NYC, one step closer

Today I got my visa!! It was a looong process but it's done! Well, almost: my passport with the visa on it will reach me next week. But what matters is that now my much desired trip is practically a fact.

My appointment was at 10 a.m. I had been warned that the whole thing would last three hours at most, so before I left home I picked a novel from my bookshelves, thinking I would spend the whole time reading. I made it on time, and had to queue on the pavement, under the hot summer sun and the gaze of Abraham Lincoln (some posters displaying Lincoln's achievements had been placed on the bars). Reading at this stage was a guaranteed headache, since the sun hit me right on the head, so I decided not to. At that point, all I wanted was not to enter the building, but to reach the shade of the tree close to the door. That finally happened and eventually I was admitted in. By then, one full hour had gone by.

On entering the building, I underwent an airport style routine, and then headed to another building, where they took my fingerprints and interviewed me. In the interval between fingerprints and the interview, I managed to read a bit, but not as much as I had imagined I would. The actual interview was just going to a counter, handing my passport and form, showing my letter of admission to my course and answering a few rouitne questions. Must have took 5 minutes at most. At that stage, I started feeling that my brain had got somewhat sticky... When I heard that they were accepting my visa request, I could hardly believe that was all. Funnily, time seemed to fly inside the building, but actually another 50 minutes had gone by.

All that was left for me to do then was hand a slip in the DHL stand. That implied queueing for another 15 minutes, this time under a semi transluscent roof that only partially screened the sun. That done, I finally headed home with slightly reddened shoulders and sticky brains... and my visa approval, of course!