K-zoo here I come!

On Monday I went to the US embassy. I had a student visa appointment and it was … interesting I suppose.

Before

Firstly, when I woke up, the gum surrounding my wisdom tooth decided to swell to the size of a pregnant elephant. Of course, my first thought was ‘Why today?’ but mourning over that was going to get me nowhere. It was painful to talk, smile or even move my face, my mouth couldn’t close to eat my breakfast, so my cousin Ann-marie and I made our way to the embassy.

We walked for roughly 20 minutes in the Kingston sun. When we arrived, I was half and hour too early, so said the pretty indian lady and was told to wait across the road. We decided to go to sugar and spice and sit and wait instead. We ended up going to the pharmacy for panadol for my tooth, and to the chinese store for water to wash it down with. By the time we were done, I left all my things except the essentials with Ann. It was time.

Interview Prep

I gingerly crossed the road and made it over the the embassy. Long line of people, I thought. Eventually the line was cut in half and the pretty Indian lady checked our materials. We made our way inside, 5 persons at a time. We hate to go through the metal detector. I guess those people didn’t want Dudus cousins to stick up the poor American consulars and demand a visa by saying ‘Yow, approve mi visa now before mi kill you!’ while looking around suspiciously with daggered eyes. Afterwards we were instructed to sit in rows down the aisle.

Everyone was DEAD quiet! Its almost as if they were all waiting for execution day. I fixed back my belt before I sat down. A lady smiled at me, and I with her. A man walked out shouting that he wasn’t giving anyone any of his food. A girl and her child walked out of the dreaded doors and sat down on the opposite side of the rest of us, and of course, we are all wondering whats her story. All of us sat dumbfounded wondering when they were going to call us in as I dried my sweaty palms.

This man wearing a smile told us to form a line and make our way in. He seemed to put us at ease in his manner, the way he talked. We went in and this serious multitasker gave us a yellow slip, told us to write our passport numbers on it and go to the immediate left. I spotted ‘Mount Holyoke’ on a girl’s materials. MH was one of the schools that waitlisted me. I immediately turned to her and asked her if she was apart of AQUEST, sadly she was not.

After sitting down, we had to wait another good 20 mins before our numbers were called. When it was my turn (and I was B270), I went to counter 12 to a pretty curly hair blond with big blue eyes. She registered my fingerprints and I told her my problem with scheduling (wrong passport used) and she said I was totally fine. She was a nice lady.

Afterwards, I had to sit again and wait on my number to be called again. I sat beside a lady who was also applying for an F-1 visa. She was worried about not being told whether her visa was going to be approved. She relayed a story where in the british embassy, they dont tell people that they are denied and a rasta man sat there waiting on word on his visa for the whole day and got up and said ‘Why the hell you neva mek mi leave if you did a go deny me! Give me back mi frigging papers!….’ and so on. We laughed. We sat there for some time listening to the type of questions they are going to ask us. Eventually they got around to calling my number.

The Interview

My consular was white male with brown hair and red lips.
“Hello, how are you? Passport and confirmation sheet please.”
“Hi. Here you go.”
“Have you ever had a visa before?”
“Yes.”
“Is it in here?” (gesturing to passport I handed him)
“No, I don’t have it. But it is expired.”
“Ah, ok. What is the name of your school?”
“Kalamazoo College”
“Where is that located?”
“In Michigan”
“What are you going to study there?”
“Computer Science.”
“Why did you choose this school?”
“It is more flexible than the local school in terms of coursework and there are more opportunities there”
“Where are you going to live, with family or on campus?
“On campus.”
“Can I have your acceptance letter, bank statements from your sponsor and transcripts if you have them?”
“Sure.” (Gives him)
“You go ahead and open that.” (gives back Hampton transcript)
“Ok.” (opens it and gives him)
“When does school start?”
“School officially starts on September 20 but orientation is on the 9th”
“What are you going to study there?”
“Computer Science.”
“Living on campus?”
“Yes.”
“Ok head on over to counter 26 to discuss your DHL delivery plans. Have a nice day!”
“You too, thanks.”

Of course, I spoke as properly as I could manage what with a swollen gum, swollen jaw and my mouth being unable to close to properly pronounce my ‘s’, ‘t’, ‘c’ and ‘d’ s.

After

So then I paid my JMD$836.00 at the DHl counter, gave my name and address, confirmed that I will be collecting in Kingston since they dont sent to P.O. box addresses and left. I went outside, sorted my papers and zipped up, went through the exit door, a man told me to push the door I was heading towards, so I did and then freedom! I went to collect Ann at Sugar and Spice and we walked back to the house in Mona.

It wasnt scary and I thought it would be longer but, it was really short and quick, the interview itself that it. That was roughly 2 minutes worth of talking and looking at files and I suppose at the end, he was convinced that I would leave the US after my course ends. Thank God everything worked out!