This Time, Shit's Real

So I applied for my visa on the 19th of this month. Divya and Shanthi, from IQ Education Consultants (they're the ones who said they'd handle my visa, remember?) had been preparing all the paperwork for me, as well as fixing my appointment, and basically handling everything.


Shanthi made me sit my IELTS last month too. I didn't want to, because it wasn't necessary according to the uni, but she insisted. She said that it would make my visa application stronger, and so I sat the thing.

The Reading and Listening sections were easiest for me; you just filled in words exactly as you read/heard them. Writing was slightly harder, but I think that's a given, since you need to write entire paragraphs. 


The Speaking section was an entirely different matter.


I could go back in time and happily whack myself in the head for the stupidity that I spouted at that Speaking interview. Bear in mind that I didn't take any courses for this exam or anything - I'd just bought myself one of  those IELTS preparation books (utterly useless things, believe me. I think they were meant for kindergartners or serious beginners to the English language). 


After I greeted the examiner, she turned on a little recording device. That completely threw me off. My eyes fixated on it immediately, and I found myself leaning forward a little and trying to speak at the recorder instead of to the examiner at some points. And oh my God, the subject matter of the interview...


I kept my eyes on her face to see how I was doing, but her expressions gave nothing away. She kind of just...smiled, as if to encourage me, through the whole thing. She didn't react to what I was saying. She asked me to describe an event in my life that made me laugh, and I recounted the time that my brother shaved more than half his eyebrows off on each side. I usually have people snorting and hitting their knees with this story. She just kept smiling.


Her final "abstract topic" question was to ask me how I thought humour could be used to benefit international relations. I ask you. I was silent for a good two minutes, racking my brains for anything that could be classified as international, and I kid you not, I just blurted out Obama's name. I can barely remember what on earth I talked about, but I know that I ended the speech with Ellen DeGeneres. 


I was so convinced that I'd failed that stupid IELTS exam, but I actually did pretty well. I scored an 8.0 for the Speaking section (no one was more surprised at that than I was), and got a band score of 8.0, which is pretty high when the maximum is 9.0. I was actually most disappointed with the picture that they used on the Test Report Form - I looked so high, it's not even funny. In my defense, I had to wake up at like 5:00 AM to be there in time for the test.


Anyway.


So I applied for the visa on the 19th, like I said. Shanthi had filed all the documents I needed and handed them to me earlier, so I just had to go in and give that, and have my fingerprints and all taken.


Yesterday, at like 7:00 AM, when all reasonable people are sleeping, my mobile phone rang. The guy on the other end said that he had my passport, and that they'd courier it to me that day itself. Around 11:00 AM, they did arrive with it, and hooray, my visa was here!


So this time, shit's real. I called up Adnan and demanded he buy me a going-away present. I then tried to wheedle the same out of Dad, but he finds it easier to say no to me, having practiced that arcane art all my life.


Mum's easier to handle; I think she's a lot more excited to go shopping than I am, in fact. White I'm thinking about essentials like stylish backpacks, she's thinking about whether or not I should buy bedsheets from here.


Mothers. They really need to get their priorities straightened out.

Catch Up

The dog has recently taken to sleeping in my room in the middle of the day. This very rarely happened, before. In the old house, he'd sleep in my room when I had exams coming up and needed peace and quiet to study. I liked to think that he was warning my family off from bothering me.


I can think of two reasons for this new habit of his.


One. Bruno has sensed that I'm going to be leaving him behind soon, and so has decided to spend all his spare time with me. He'll show diamonds who the real Girl's Best Friend is.


Or two. Bruno has sensed my impending departure, and is staking his claim on my room.


In other news, I'm nowhere near prepared to leave. I still have so many things to buy! I keep thinking of stuff in the middle of the night that I have yet to get, and adding it to the never-ending list that's lying on my table. But I kind of feel bad asking Dad for the money, since he has enough to think about what with the actual uni tuition fees and all. So I've been trying to just use my own pocket money. 


Yesterday, I bought Aehshaan a going-away gift with said pocket money. He's my only brother - I figured I could spare the expense. It was a game he wanted but couldn't buy because he's saving up for a game coming out on the 18th - Modern Warfare 3 or maybe Gears of War 3? I don't know, it's some fighting game, either way.


So I got him Deus Ex: Human Revolution; Excellent reviews, and I really liked the look of the game trailer.


From my side of the gaming board, Junichi Masuda is apparently going to make some grand announcement on the 18th (yes, same date as Aehshaan's whatever game release) about some surprise addition to the Pokemon games. People are speculating that it's Pokemon Gray, to go with Black and White. I don't know about that - seems a bit too early for it, in my opinion. Black and White released worldwide only last March, after all. Maybe it's an event?


Not like I could get into any of it, anyway. Something's wrong with our internet connection - my DS can't connect. I haven't accessed Dreamworld in over a month now. 


Mum told me to pull out the suitcases from the cupboard under the stairs (HARRY POTTER!) today. Start packing all my things. I'm a bit lazy, to be honest. I really can't be bothered. I've been sort of down with regards to that, seeing as my course officially started today. I really hope they don't do anything seriously important - I hate being behind, having to catch up. 


Ah well.


Ja ne.

A Short Excerpt From The Lives Of A Dysfunctional Family

The fact that I can't get a hold of my UK visa is annoying. Irritating. Just a plain bummer.


Dealing with the University, though, has been super helpful. I informed them that I'd need to matriculate late and all, and they've replied reassuring me that everything will be okay. I even just got a call from the people wanting to know when I'd be collecting my keys. 


Two days ago, I sent an e-mail saying that I would be late to the architecture course to someone I assume will be one of my professors, Cameron Wilson. The thing is, I've only ever known Cameron Diaz. So I addressed the e-mail as, "Dear Ms. Wilson".


The reply, although very nice and all, was signed exactly like this: 


Kind Regards
(Mr.) Cameron Wilson.


Oh lord, the shame.


If brown people could blush, I'd be beet red. I shrieked when I saw it. My God. I don't know how I'm going to face this professor when I see him. It probably won't be as bad as I'm imagining, but still. My parents burst out into peals of laughter when I hung my head and related the story to them, informing me that I'm an idiot for not realizing that Cameron is generally a guy's name.


In other news, Aehshaan was in my room just now, talking about something or the other (I wasn't paying attention). Suddenly, he falls silent and kind of cocks his head in the direction of the door. His eyes narrowed, and he hissed, all cool like, "The dog's gone for my burger."


And he was out of there like a shot.

Really, between my e-mails and the relationship between my dog and brother, it's a miracle our family functions normally in public.


Ja.