Preperation to Leave

Welcome to my blog everyone! For those of you who are less familiar with how I ended up in Venezuela, I'll give you a little history. Back in March 2006 I applied for a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, to study international relations in Latin America for a year (Rotary asks you to submit 5 preferred study institutions and my top five were in Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, and Nicaragua). After I was awarded the scholarship, Rotary assigned me to my last choice, Nicaragua. Just as I was getting excited about spending a year in this beautiful Central American country with a rich political history, I discovered that the university I requested to attend decided not to offer their international relations program this year. So, I opted for a choice higher on my list. I was told that Colombia was out of the question due to the present civil war and asked to study in Venezuela instead, a country with a volatile and polarized political climate. The request was approved and it was now up to me to apply to the university, get accepted, apply for the visa, get the plane ticket, obtain int'l health insurance, and find housing. The good part of this story is that my Rotary scholarship covers all of my expenses (room, board, round trip ticket, tuition) except health insurance. Luckily Venezuela essentially has universal health care coverage. Not only is health care affordable in Venezuela, but education is too. I was shocked to find that the international health care plan that Rotary recommended costs more for the year than tuition at Universidad Simon Bolivar ($700), one of the best schools in the country.

Since the university only accepted applications for the Jan-April trimester at the end of October, I sent in all my materials the day before I got my wisdom teeth out and a week later found out that I had been admitted!!!

After Thanksgiving break, on the way back to Manchester I marched into the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C. and proudly presented all my required documents, expecting to quickly leave with either my visa or a promise that it would be processed within a week or two. Instead, my application was REJECTED!!! Ouch! It turns out that the official letter of acceptance from the university did not specify that I planned to study for a year, as required. So, instead of walking out with a visa, I left with the job of obtaining another letter from Univ. Simon Bolivar. After I got back to Manchester, Indiana, I placed a call to Caracas, explained my situation to the receptionist and was informed that it would be taken care of right away. Actually the word she used was "ahora," which I later read in the Venezuela Lonely Planet travel guide can mean anytime in the indefinite future. I soon found that out, for my letter did not arrive the next day, nor the next, nor the next. So I place another call to Caracas, speak with the receptionist and learn that they are working on the letter and they will send it out tomorrow. Of course, the word she used was "mañana," which according to Lonely Planet can also mean any time in the indefinite future. Each day the letter does not arrive I become more and more anxious. I send e-mails, I call and talk to the director of the program and each time there's a different reason as to why it hasn't been sent coupled with an assurance that it will be sent soon. Desperate and frustrated, I seek assistance from a Rotarian in Caracas who sends a few of her own e-mails with the text in ALL CAPS. Apparently that was effective because the next day (the day before both Manchester College and Univ. Simon Bolivar let out for the holidays) I get a new letter of acceptance, specifying that I will spend not 4 months, but one year studying in Caracas. I immediately dispatched the precious letter to the embassy, hoping there was sufficient time to process the visa before I leave on Jan. 1st.

In addition to the visa 'crisis' the university needs 'legalized' copies of my Manchester transcript and diploma. So, after finally finding out what 'legalized' meant and in between more calls to Caracas I got the documents notarized and then paid a visit to the Secretary of State of Indiana in Indianapolis to get an Apostille of the Hague (some obscure seal that attests to the authenticity of the documents) placed on the documents. Since the documents are not in Spanish I then had to find someone to do an official translation and find someone else to attest to the accuracy of that translation.

Despite all the anxiety this processed caused, I was relieved to receive my visa in the mail a few days after I returned home! This whole time I kept saying to myself that I knew it would work out; it usually does. This is reassuring knowledge since I still have no idea where I will be staying when I arrive in Caracas on New Years Day. The home stay that has been arranged for me through the int'l student office at Univ. Simon Bolivar begins on the day the university resumes business as usual, Jan. 7th.

Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading. I hope to keep this blog updated throughout the year. Stay tune for the next entry, probably live from Caracas.