is there any way to put it into a mailbox or something because I'd travelled eight hours to get here and didn't want to waste this trip in. She asked where I was from, I said NJ and she asked me if I had all my documents. I began to go through one of the packets of documents my dad had assmbled from the multiple copies... When I reached the letter in English from the Brazilian University (Universidade Luterana do Brisil or ULBRA) she stops me. She says that this letter needs to be notorized. They told my dad the same thing and when my dad told them it was only for a short Summer Program, they said that it was ok. I tried to tell the lady this but she would only say that it needed to be authorized. I asked her if I could call my teacher about it and see if we could straighten it out. She said yes and she gave me a pen and paper to write down her phone number. She said that she didn't have her glasses on (which she didn't) and I'd need to write it down. I took her name and number and stepped to the back of the room.
I looked through the papers and in the other packet, I found the same letter, only in Portuguese and with some black stamp from ULBRA on it. I hurriedly went through the line again and asked for the lady whose name I had written down. The lady comes back and I ask her "Is this it?" She takes one look at it, with glasses in hand, and says "It needs to be notorized in Brazil." I thought she may have thought that this was the same letter I showed her earlier and that she just wasn't realizing that I had a different document to show now. I ask her what it would look like if it were notorized, thinking that if I'd seen this letter, I could find it and show her. She said "Do you think I do not know what it means to be notorized?" I tried to explain but she kept interrupting me and I finally said "Can I ask you a question, please?" She said "Yes, but you still need it notorized." I asked "What does it look like?" and she said "No, it is none of your business. That you ask questions like this shows me that you are trying to do something and I tell you right now, it won't work. You need this notorized in Brazil. You will not get your visa otherwise." That is when I stepped to the back of the room and called my dad telling him that the lady thought that I was trying to forge things and that I couldn't get my visa. I was basically one deep breath from crying the whole time after this. I hung up from dad's voicemail and went in the hall and cried a bit. After all I'd gone through, I wasn't going to get to go.
After all the stress, after all the preparation, after putting like three thousand into the program and another thousand on a plane ticket (which leaves on Friday), I wasn't going to get to go all because this one last piece wasn't going to fit in.
Then, an angel must have heard me. The receptionist called me over and she spoke English very well, unlike the Ice Queen Bitch High Matron who accused me of forgery earlier. I explained to the receptionist (while trying to regain my composure) that I tried to show the other lady that I had two different packages of documents and the lady accused me of trying to "do something". Ana (the angel who was the receptionist) told me to just calm down and that she'd go take a look. She looked at my papers, went somewhere else for a short while then came back and explained to me taht the Brazilian Government needed to put a gold seal on it by the signature to mean that it was notorized. The stamp just showed which division handled it. I explained that my classmates who went to Washington didn't have any trouble and Ana told me that different Consulates may have different procedures but that the one here needed a notorized letter. She told me don't worry, and that they could still get it to me overnight and everything would be fine. :)
So I called R.c. and he said that in Washington, he didn't need Police Clearance or the notorized letter... He listened to me vent for a bit about the IQBHM in the Consulate. It felt good to get it out of my system. :)
I went to a Starbucks and got a Latte and a Espresso Brownie then headed to an Internet Cafe to try to find Dr. Dixon's number. I couldn't find it so I just emailed her from the cafe. The Internet Cafe was really cool. It's located just past Madame Tussaud's. Near the Lion King. You went in, put money into a machine ($1/15minutes), got a ticket, then went to choose your computer. There were about four dozen flat screens on long tables up and down the cafe. It was really really cool. ^_^ So I emailed Dr. Dixon and told her the story.
So there's the most dramatic of it. I came home and called the OIP (Office of International Programs) at WVU and spoke with V.h. and Dr. Weiner. They said they'd get on it the next day at work and they'd call me. That was yesterday. Today V.h. called me on the phone and said they had 3 people working on it just no final word yet. Dr. Dixon called and she also said that not to worry, they'd get things straightened out. Then a Mr. George Lies emailed me and left a voicemail. He was someone pretty high up I think b/c he said that he got an appointment for me and Phyllis (another chick on the trip) at nine thirty Friday mornign. They'd process my visa right there on the spot. ^_^
So now I just need to figure out what to do about flights because our flight's supposed to leave PGH at 1525 on Friday and the meeting for my visa is at 0930 in NY that same morning. *sigh* So far, this break blows. But I bet it'll get better once all this stress/bureaucracy BS out of the way. *sigh*
Okies, that's the story so far. Thanks for reading. Sorry it was so long but I had to make up for all the entries I didn't give y'all to read. :-p And these last few weeks have REALLY been remarkable.
I'll try to keep everyone posted as best I can about what happens.
Cuio mae,
-Misha
=^^= ~~
So I got back to Jersey all find and dandy. My dad had gone into the city once before to try to get me my visa but at the Consulate in NY, they said I needed police clearance. My dad went and got that and sent me into the city to get that taken care of.
I was not comfortable with driving in the city and I was using my sister's car, so I decided to just take a bus in from Parsippany to the city and go from there. The Brazilian Consulate only accepts non-Brazilian citizens between ten and noon, so I wanted to catch a bus by nine, nine-thirty at the Latest. I end up catching the bus at nine-thirty and ride it the hour to get into the city. The Bus station is at 40th and 8th. The consulate is between 46th and 47th and on the 6th Avenue side. I waste like twenty minutes trying to figure out which way the Avenues go down, and then make my way to 1185 on the "Avenue of the Americas." (btw, I'm in sandals, mind you, so my calves really became disgruntled quickly at all the walking).
I head over there and get through the security, telling everyone that i had to go get a student visa. I get up there and get a number, E904, and get sent over to window seven. The gate of hell...
This--woman with two lazy eyes, glasses, and hair like i don't know what takes my number. I tell her that I'm here for a student visa and she says that I need to come back tomorrow because the person for that is not in. I ask her is there any way to put it into a mailbox or something because I'd travelled eight hours to get here and didn't want to waste this trip in. She asked where I was from, I said NJ and she asked me if I had all my documents. I began to go through one of the packets of documents my dad had assmbled from the multiple copies... When I reached the letter in English from the Brazilian University (Universidade Luterana do Brisil or ULBRA) she stops me. She says that this letter needs to be notorized. They told my dad the same thing and when my dad told them it was only for a short Summer Program, they said that it was ok. I tried to tell the lady this but she would only say that it needed to be authorized. I asked her if I could call my teacher about it and see if we could straighten it out. She said yes and she gave me a pen and paper to write down her phone number. She said that she didn't have her glasses on (which she didn't) and I'd need to write it down. I took her name and number and stepped to the back of the room.
I looked through the papers and in the other packet, I found the same letter, only in Portuguese and with some black stamp from ULBRA on it. I hurriedly went through the line again and asked for the lady whose name I had written down. The lady comes back and I ask her "Is this it?" She takes one look at it, with glasses in hand, and says "It needs to be notorized in Brazil." I thought she may have thought that this was the same letter I showed her earlier and that she just wasn't realizing that I had a different document to show now. I ask her what it would look like if it were notorized, thinking that if I'd seen this letter, I could find it and show her. She said "Do you think I do not know what it means to be notorized?" I tried to explain but she kept interrupting me and I finally said "Can I ask you a question, please?" She said "Yes, but you still need it notorized." I asked "What does it look like?" and she said "No, it is none of your business. That you ask questions like this shows me that you are trying to do something and I tell you right now, it won't work. You need this notorized in Brazil. You will not get your visa otherwise." That is when I stepped to the back of the room and called my dad telling him that the lady thought that I was trying to forge things and that I couldn't get my visa. I was basically one deep breath from crying the whole time after this. I hung up from dad's voicemail and went in the hall and cried a bit. After all I'd gone through, I wasn't going to get to go.
After all the stress, after all the preparation, after putting like three thousand into the program and another thousand on a plane ticket (which leaves on Friday), I wasn't going to get to go all because this one last piece wasn't going to fit in.
Then, an angel must have heard me. The receptionist called me over and she spoke English very well, unlike the Ice Queen Bitch High Matron who accused me of forgery earlier. I explained to the receptionist (while trying to regain my composure) that I tried to show the other lady that I had two different packages of documents and the lady accused me of trying to "do something". Ana (the angel who was the receptionist) told me to just calm down and that she'd go take a look. She looked at my papers, went somewhere else for a short while then came back and explained to me taht the Brazilian Government needed to put a gold seal on it by the signature to mean that it was notorized. The stamp just showed which division handled it. I explained that my classmates who went to Washington didn't have any trouble and Ana told me that different Consulates may have different procedures but that the one here needed a notorized letter. She told me don't worry, and that they could still get it to me overnight and everything would be fine. :)
So I called R.c. and he said that in Washington, he didn't need Police Clearance or the notorized letter... He listened to me vent for a bit about the IQBHM in the Consulate. It felt good to get it out of my system. :)
I went to a Starbucks and got a Latte and a Espresso Brownie then headed to an Internet Cafe to try to find Dr. Dixon's number. I couldn't find it so I just emailed her from the cafe. The Internet Cafe was really cool. It's located just past Madame Tussaud's. Near the Lion King. You went in, put money into a machine ($1/15minutes), got a ticket, then went to choose your computer. There were about four dozen flat screens on long tables up and down the cafe. It was really really cool. ^_^ So I emailed Dr. Dixon and told her the story.
So there's the most dramatic of it. I came home and called the OIP (Office of International Programs) at WVU and spoke with V.h. and Dr. Weiner. They said they'd get on it the next day at work and they'd call me. That was yesterday. Today V.h. called me on the phone and said they had 3 people working on it just no final word yet. Dr. Dixon called and she also said that not to worry, they'd get things straightened out. Then a Mr. George Lies emailed me and left a voicemail. He was someone pretty high up I think b/c he said that he got an appointment for me and Phyllis (another chick on the trip) at nine thirty Friday mornign. They'd process my visa right there on the spot. ^_^
So now I just need to figure out what to do about flights because our flight's supposed to leave PGH at 1525 on Friday and the meeting for my visa is at 0930 in NY that same morning. *sigh* So far, this break blows. But I bet it'll get better once all this stress/bureaucracy BS out of the way. *sigh*
Okies, that's the story so far. Thanks for reading. Sorry it was so long but I had to make up for all the entries I didn't give y'all to read. :-p And these last few weeks have REALLY been remarkable.
I'll try to keep everyone posted as best I can about what happens.
Cuio mae,
-Misha
=^^= ~~