The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
- Saint Augustine

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Odyssey Continues

"Oh you want to study abroad? We just need every identification form you've ever filled out, EVER, in triplicate. A photocopy of your passport and the real passport. Plus more money just for fun!" - Loosely quoted from Justin Time, another University of Copenhagen Exchange student.

Seriously.

Just received an e-mail form the Danish Immigration Service (not the kind of e-mail I like to get at 7:00 am before my coffee) saying that the money I had sent to process the application was about $19 short. It's sitting there in their sun-deprived, Danish palms, but they won't open my file until they get the money.

Apparently when money transfers overseas, a mysterious sea monster takes just enough to make it impossible for them to process an application but not enough to make you sweat. I envision Scylla, the six-headed sea tyrant from the Odyssey. I mean, Homer was right about Troy, perhaps this mythical money monster does exist. I'll just have to sacrifice six able-bodied sailors (or in my case 19 american dollars) for the fee of entry.

Anyways, after transferring the money this morning, I get home to a call that the bank forgot the router number and I needed to come back in and refill out the forms. Overall, sending the wire was much more expensive than the actual amount but hopefully the overseas money monster will stay away this time.

Heres one way to think about it, if this is the worst thing that happens in my travels I'll be a happy camper, or a hostel sleeper, or in my case a dormitory dweller.

Below photo: Odysseus facing Scylla. (It was before she had her coffee too)

1 comment:

  1. Oh what a pain in the ass! You'll really have deserved your trip after all this :/

    ReplyDelete