I realize I've been really general in my previous posts, so it's about time I start talking about me and where I currently am in the study abroad process.
TL;DR: A master procrastinator, I finally registered my study abroad credits and finished my scholarship paperwork yesterday. I finished packing to move out of my apartment too late, so I missed my bus home. I'm writing this in Dunkin Donuts while I wait for the next one. While waiting, I, with difficulty, called AA and JAL to change my flight seat, but was unable to. Last night, I also got the paperwork I need to bring my prescription medication to Japan, with the warning that it might not be accepted. Since I still have wait time, I'm writing this.
EXTENDED VERSION: It's really amazing how many things you can get done last minute if you
really put your mind to it (packing is not one of them, though).
Yesterday I finally registered for my study abroad classes with Pitt and
finished the paperwork for my scholarships. Now the question is when
will I get billed, and how to use the money for my expenses in Japan.
Before I leave the country, I'm going home. Unfortunately, I took too long to pack, so I missed my bus. I had to make a new reservation for later today. I'm writing this while I'm whiling away 5 hours at a Dunkin Donuts, taking advantage of the free wireless. I am reluctant to move since my luggage is big, heavy, and unwieldy. It exceeds the luggage limit for the bus I'm taking, so I hope I get away with just a scolding when it's time to board and they tell me my suitcase is too heavy and I have too many items.
Since I have a ton of free time right now, I decided to try calling my flight carrier to change my seat reservation. When I first made my flight reservation, I was being a stubborn hard-head and requested a window seat instead of an aisle seat, despite recommendations from experienced fliers like my dad. Now that I've thought about it, I realized that I was being stupid, so I tried to get my seat changed. Ugh, international flights are a hassle, and here's an example why:
My call to American Airlines did not go smoothly. First of all, I was answered by a menu listing options to direct me to the right line. But this wasn't your typical "Listen to the options and press a number" menu. Instead, it used some sort of voice recognition software that, of course, had trouble understanding what I said. Right when I got the hang of it, it booted me on to a representative, stating that, "It seems that I'm having difficulty understanding you. Please hold while I direct you to an agent."
According to the AA representative, she couldn't change my seat because AA wasn't the operating carrier of my flight. Meanwhile, Dunkin Donuts had music playing in the background, which made it difficult to understand what the representative was saying, especially when she gave me the number for the other airline, JAL, that's actually operating my flight. Since I couldn't hear her well, I asked her to repeat it. She got irritated with me and stopped waiting for me to repeat it back to her...
....which sucked, because I ended up with the wrong number. When I called, I was answered by the American Mortgage Services or something. I had to go look up the number online, where I discovered I had messed up a digit.
So I made call number two again, this time to the right number. JAL's phone menu was the normal automated kind where you press a number to get to the next option; no problem there. However, the representative I spoke to informed me that since AA was in charge of flight, AA were the ones who had to change my seat.
I called AA again. They told me that my seat could only be changed at the airport. *sigh* More stress to deal with at the airports, when I'm already nervous enough as it is. But, on the bright side, I also found out that my connecting flight from Tokyo to Kansai International Airport had magically changed my seat so that it was now an aisle seat. Yay! No effort required.
I had some good (?) news while I was packing late last night. I checked my email, and I had gotten a response from the Japanese government regarding my prescription allergy medicine. I had had to fill out a form called a Yakkan Shoumei to let me bring more than one month's worth of prescription medicine into Japan. However, I had found out about it last minute, so I had been emailing the government office to get the forms filled out correctly. Last night's email had a PDF of the completed Yakkan Shoumei, but warned me that since the procedure normally can't be completed by fax or email, I could try presenting the document at Customs, with no guarantee that it would be accepted. My plan is to print out both the document and the email and hope for the best.
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