Visa Application

My girlfriend Hannah and I went to the Japanese embassy in London today. There was only slight trepidation as the London bombings only happened four days ago, though, given past events, it seems very unlikely that they will strike again within such a short time. We managed to successfully navigate the London Underground, though there was only one possible route to Green Park station, compared to about six that there are normally.

The purpose of this trip was to get my visa. The Embassy is on Picadilly, which is a road name, not the area of London. We had to go through a metal detector, and my bag was x-rayed. We then collected a numbered ticket, like they used to have in the Post Office and such places (how I miss those red devices), though these were thermally printed. The first trip to the counter resulted in being given an "Application for Visa" form. I find that I start to panic when filling in official documents. I'm not sure why, though probably some of it is to do with the importance and that filling it it wrongly will result in delaying the process. On the otherhand, I think I also worry that they'll accuse me of being an international criminal and lock me up. Maybe I just have an overactive imagination.

The second trip completed the application process, though the Japanese man manning (what a strange construction: how about the Japanese woman womanning?) the counter was slightly less helpful. Eventually I'd managed to fill in the form to his satisfaction, handed him my prized Certificate of Eligibility and photocopy, one passport photo, my passport, and £6. I was quietly overjoyed at only having to pay the absolute minimum. How cheap am I? Here I am with a scholarship estimated at £30,000, and I'd feel ripped off if I had to pay £20.

Earlier, we'd picked up a "Special Delivery" envelope from the Post Office (no ticket machines, instead a relatively new invention: the queue). Hopefully, my passport will be returned to me in 3 days, all lovingly stamped and approved. One final oddity: he put my receipt inside the envelope, so I can only prove they have my passport if they send it back to me. Maybe I should have pushed him to actually give it to me... Oh well, I live in hope.