Italian visa applications use too much paper

This will be a short post because I am positively exhausted.

I don't have a very good reason for being exhausted - I only left the house once today to swing by the post office for 10 minutes...

I spent all of today organizing and copying my forms for my visa appointment with the Italian Consulate tomorrow. I'm going to have to drive 2 hours to get to LA for my 15 minute appointment (where I will turn in the 2,000 copies of application forms and passport pages that I had to make today). Then I'll have to drive back. Ugh.

So I spent all day doing that and laundry. I haven't done laundry in a month so it's taken me all day to finally wash everything (it's almost 1 in the morning and my last load is washing now).

So visa papers and laundry took up most of my day. And video games. That too. My brothers and our friend played hours of video games on our Wii - I can already feel my brain rotting. But it was good fun.

Now I'm sitting here, exhausted, waiting for my last laundry load to finish, and exuding bitterness because I don't get to see the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie this evening because I have to get up to drive to LA tomorrow...stupid Italian visa.

C'est la vie

Today some family friends from France came to our house for dinner and catch up. We had some amazing discussions about Europe. I am now itching to get to Italy. They were describing all the amazing things to do and see throughout Italy and Europe.

Aside from seeing all the beauty that Europe has to offer, I am so excited to meet the people there. All the people I have met and spoken to from Europe are just so cultured and aware of the world around them. I cannot wait to be absorbed into that lifestyle!

More specifically, I adore some of the French mentality about life. Today, we were discussing how good things can come from bad, and our French guest made a comment along the lines "ah yes, well you know...sometimes thats just life." Now put a lackadaisical French accent on that and you have the key to my esoteric heart. It's true, everything can really be that simple - when something bad happens, thats just life. And when something great happens, well thats just life too. I love the complexity one can derive and apply from that simple statement.

I also got to exercise my French. I am glad that after 5 or so months without French practice, I'm still able to hold my own with a native French speaker.

Oh! An important note - my laptop is broken. Well, the wireless internet refuses to work (I'm using my family's computer). So tomorrow I plan to spend a good hour or two on the phone with tech support. Oh and my cell phone never wants to send or receive picture messages. On top of that, I must spend a few hours sorting out all my papers I need for my visa appointment with the Italian consulate - this includes spending a while on hold with my school's financial aid office as they attempt to sort out what money they will decide to give me for the school year.

I will also be planning a trip or two up to northern California to visit a special someone. :)
So that requires some travel arrangements.

So much to do! And all I want to do is laze around on the beach...c'est la vie, non?