After being accepted into the study abroad program, I had to fill out many forms to the Study Abroad Center, ranging from copies of my passports, agreement forms, and a physician report. This was all due during the final month of school which made the end of the semester more stressful than usual, but proper planning on my part could've prevented much of this stress.
Before leaving to Italy, I had to obtain a student visa, as you need a visa if you're staying longer than 90 days. The visa process was time consuming, but not difficult, as I already had most of the documents I needed, such as my passport, proof of residence (driver's license), visa application, financial guarantee (bank statement), and declaration for mailing passports. The aspects that were time consuming was getting a notarized signatures for copies I made of my passport and drivers license, and affidavit of health insurance. I also had to interview with the Italian Consulate here in Hawaii to assure that I'm going there for school. Once I completed all these tasks I sent the forms to the Italian Consulate in San Francisco and waited for approval. It's important to note that I sent it to the Consulate in San Francisco because Hawaii falls within its jurisdiction, so the Consulate location could differ. There are many options to exchange currency, but I chose to exchange at First Hawaiian Bank. Another currency exchange would be Duty Free, but I've gone when they've ran out of the currency I was looking for, so I didn't want to risk going there. I didn't exchange too much money as American Savings Bank only has a 2% transaction fee, so I can just go to an ATM in Italy if I need more money. Flights weren't difficult to book, but there are many layovers when leaving from Hawaii. My first layover is 6 hours in Seattle, and then I have a 2 hour layover in Paris. The layover in Seattle could've been shorter, but I chose the 6 hour layover in case my flight gets delayed. For reference, I will be leaving Hawaii on Sunday night and will land in Florence on Tuesday afternoon. As of now I don't have any travel plans, but I'm sure that'll change as I meet people. If I had to go through this process again, I would've turned in my forms earlier than the days it was due, as I took off work more days than I should've. Other than that, it was fairly easy preparing to leave. Comments are closed.
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AuthorThank you for visiting my blog. The purpose of this blog is to document my time while studying abroad in Italy. Archives
December 2019
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