Monday 10 June 2013

Hiccup Number 1

No sooner had it begun than the first hurdle appeared...


Anyone who has previously travelled to Russia will know the tortures involved in obtaining an entry visa: pages of obscure questions, vials of blood (yes literally)! After your efforts, there is something hugely satisfying about your passport returning with one page filled with cyrillic scrawl that you can't understand. You hold it aloft like it is the holy grail, with tears of triumph in your eyes (no exaggeration). 


However...

Before you even embark on the aforementioned pleasure cruise of an application process, you have to be cordially invited by your host institution. You care for your invitation, a piece of paper stamped by your friendly Russian passport officer, as if it were your child (WARNING: the world may literally implode should it go missing in action.).


To receive your invitation...

you must send a copy of your passport for approval. That's all. The first small step on a perilous journey.

You wouldn't think that photocopying would pose a problem to an undergraduate.
You obviously thought wrong.

Evidently, I am even incapable of doing that efficiently.

What hope have I...


Hiccup Number 1. Grace's dodgy photocopying gets a rejection from the Voronezh passport office.

Hopefully my scanning skills prove more competent... 

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