09/02/2010

A winter vacation day... everything is calm and somehow even boring.

Checking my mailbox out of habit, there's an email from IEC. I read the content..

So much for calm and boredom! Oh no, I have an interview at the consulate in a week! And I'm not even mentally prepared... plus, I'm 3,000 km away from Yekaterinburg!!! And I still need to stop by Omsk to finish my exams. It's 2 days to Omsk, then 12 hours from Omsk to Yekaterinburg... a total brain explosion...

Frantic search for tickets, making arrangements with friends, and only by evening did I calm down a bit... but I still couldn't stop shaking...

From 09/02/2010 to 13/02/2010, I digested a ton of information from all sorts of forums and websites. About English proficiency, sample questions, what to do and how...

Why I was so worried, I still can't understand, since I had already gone through an interview at the embassy before... but I wasn't this nervous back then...

13/02/2010

I got on the train... and left... I haven't translated as much text into English in my whole life as I did during those two days...

14/02/2010

I'm in Astana... need to wait for the next train... and it's not exactly Valentine's Day when you're sitting at the station all day in a strange city...

15/02/2010

Finally, I'm in Omsk.. looking absolutely terrible (after 2 days on the train), I had to go to the university to finish my exams... good thing it went quickly.

I also needed to meet a friend who bought tickets for me to Yekaterinburg. He also showed some originality - he decided to give me the tickets at a beer tasting. Maybe it wasn't so bad; the beer relaxed me a bit and tempered my fears and worries.

So, 22:30 Omsk time.. entering the station, I hear here and there: Do you have an offer yet?/ Yes, yes, I'm going as a lifeguard too!/ My name is.../ Consul/Consulate, etc.

Yes, there are many of us like that )))... or rather, 28 people were leaving from Omsk that day, although some of us left during the day, and the second part was leaving at night...

After meeting the guys who were traveling alone (I was traveling with a friend), we all went to board.

The evening was tense. Another reading of the pamphlet about our rights, repeating questions, English speech.. or rather, a broken parody of English speech throughout the carriage.. and a neighbor - a demobbed soldier... who denied the possibility of our trip with his whole being... yes, patriots haven't died out in Rus yet =)))

We all agreed that it's much more convenient to speak English when you don't want those around you to understand... ))) With this thought, I fell asleep...

16/02/2010

Judgment Day

When I woke up, I was glad that the neighbor was no longer there. There was a blizzard outside. The mood - not great...

After having tea with the guys.. we talked about something again. And started getting ready. For me, this trip was also strange because I didn't take any things with me at all, except for documents. I had never traveled so light before. It turned out to be so great!

Leaving the station, we got a little confused about how to get to the subway. But after figuring it out, we quickly got to the consulate. But we still had a lot of time before the interview, so we went to warm up in the nearest coffee shop.

We went through another session of "group jitters" there and at 13:30 set off towards the consulate. (The interview was scheduled for 14:00)

At the consulate, we met the second part of the Omsk group and found out our entry order.

It was very cold to wait. I was so frozen that I didn't understand what I was shivering from, the cold or the excitement. All the guys left their bags on the street, and we (who hadn't gone in yet) watched them. I stood on the street from 13:30 to 14:50 in 10-degree frost. It's very long and cold. And finally, it was my turn.

Because my hands were so frozen, my fingerprints wouldn't scan. And the young man at window #2 said that I should warm my hands and then the consul himself would take my fingerprints.

When my turn came, there was a long pause. The consul was reading something for a long time (apparently some info about my last trip). I already decided that I wouldn't see a visa.

Then he called me to window #2 to take fingerprints. They wouldn't scan again.. in general, barely after the 6th or 7th time they finally scanned. The consul even joked: You're having a problematic day today! (this, of course, didn't add to my optimism).

Then the interview itself began.

He asked where I was going. Where I would work. How I found the job? Where I would live, where I lived last time. What year I'm graduating from university, and what major I'm studying.

In principle, everything was clear. He speaks very clearly.

The consul is a very pleasant person, and besides, he was in a wonderful mood.

After all these questions, he wished me "have a nice trip!"!

"Thank you so much!" - I said as I was leaving.

Excitement, of course, took its toll - when I left after the interview, I forgot that I had signed the DS-2019.. then I went back and they told me that I had signed everywhere and everything was in order.

In general, don't worry! It's in vain.

Dress warmly!

Bags - minimal. (we left them all on the street anyway)

We wandered around the city a bit more and then, tired, got on the train.. I was exhausted but very glad that this big stage was over...

Now all that remained was to wait for the passport back...