Visa-Obtaining Excitement

On Tuesday, November 30 the delightful Kaylee Storey and I headed out to the great state of Illinois in the hopes of obtaining my visa from the Ecuadorian Consulate. Spoiler Alert: We got it. :)

We headed out of East Lansing early in the morning, after obtaining our coffee from Bigby and chatting up one of the customers, forgetting only the chapstick. With our road trip CD blaring and the dreary Michigan paisaje (landscape) passing us by, we made it to Chicago. We never even freaked out. Except when I was driving over the bridge. Because I hate bridges. Especially driving over them. We found the consulate no problem and while it was frankly a bitch to figure out parking, we did it. I dropped off my paperwork while Kaylee drove around the block, then we parked the car, found our way back to Michigan St, passed by the Bean (which I had never been to before and was just as touristy and nifty as I thought it would be), got some sammies at Cosi, went back to the Consulate to get my passport and visa papers, went back to the car, and then drove home. WE NEVER GOT LOST ONCE! Yay for us! Also, Ecuador thinks I'm good enough to be in their country for over 90 days so that's definitely a positive. :)













All in all, collecting the right documents and forms and photos and such for obtaining my visa was quite cumbersome, but the OSA staff and USFQ staff were quite terrific and I didn't really have any troubles with it.

Here in East Lansing it snowed for the first real time on December 1st! It was exciting, but it really made me realize how near I am to the end of my time in the dorms. Living in Gilchrist has been a ridiculously important aspect of my life and my growth into the person I am today, and in 2 and a half short weeks I will be moving out forever. This is sad. I will really miss living in the same building as all of my friends, not ever having to worry about cooking food or receiving packages or the heating bill. Ground/First Floor Gilchrist is a very unique place and it will always take up space in my heart.

It feels like I'm running out of time here. While I feel very comfortable with the idea of leaving in about a month, I am not so comfortable with being done here at MSU in about 2 weeks. I'm sure the idea will grow on me and I'll become more accustomed to it, but right now I feel rushed and stressed out about it. I need to work on projects and study for finals and do homework for classes and all I really want to do is soak up my last few days living in 114 Gilchrist Hall. I love all of the people here and so many things about MSU and I will miss them greatly, but I'm also really excited to find out what I'm going to love about USFQ and the people in Ecuador.

:)

-Em