What a day!

Yesterday was a busy one. I had to go down to the visa office to get my visa (which takes a few days to process) but before I got there I had to have proof of a hotel reservation and proof of a return ticket. The hotel reservation wasn't a problem. The school sent me a copy and I had that printed out. The ticket was an issue. In order to get an itinerary, I have to book the flight, in order to book the flight, I have to pay for it. I don't plan on taking a return flight so it's a bit of a problem. Every travel agency we spoke to gave us crazy info and prices, so we decided to go with the agent we always go with. We told her we wanted a return flight and asked her to fax over the itinerary. Then we had to high tail it downtown since my mom was in danger of being late for work. I get to the visa office and find that I have the wrong form (I printed it from the website but whatever). So I fill out another form and get back in line. Luckily the natural pick up day is Tuesday, so I didn't have to pay extra for a rush, since I plan on taking a flight leaving on Wednesday. It's cutting it close I know but it'll all work out. The other funny thing was, they didn't even ask for the hotel reservation or itinerary. She just took my passport and the application and gave me a pick up slip. Anyway, after leaving the visa office, I now have to speed over to the travel agent in Mississauga. On the way over, we call the travel agent and tell her that we've "changed our minds" and we'd like to take a one way ticket instead. Luckily she's been working with us for a while so it wasn't an issue for her to change it. I got to her office just before she closed at 4pm, paid for the one way ticket and should be expecting it shortly. The rest of my day was filled with other travels and commitments. All of which got me home after 9:30pm. The good thing is, the important things are done. My visa is getting done and my ticket is on the way. I'll provide the school with the details of my flight and they'll meet me at the airport. Everything should be smooth sailing.
I was thinking about how much of a rush it is for me to get this done. I was contacted by the school in a fair amount of time but between the negotiations, the back and forth and the time difference (12 hours), I've come down to this crunch. The funny thing is, I still haven't been contacted by the other two schools. At this point I can only assume that they've gone another way, but if I had depended on them and didn't keep my options open, I would have been screwed. I would have been waiting on them still and definitely would have had to pay extra for a rush on the visa and probably wouldn't have gotten such a great deal on my flight. What a bunch of weirdos. Like I said, it's a good thing I kept my options open and was still looking around. I got contacted by this last school, they were serious about hiring me, they're in the perfect location and have been accommodating in every way. I'm really looking forward to this.


TTFN