My mind is occupied by Russia, Poland and visa right now. It has been the entire holiday already… ANd now we’ve got some more news. Well, “news”. To be honest, it’s not even really news. It’s guessing.
You know, the 7th of August I send an e-mail to the university in Russia I want to go to in two weeks. They answered saying they didn’t have information about us.
The 11th of August, the day our coordinator returned, I called him and explained the situation. He said he thought everything was okay and said he’d take care of it.
A few days later, I called him to ask how things were going. There was still no news.
Yesterday, the friend who would go to the same university went to see our coordinator. He said that he still hadn’t got an answer from Russia. Apparently, making the invitation we need in order to get the visa, takes a month. So we won’t be going to Russia until half September. And that’s the optimistic take. It’s more likely that we miss at least an entire month.
Needless to say I wasn’t happy to hear this. It isn’t even real news. It’s half news. It’s guessing. Now the questions rise as well. Is missing a month very bad? Can I still go to Poland for a year? Does the university in Russia really know we are coming now?
Today I sent a mail to Russia asking if they were really making our invitations, and one to our coordinator, asking if going to Poland for a year is still an option. And now I’m waiting again. At least I am sending mails around. I do what I can to get answers and to arrange this all. No one can ever say I didn’t try. I have sent mails to Russia in Russian, I have called our coordinator as soon as he returned, three times that day, until he answered the phone. I called him again though he had said he would e-mail us if he got more news. I have sent two more e-mails today.
And now we’ll wait again. At least I have done something again. It takes away a little part of the powerless feeling I got.
I WANT TO GO TO RUSSIA. How hard can it be?
Just to clarify: I also really want to go to Poland, but since I just have to send some documents for that, the desire is calm and peaceful. But since going to Russia is so hard, I want it more and more.
No Blog Intended 
Michael Cargill
/ August 19, 2014Oh dear. If this falls through I’ll fully support any anti-Russia crusades you decide to embark on.
No Blog Intended
/ August 19, 2014Hahaha, okay, thank you 😀
But actually I think the problem is not the Russians. I think our coordinator has too much work and therefore couldn’t spend more time on our ‘case’. If he had followed up the process, everything might have gone faster…
editalozovska
/ August 19, 2014Oh this is so annoying. Can you go for the coming half year to Poland and then for the other semester to Russia? that would buy you some visa making time because yes, making invites does take time (a week or so on a personal level, so for education probably is longer) plus the time it takes to make the actual visas!
No Blog Intended
/ August 19, 2014The order you suggest is not really an option. The difference in academic year makes you miss at least 1,5 month in Russia then – so that’s not an improvement I’m afraid.
I didn’t know it took so long. Very naive, but I thought they would just get me in the system and then make me a piece of paper to invite me…
El Guapo
/ August 19, 2014Ouch! I hope they get that sorted soon, if only to preserve your sanity.
No Blog Intended
/ August 19, 2014My sanity is in danger indeed! But really, it even starts to affect my self-esteem sometimes.
I keep on hoping though. There is always a little bit of foolish hope in me…
NotAPunkRocker
/ August 19, 2014Good grief, are you sure this isn’t some sort of psychological testing to see how much a person can endure? I am sorry it has been so back an forth. ((hugs)) and wishes for a good resolution to all of this.
No Blog Intended
/ August 19, 2014That would be the ultimate test to see if you can handle Russia! 😀
Seriously, if I get through this, I can get through a lot. Uuurgh. ((Hugs)) back, because you have your work stress and that is probably equally stressful.