the visa incident

After finally obtaining all necessary documents from Madison and making an appointment at the American General Consulate in Frankfurt for wednesday morning, I found myself driving up to Frankfurt on tuesday afternoon. Thanks to Paul I had a place to stay overnight and he also "escorted" me to the Consulate the next morning (and that was good, otherwise I wouldn't have found it).
There I had to queue for an hour to get a ticket to finally enter the Consulate and after handing in all my forms and my passport I waited for about another 2h for the mystical "interview" that everybody (including me) is so nervous about ...
While waiting I was chatting to the girl next to me (Chatting! Not flirting! There is a difference) and we found out to have a common friend in Sydney. The world is not small ... it is even smaller :)
Then my number was called and I had to come to the window for the INTERVIEW. What would they ask me? Would they use a polygraph? Would I fail miserably and be branded as an unwanted alien?

"So, you want to do a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin, sir?"
"Exactly!"
"Please place your left index finger on the scanner. We will take your fingerprints."
"... your LEFT index finger, sir"
"Uhm, sorry."
"Now your right index finger."
"Thank you, sir. We will mail you your passport within a week."
"That was all???"
"Yes, sir. Thank you, goodbye!"
"Oh, ok ... bye"

Wow, now what is all the fuss about? Piece of cake!
On the way home I took a little detour to visit my friend Markus in Würzburg who is about to be a Dad and arrived at Konstanz, sound and safe, 'round 8 pm.

And be4 I forget about it ... already booked a flight: will leave from Frankfurt at 11.20 am on monday 22nd and reach Madison the next day around 8.30 pm. Yay! for Delta Airlines, keep your fingers crossed!