The picture at the top of this page, was me collapsing with tiredness onto the sofa after a long day unsuccessfully trying to make a doctors appointment and get in touch with the Chilean embassy.
I woke up at 8, an ungodly hour, to ring the doctor's every 5 minutes until I could finally get in the queue to speak to the secretary. For the visa I needed to get my GP to fill in a form, but what I didn't realise, was that when I registered to a doctor's in Southampton, that automatically meant I became unregistered to my GP in Swansea. This meant that after trying for ages, when I finally got hold of my GP, I was cruelly rejected by the secretary for an appointment! Don't kick a man when he is absolutely shattered, there's only so much he can take.
After that failure, I then had to try and get in touch with the embassy to see what the process is for carrying on my visa application in Santiago, as I know I won't finish it in time. It was hard enough getting in touch with them the first time, to actually get the application forms, but now when I need them more than ever, it is proving harder than ever just to get them to answer the phone to me.
"This is the embassy of Chile. All our lines are full right now, please leave a message with your name and number, and one of our staff will get back to you....We apologise, your message cannot be delivered right now as all of our answer boxes are full. We thank you for your call ----...silence"
This line was tormenting me all morning. Every 5 minutes I rang, and to no avail whatsoever. Time is running thin so they better answer me soon! I have even sent an email to the guy who told me to email him with any queries I had...it's been 5 days, check your damn emails!
But enough of me moaning, I'm sure anyone who plans on doing a year abroad or just spending an extended period in a foreign country will be the same! Your days will be full of agonising preparation, you may think you have done everything you could possibly think of, but as your leaving day approaches, there is probably going to be something you have forgotten, and quite possibly, it may be something you are too late to do anything about, like me and my visa situation, so make sure to double check what are the essential stages in planning, and your year will run a hell of a lot smoother I'm sure!
When I eventually get to Chile next week and once I have settled, I am going to write another article about how successful my preparation was, and try to offer some tips to help those of you who may be considering a year abroad in a far away foreign country in the coming years, so look out for that!