passports...
soooooo, apparently obtaining a passport is a much more daunting task than i originally thought. the problems started when i realized halfway to kinko's that i had forgotten to bring my birth certificate with me. i get to kinkos and the gentleman was very nice. he asked me lots of questions about where i was going and we talked about how the euro's doing compared to the dollar and the airports in germany and all sorts of other random stuff. with my fabulous photos in hand, i drove the rocket back to la station to get my birth certificate. unfortunately, it was no where to be found (i had misplaced it after my last excursion to canada). forty-five minutes later, i was finally on my way to the post office. i wait in line for 20 minutes and when the lady looks at my pictures she's like "these are waaaay too big. i can't take them." a slightly less chipper anne returns to kinko's and explains the problem to the nice gentlemen who helped her before. he retakes the photos and determines they also are too big, so it's on to picture set three.
now, i must admit, i was rather proud of my first picture. i have a bad history with id photos, and that was one that i wouldn't have minded being stuck with for the next 10 years. but alas, my third picture, although the correct size, looked quite similar to my um student id, sans bangs. just to give everyone an idea of how absolutely horrible that picture is, one time when i was using my id at the mug, the guy looked at the picture and said "wow, is that really you?" after confirming that it was in fact me in the picture, he said "don't worry, you look a lot better in person." so now it's almost two hours from when i first set out and all i have to show for it is a crappy looking picture. back to the post office, where i wait another 15 minutes. after asking me when my trip is, the postal worker lady informs me that if i want my passport to arrive in time, i need to pay for "expedited service." i later learned that was just a fancy way of saying i needed to pay an extra $100- yay!
after that, things went relatively smoothly. hurray for excursions- lindskar, you'd better make all of this effort worth it (haha...i am seriously waaaaay excitied!!!)
now, i must admit, i was rather proud of my first picture. i have a bad history with id photos, and that was one that i wouldn't have minded being stuck with for the next 10 years. but alas, my third picture, although the correct size, looked quite similar to my um student id, sans bangs. just to give everyone an idea of how absolutely horrible that picture is, one time when i was using my id at the mug, the guy looked at the picture and said "wow, is that really you?" after confirming that it was in fact me in the picture, he said "don't worry, you look a lot better in person." so now it's almost two hours from when i first set out and all i have to show for it is a crappy looking picture. back to the post office, where i wait another 15 minutes. after asking me when my trip is, the postal worker lady informs me that if i want my passport to arrive in time, i need to pay for "expedited service." i later learned that was just a fancy way of saying i needed to pay an extra $100- yay!
after that, things went relatively smoothly. hurray for excursions- lindskar, you'd better make all of this effort worth it (haha...i am seriously waaaaay excitied!!!)