UPDATE: 8.20.2023

-

 Hello Blog People,

I've been thinking for a while that I need to do a little update on here. I need to get in the habit of writing to people and letting them know the process. I can't remember if I said why I was doing a blog over my trip, but the short answer is this. A lot of people have said "Send me pictures!", " Let me know how it goes!", and other things like that. And instead of sending my pictures to tons of people and probably forgetting many, I figured I would just put them in one place and let people come and see as they would like to. Then I don't have to say "oh yes! I definitely will send you pictures!". Instead I can say, "Oh I actually will have a blog going while I'm over there, so let me just send you the link and you can check it when you want to." Anyway, I hope that works out, and that I stay vigilant about writing. 

So here's where we are in the process so far. On July 31st, my dad and I drove up to the home office of the honorary Italian consulate to get him to notarize documents for my Visa. Let me explain why. 

I need a student visa to study in Italy because I will be gone longer than 3 months. The government needs to know that I will be there any why and for all the other reasons people need Visas. Anyway, when I got home in May I knew we would need to meet with the Italian Consulate in Chicago. However there were some qualifications, like you can't apply for it more than 90 days before you leave, etc. etc. etc. We also needed paperwork from Villa Aurora, the school in Italy that I would be attending, for my Visa and that was coming in the mail (we didn't have it in May). In hindsight, we should have just made the appointment for the proper time, but we did not. Fast forward to the middle of June when we look at Italy stuff again and oh look at that, there isn't an open appointment to meet with the Consulate until October. Well that wasn't going to work, so the other two options were to either go to Detroit and meet with the Consulate there, or meet the Honorary Italian Consulate in St. Paul, who would authorize/notarize our paperwork, make sure we had everything, and the tell us what to do next. So we went with the second option. 

That is how on an early July morning, my dad and I drove 4 hours to MN to meet with the honorary consulate. He looked at all out papers and had us sign things, he signed things, and we gave him money. Then he said "Ok, just send all of this paperwork plus a return envelope PLUS your passport to the consulate in Chicago and it should be back in just enough time. If you don't have it 10 days before you leave, let me know." And so we did that. We stressfully went to the post office, prayed over my passport and package, and send my passport to Chicago. Then we drove back 4 hours. Yes, in the same day/ Thankfully we have the tracking numbers, so we are able to see where it is/if it's on its way back. Good news, it made it to Chicago. Other news, we have yet to know if it's on it's way. We are expecting to get it 4-6 weeks after we sent it, so it should be fine. It's out of my hands, so this is fully a God thing. I'm trusting Him to get it back to me in time. 

Other than that, I am just working and thinking about packing. I'm making lists with my mom, discussing money, researching trips I want to go on, and enjoying the time I still have at home. Most of my friends are at school and are starting shortly. It is very weird to not be with them. But I'm excited for this next adventure. 

I will update you with any other major changes. 

Ciao, 

Ellie 

Popular posts from this blog

Venice: City of Masks and Water

-
Image
 Hello Blog People! It's been a bit longer than I had wanted, but I cannot wait to tell you about my trip to Venice.       For the first time since we have started traveling, Villa took us on the train up to Venice. We got a little bit of a later start, and rode for a few hours. Once we got to Venice, we left the station and started walking. As soon as you step out of the station, you are met with a classic Venetian view: water, a bridge, and old buildings. I got really excited when I saw it, I even skipped around a little bit. I also forgot to mention that we went to Venice while Carnival is happening. So we also saw people dressed up in masks, waling around the train station and in the streets.  As a theater kid, I LOVED seeing all the costumes. I am still in awe at the amount of time and effort that goes into each of the masks. They are covered head to toe, and all everything is sparkly and elaborate. The dresses and suits were inspired from different th...
Read more

Hey Dave!

-
Image
 Hello Blog People!      Welcome to another recap of Ellie's week. Again, not super exciting, but I have some things I can talk about. So let's go! :)  First off, we had 10 days of prayer meetings every day on Friday, the 26th, and went through the whole week. It was nice to get together with people, listen to speakers and pray together for about an hour. All of the speakers spoke in Italian, but we were given translation so we could understand what was being said. My little worship team (made up of me, Natalie, and Brianna) did music a few times. I love playing with them, and it added another fun element to the spiritual moments.       Last weekend was really nice. On Saturday I went out to a coffee shop with my roommates and took some pictures together in Florence. I love spending time with them. And the pictures turned out great! (One is the cover pic for this post). Then Sunday I got to sit outside in my hammock for the first time in a wh...
Read more

Assisi

-
Image
Sunsets are my favorite! Hello Blog People!      I have completed another week of school and got to travel to another town in Italy. It was a pretty typical week, but I learned a bit and it has been good. I can’t wait to tell you about it.       Last Friday, since we didn’t have classes, my friends and I decided to show some of the newer kids around Florence. Our first stop was getting coffee and a coffee shop by the Arno. And guess what! They had iced coffee there! That was exciting, cause it can be kind of hard to find iced coffee. And it had lavender in it! It was really good. Afterward, we walked around the city center a bit, then to Santa Croce, a famous church with a gorgeous facade in the city center. We then found this awesome glass shop that had tons of gorgeous earrings and necklaces for sale. I didn’t buy any that day, but I will definitely be going back and buying a pair. We watched the sunset from the sidewalk along the river and then hea...
Read more