Vsechno Nejlepsi K Narozeninam, Dědeček!

(Translation: Happy Birthday, Grandpa!)

I just want to start off by wishing my grandfather a very happy birthday! Just remember that with age comes wisdom, and for those of you who know him, more like crankiness! Happy Birthday, Grandpa! We love you.

This week has been full of various odds and ends, as well as many sad goodbyes. Despite being glad that my work at Target is over, actually saying goodbye to the people was tough. I was touched by the fact that at our red and khaki Last Supper they gave me a going away gift for which they somehow managed to come across Czech currency. Very impressive. Thanks so much guys! I'm going to miss you!

I'm happy and relieved to report that my visa situation has been resolved! On Monday I had decided not to take the chance of waiting for my visa to be approved, so I faxed the consulate and requested that my passport be returned to me immediately. I figured I would just go about obtaining the visa while I was there, and at least I knew I'd be able to leave the country. On Tuesday the passport arrived in the mail, and on Wednesday the consulate called to inform me that my visa had just been approved, and that I needed to send my passport back to have it stamped with the visa. Of course. Fearing the my passport would not make the roundtrip in time for my departure, Dad and I jumped in the car this morning and drove down to NYC. (Thanks, Dad). After a quick stop at the consulate, I AM FINALLY ALL SET! I would just like to note that after dealing with the disorganization and ineptitude of the Czech consulate, I expected the actual building to be a chaotic, unsystematic, outdated mess, but in actuality it was a sleek, systematic office that looked like something out of an IKEA catalog. Talk about a lesson in contradictions. I guess it just adds to the charm and idiosyncrasies that appear to make up Czech culture.

Now that I have my visa, all that's really left to do is pack. If only it were as simple as it sounds!

Přípravy

(English: Preparations)

Now that I am just about done working for the summer, it has finally hit me that I really am leaving soon. For almost a year "study abroad" was just a vague term for an event in the distant future. What was once the distant future is now the near future, and all of those little things that I had been putting off for "right before I leave" need to be done. I'll be spending the next week doing some last minute shopping, solving my visa problem, and fitting four months worth of clothes into two suitcases not to exceed 50lbs each. Seeing as how I have easily gone over the 50lb limit for a week's vacation, this is going to be quite the challenge.

In terms of my visa, I am in need of a lot of luck. A student visa to the Czech Republic takes 60-90 days to process, so at the end of May/early June, I followed the million steps and sent my paperwork to the consulate in New York. This paperwork included my passport. I am yet to receive my visa back, AND I NEED THAT PASSPORT TO TRAVEL! I have spent the last ten days dealing with the Kafkaesque bureaucracy that is the consulate of a former member of the Soviet Union. For a week and a half I called and left them a message EVERY DAY, and I never heard back from them. Today I finally decided to fax their office, and they called me back within an hour. THEY WON'T RETURN PHONE CALLS BUT THEY JUMP AT THE CHANCE TO ANSWER A FAX! SERIOUSLY? Anyway, my visa is not yet approved and if I don't get it by Wednesday I have to fax them again and request my passport sans visa and continue trying to get the visa while in Prague already. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it comes in before Wednesday.

If my experience with the consulate is any indication of what the Czech Republic itself is like, this will be quite the interesting semester!

Vítám!

Welcome! After several requests at the family reunion yesterday, I decided to make a blog for my trip. I had been figuring that I would keep in touch with everyone via Facebook while I was gone, but I realized yesterday that for most of you that wouldn't work. I think it will be too hard to send everyone separate emails about how things are going (you know, cause I'll be so busy with my overwhelming two days of classes), so I figured this would be the easiest way for me to reach the most people (very Utilitarian).

I decided to start this two weeks before I leave so that the techonologically challenged among us could ask me any questions or tell me any problems they're having with it BEFORE I'm 3,935 miles away and it's $3.83/minute to talk to me!

Anyway, I hope you guys like it, and if you have any problems figuring any of it out, let me know!