Look We're Next to Mrs. Astor-
So. I'm having a *great* time right now. FML. Here is the tale of my woes: last month I sent in my UK Tier 4 General Student Visa. I sent this in as early as I could, meaning the day I got confirmation of my loan. I could not apply for the loan sooner than I did because the guidelines were changing and Oxford told me not to. Unfortunately, because the UK does not want to issue visas, they do not list all of the necessary documents you must send in with the application. Turns out your passport has to go with it. Mine didn't. It took them a week to spot this, whereupon they sent the whole thing back- to Virginia. I did tell them to send it there, but ONLY AFTER THE 15th, which was very explicitly and clearly explained. This was on the 8th. It then took several days to get the package back home, the passport in, and the package back down to LA. It arrived a week ago Monday. My mom, in her infinite ability to rationalize and deny and generally ignore anything she doesn't like insisted it would come in time and that we shouldn't worry about it. I TOLD HER to send it to one of the expediting services that could do it in 24 hrs rather than to return it to the consulate, but she ignored me and mailed it back to them anyway. Well, surprise surprise, she is now on a plane to Paris...without me.
We flew to Virginia on time and spent the last few days staying with my grandfather and uncles. That time was very precious to me because my grandfather is dying. We don't expect him to make it to January- I'm never going to see him again. Because there is quite literally NO WAY to contact any member of the British consulate or to expedite my application now that they have it (State Dept can't even help), I decided to do the only thing I could at this point: pay the extra $100 to have an expedited appointment where you are supposed to turn in all of your paperwork (it's an even longer story, but the reason I did not do this originally is because the service is not advertised anywhere on either of the UK Border/Visas websites and is actually through an entirely independent service you have to know about to find, which I didn't until yesterday morning). So I booked the damn thing for the first available slot, which is tomorrow at 9am. Then I booked myself a flight from Richmond VA through Dulles DC down to LAX.
Because United is the worst airline in existence (I have previously sworn never, ever to use them again and broke that oath this one time because they were the only airline that said they could get me to LA last night) my first flight took off half an hour late. Despite only having a 45 minute layover, I made it to the transfer gate while the plane was still there and the doors still open...only to be told that the flight was overbooked and that regardless of my circumstances there was no power on earth that could get me to LA last night. So instead of getting one last night with my grandfather and a leisurely trip to the airport in the morning after a good night's sleep, and being able to check in with the consulate first thing this morning and perhaps get an earlier appointment, I spent last night in a horrid hotel in DC that had a cricket infestation that kept me from sleeping at all, and I do mean at all. I finally made it to LA shortly before noon today and collected my bags, which had made the plane connection that I was denied, and managed to get all 140lbs of luggage to the hotel, then went straight on to the consulate where I confirmed that there was absolutely no way whatsoever to speak to anyone or get any help of any kind at all, then was very rudely told to leave.
I do have a valid appointment for tomorrow, so they will have to let me in to the consulate tomorrow. We'll see if that results in my Visa. In the meanwhile, I am stuck in yet another hotel in LA, festering and fuming while mom is off on her way to Paris, with half of my luggage, where I hope to join her as soon as possible- if nothing else, then I need to be in Oxford a week from today. Not that I can afford to stay in LA that long.
In short, this week has been about the worst of my life between one thing and another. I don't know what I'm going to do, except hope with everything I've got that I can get my visa and passport tomorrow.
We flew to Virginia on time and spent the last few days staying with my grandfather and uncles. That time was very precious to me because my grandfather is dying. We don't expect him to make it to January- I'm never going to see him again. Because there is quite literally NO WAY to contact any member of the British consulate or to expedite my application now that they have it (State Dept can't even help), I decided to do the only thing I could at this point: pay the extra $100 to have an expedited appointment where you are supposed to turn in all of your paperwork (it's an even longer story, but the reason I did not do this originally is because the service is not advertised anywhere on either of the UK Border/Visas websites and is actually through an entirely independent service you have to know about to find, which I didn't until yesterday morning). So I booked the damn thing for the first available slot, which is tomorrow at 9am. Then I booked myself a flight from Richmond VA through Dulles DC down to LAX.
Because United is the worst airline in existence (I have previously sworn never, ever to use them again and broke that oath this one time because they were the only airline that said they could get me to LA last night) my first flight took off half an hour late. Despite only having a 45 minute layover, I made it to the transfer gate while the plane was still there and the doors still open...only to be told that the flight was overbooked and that regardless of my circumstances there was no power on earth that could get me to LA last night. So instead of getting one last night with my grandfather and a leisurely trip to the airport in the morning after a good night's sleep, and being able to check in with the consulate first thing this morning and perhaps get an earlier appointment, I spent last night in a horrid hotel in DC that had a cricket infestation that kept me from sleeping at all, and I do mean at all. I finally made it to LA shortly before noon today and collected my bags, which had made the plane connection that I was denied, and managed to get all 140lbs of luggage to the hotel, then went straight on to the consulate where I confirmed that there was absolutely no way whatsoever to speak to anyone or get any help of any kind at all, then was very rudely told to leave.
I do have a valid appointment for tomorrow, so they will have to let me in to the consulate tomorrow. We'll see if that results in my Visa. In the meanwhile, I am stuck in yet another hotel in LA, festering and fuming while mom is off on her way to Paris, with half of my luggage, where I hope to join her as soon as possible- if nothing else, then I need to be in Oxford a week from today. Not that I can afford to stay in LA that long.
In short, this week has been about the worst of my life between one thing and another. I don't know what I'm going to do, except hope with everything I've got that I can get my visa and passport tomorrow.