joevichich.blogspot.com

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Not without a hitch

I was delighted to get my passport in the mail with a big ole visa sticker inside. And in about one week's time too. I'm still overwhelmed with what I have left to do. I sent my form for side trips in, due tomorrow, on Saturday so it should have been there by now. I still need to apply for an international driving permit. Actually, I don't NEED to but I want to, hopefully it won't be a waste of time and money and I'll be able to drive/ride in Italy sometime.

However

It was brought to my attention that my student visa is valid from Jan 28-May 25. That is the time that I will be aboard for LdM school. However, I was planning on hanging around until CCS comes over to Europe for a 3-credit class. Those dates are unknown to me at the moment but I do know that the class starts up after my visa expires. I found that that if I want to stay after my visa and permit of stay expires, I'll have to return to the US and apply for another. BUT I don't need a visa if I'm there for LESS than 90 days usually, like on an unrelated month long tourist-type visit. This second class is not 90 days long. And, I think, it's not a real "class" in a school as far as Italy would know. It SEEMS like it's a traveling expedition that I happen to get CCS credit for. So I'm hoping that I can still travel (like a tourist) around Europe after my student visa has expired.

Not done yet folks.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

New year, old habits

Yeah, I'm slacking a bit on posting about my shtuff. Mostly I've been shoveling snow and driving in the snow while at home on break. I'm still preparing for my semester in Italy as well, visa has been applied for, more paper work has been sent in to LdM, and $422 have been converted to €300 (at a rate of of 1.4763000, uhhh). I realized that I'm face with some decisions many don't have the opportunity to have. LdM has some field trips arranged for $300 each and I can only afford two or three and I have to choose, Venice during carnival, Italian/Swiss Alps, Rome, Tuscany, SW cost of Italy, French Riviera. I mean, come on. Look at that list! By the way, I've chosen Venice, Alps and Pompeii.
My photo
Detroit, MI, United States
I don't blog that much.