My departure is quickly closing in so it's time to check off somethings on my to-do list. Most importantly, getting a visa. If you ever want to feel like you don’t belong in your own country, try getting a visa. I got to the Italian Embassy ten minutes before the gates open because I've been told if you get there any later the place is a zoo. Turns out, I was not the only early bird. The people around me in line compared the papers we brought, trying to figure who had the most appropriate documents. I had a packet from International Studies Abroad, several bank statements, my passport, and who knows what in the packet my mom compiled.
Step one: Make your case to the guard and they wave you in or not. Oh ps, I forgot my drivers license at home which didn't help calm my nerves. I walked up to the window and fumbled around for some paper to put under the glass with my passport and started explaining that I was studying abroad in Florence and leaving in January and blah, blah, blah. He put his hand up. Oh shit, I thought, he is turning me down. “Whata are yous here for?” “She wants to get her visa,” my mom interjected. “Okay, go.” He gave me a little badge and we headed down to the consulate office. Or as my mom liked to call it, “walking on the road to Oz.” She’s so cute!
Step Two: Take a number please. Down in the consulate office, we started filling out my application for an “over 90 days” visa. My mother and I were having a hard time deciding what to put where and had to rewrite the application. Being the smart women we are, we decided to keep my first page from App. 1 and start on page two of App. 2 to save time. This worked well until my silly mother crumpled up my perfectly filled out first page because “there was just so many papers I didn’t know what to do!” This is not exactly how I would have dealt with the clutter of papers, but okay. So that’s when filling out the third and final application came into existence. Our number was called shortly after that and we made our way to the “visa” window.
Step Three: Let me give you some brief history of my mother. She owned a successful landscaping company with my father where the majority of employees did not speak English. My mom does not speak Spanish, but she is really good at speaking English in a Spanish accent very loudly. I have seen this tactic used many times, the majority of which I have smiled and laughed, but when she pulled it out in front of the Italian Consulate I was down right embarrassed. This man speaks English and Italian fluently but for some reason my mom starts talking to him like he’s a deaf baboon. As soon as he isn’t listening, I remind her that speaking unnecessarily loud English with an Italian accent like that does not make it any more Italian; it only makes you, and me by association, look ridiculous. She was able to cool her jets and speak normally, thank goodness.
Everything was smooth sailing until he asked for my passport-sized photo to put on the visa. Well hell, we missed that memo. Luckily this guy was
Moral of the story, you never know when you will need a 2x2 photo of yourself so always shower and look your best. Also, note to self: don’t try communicating in Italian by loudly speaking English in an accent. And finally, when filling out an application, do it right the first time and keep all excess papers away from your mother.
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