Yes, a catch-up post. I originally had about half of it saved as a draft in lj, but then forgot about it or something and did something else and ended up losing it. Boo. So I have to retype it again, which will probably make it a lot shorter! Maybe I'll use bullet points:

- 9am breakfast with sonic_assassin, nessun, sariannastar, hasfartogo
- Sunny's breakfast looked better than mine, but mine was still good (Frittata with sundried tomato and goat cheese - needs more cheese and tomatoes!)
- after breakfast walk along the lake, and a stop at the Farmer's Market (lots of neat wood furniture)
- hurry to bus stop, find that bus leaves at 11:15, go pee real fast, try to get on bus - and find out that it doesn't go to the airport, and that bus leaves at noon (I guess the 1130am was for on campus)
- eventually got on bus, did some homework, napped, arrived at the airport safe and sound
- checked in easily, and they didn't charge for my 2nd bag (part of the reworking of their prices? I dunno)
- filled out forms, stood in line at customs, and chatted with a nice lady from Pennsylvania
- got up to customs agent, said "My school said I had to give you this (hands over I-20), this (hands over copy of SEVIS payment receipt) and the I-94 (hands over I-94)." Only I had the wrong I-94 form! (there's a green one and a white one - it's the white one that's needed)
- he suggested going over to the side to fill it out and not wait in line again, so I did that. Had to guess with a paper in either Spanish or French, and opted for French. Don't know where the English ones went.
- cut in front of the line and went back to the agent when he was free. Got that sorted out. He was quite nice, didn't ask any questions. Would have been even quicker if I had the right form. Very painless. He even explained to me how the I-20 worked (which I now have signed so I can leave and re-enter the country). I was all worked up for nothing!
- it was a huge relief! Visa = GET and I am now legally here and they can't kick me out for going to school! (and I've already checked in at the International Office)
- bought wine at the duty free (wedding present for housemate), and a book (as I had finished Fool Moon already), and lunch
- went to wait at the terminal written on my ticket, but the flight was at a different time, so I looked at the monitors, and sure enough, the agent had written the wrong terminal (164 vs 191!). The flights were both to Chicago, about half an hour apart. Went to the correct terminal.
- flight was mostly empty, and didn't have anyone sitting next to me this flight, either. Watched some TV (wanted to see the home decorating stuff, but that didn't work out), and had to sit through at least 5 minutes of commercials! ugh.
- shuttle back to apartment was quick; I was the only passenger, which was weird
- home safe and sound!


Have some pictures of the airports:






Toronto's Terminal 3 and monorail (didn't know it had one of those!) & some Tripping the Light Fantastic in O'Hare (it was hard to get a good picture of, sadly)

Thanks to a good chat over the phone (yay Skype subscriptions!) with cobalt_00, I am now less stressed about the whole visa thing. I've sent away an email to the international student office, and have more information from someone who's done it, which seems to imply that an interview isn't necessary, as the I-20 IS my visa. Or so it seems. I don't want to try it without more info, so I await that email. We also talked about getting an SSN for here in the States. I meant to ask about that in my email to the international office (emailed b/c they're not open any longer for the day), but that can be dealt with later, as I need the visa processed first.

Also, mattress was delivered today! *kicks air mattress out of room* It's a Serta, and it's a firm one, so I'll have support and sleep well, or so I hope. Also ordered Ikea furniture yesterday, but could not order from Target as the credit card billing address is not in the US. Means I'll either have to have my statements sent here, or I'll have to eventually get more monies in my bank account (not WaMu, but Chase, so no worries!) so I can use my new debit/credit card, which should work for purchasing in the US. It's not a real credit card, though, in case people were wondering. I can use it like one online and things, but it automatically takes the money from the act. *shrug* As long as it works!

I have a backlog of stuff to get done today; I went to workstudy for 4 hours to get that done this week, and now have to catch up on assignments and reading a ton of papers. So, I'm about to do that (I wish I had my printer already, but I'm not going until 9am tomorrow).

Will most likely be back later, when my brain is done with trying to figure out genetic stuff. I have some updating to do! I'm behind by a week or so. Sheesh!

Also, AMERICAN FRIENDS:

FREE THEATRE NIGHTS!
http://www.freenightoftheater.net/index.cfm

Select cities across the US.