Ok. So… I’m sitting in the Detroit airport right now with Emily and Jeanine. Emily is the girl who lives in Toledo who got me here (whom I love) and Jeanine is another Franciscan student who will be traveling to Austria with us. It is 8:55am. Our flight leaves at 10:10. This has been a crazy morning already.
First of all, I left home last night. Dad drove me to Toledo to meet Emily. We all prayed together, and then took off. There was bad weather on the way this morning, so Emily and her mom wanted to drive in that night and stay in a hotel. It was a good time. The hotel was “swanky” ;) and it was right near the airport, so we were able to get there fast. This morning we got up and were downstairs to meet the shuttle by 6:20am. We got to check-in (I am going to be SO buff if I keep carrying those bags. For real.) and Emily went through, no problem. Then it was my turn.
To sum up a very long story: because of technical difficulties and bad advice from the Study Abroad advisor at Franciscan, I wasn’t able to get a Visa. She told me that it would be easier on everyone if I just applied for a residency permit after I got there, because, due to the technical difficulties there was a chance a Visa wouldn’t come in on time. She said it’s been done before and shouldn’t be that big of an issue, it would just cost a bit. To me, it was worth it to make sure that I would be able to get in the country. Then, this morning at check-in we had some problems. Apparently, because I also have a return flight that shows I’ll be in Austria for over three months, the computers automatically show that I need a Visa. It took some special calls and some convincing (and fifteen of the most heart-stopping terrifying minutes of my life) but finally it went through. Now we’re just really, really hoping they let me through customs after we get to the country. Whew.
I’ve never done things the easy way before, and apparently I couldn’t just start today. Dang it.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to get internet, but I’ll keep adding to this until I do. Pray for us!
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I still haven’t had a chance to type up what happened after this, but I’m working on it! It’s been exhausting, but so, so good. I’ll let you know soon! (:
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