May 25th, 2012

I originally thought that I was going to make the journey to San Francisco alone, but I actually ended up getting a travel buddy. When I got on the Hwy 17 bus, it turned out that another girl I knew from my housing complex on campus was going to the Swiss consulate that day, so we decided to go most of the way together. After that, the coincidences really started piling up. When I reached the French consulate, we parted ways so that she could find a place to print a document she needed (and because we thought she’d be taking an earlier train back).

About two and a half hours later, when I was standing at the info window at the BART station, there she was behind me. Then, I took too long to buy my ticket and she went ahead. I missed my train to Fremont, so I took the one to Millbrae that came a minute later instead – even though I knew I’d have to wait for an hour if it was a few minutes late. Needless to say, it got stalled in a tunnel and was a few minutes late. I waited the hour when, to my surprise, there she was. She had taken the wrong train and hopped on a bus to get to Millbrae. The rest of our route was the same, so we rode the CalTrain and HWY 17 bus back to the Santa Cruz Metro station.

The trip to the French consulate to apply for my visa was a long one with many legs. On the way there, I went from the Santa Cruz metro to the Highway 17 Express to the CalTrain to the local #30 bus in San Francisco. On the way back, I took the SF metro BART to the CalTrain to the Highway 17 Express to the SC Metro. The travel plus the visa application came out to about $99. I don’t know if this is typical or not, but I didn’t actually need the three IDs I brought (or the Long Stay Visa/OFII forms, as  they said that greater than 4 months is now long stay instead of greater than 91 days). I don’t know how necessary my appointment was either. Once I got there, an hour early, it was first come first served.

The trip to the French consulate to apply for my visa was a long one with many legs. On the way there, I went from the Santa Cruz metro to the Highway 17 Express to the CalTrain to the local #30 bus in San Francisco. On the way back, I took the SF metro BART to the CalTrain to the Highway 17 Express to the SC Metro. The travel plus the visa application came out to about $99. I don’t know if this is typical or not, but I didn’t actually need the three IDs I brought (or the Long Stay Visa/OFII forms, as  they said that greater than 4 months is now long stay instead of greater than 91 days). I don’t know how necessary my appointment was either. Once I got there, an hour early, it was first come first served.

The trip to the French consulate to apply for my visa was a long one with many legs. On the way there, I went from the Santa Cruz metro to the Highway 17 Express to the CalTrain to the local #30 bus in San Francisco. On the way back, I took the SF metro BART to the CalTrain to the Highway 17 Express to the SC Metro. The travel plus the visa application came out to about $99. I don’t know if this is typical or not, but I didn’t actually need the three IDs I brought (or the Long Stay Visa/OFII forms, as  they said that greater than 4 months is now long stay instead of greater than 91 days). I don’t know how necessary my appointment was either. Once I got there, an hour early, it was first come first served.