When you read my previous blog post you already know
what this is all about. For those who are new to the party, I am going to
attend a summer program at an American university this summer. And I am very
excited. Without further ado, I am going right into the theme of this post –
the preparations.
It all started when I got accepted into the summer
school in mid-February. I had to plan my whole trip. I had not only to plan the
summer school itself, but also if I want to go somewhere else. But first I had
to wait until I got the official letter of acceptance and the exact dates of
the summer school. I received all of this by the beginning of March. I am going
as an exchange student from my German university. Therefore, I also got a
scholarship for it. This made me very happy because it is a lot of money. The
scholarship pays for room and board and the tuition. I have to pay for the
flights, the insurances, the school supplies and the student visa myself. I
started with writing my relatives in the USA if and when I can maybe visit
them. After determine that schedule I booked my international flights at the
end of March. Simultaneously, I had to coordinate everything with the advisors
of the summer school. I had to accept the spot, pick out classes, and organize
everything I needed for my visa. Around mid-April I finally was able to book my
domestic flights. Hence, by mid-April at least all my flights were booked. This
was a huge step. Now, I had to get everything in order for the visa. I had to
fill out a couple of forms and sent them to the advisors. It took them a while
to get the papers back to me. When I received them I finally was able to apply
for the J1-Visa. Guys, let me tell you something, the United States of America
make it really complicated to apply for a visa. There are no clear instructions
where you have to do what. Fortunately for me, I have some friends (thank you
again for all the help and not being annoyed of my 10000000 questions) who let
me into a direction and I knew kind of what I need to do and where. I had to
fill out a huge questionnaire with millions of question about myself, my
parents, my school, and many more. The United States knows everything about me
now. Then I had to a fee just to prove that I am a student. Yes, you read
right. I had to pay a fee to prove I am a student. And it was not a small
amount. Then I had to pay the actual visa fee, which was also not a small
amount. It took me a whole day to figure that all out -.- 2 days later I got
the acceptance to schedule an appointment at an American Consulate. My younger
brother had to go with me, because I was not allowed to take anything with me
inside the consulate besides all the necessary forms and my passport. The
appointment was the easy part of this whole visa journey. It only took 15 min.
Two days later, I received my passport with a huge visa sticker inside of it. The
next steps are now packing and getting all of my school supplies ready. But I
will tell you more about that in a new post.
However, as it got visible it takes a lot of work and
time to prepare for this huge adventure. Beside all of these preparations, I
also had to continue working part-time and writing my Master’s thesis
full-time. I also had to start prepare for classes for the summer school. All
of this was tons of work and it still is. But I have a strong feeling that all
will be worth it at the end.
I hope you enjoyed reading and I will see you later.
Have a wonderful day J
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