i has mai visa! mai visa, i has it.

Yep, I finally have the coveted visa. Unfortunately it's only single entry when I was intending for multi-entry. I feel this may largely be my fault. This is mostly because I know for a fact it is entirely my fault.

So, for those not in the know, there are 3 Chinese embassies/consulates in Great Britain: Edinburgh, Manchester and London. As I complained earlier, I was only really able to go to London. Frankie, my classmate, told us that the visa form we'd been provided with was out of date, so I looked for an up-to-date form on the London Embassy website. I'd found the form, printed it off and started filling it in when I ran into several difficulties with what to fill in, because sometimes the wording on the form was a little ambiguous. Brainwave! Look on the old form our teacher gave us months ago and see whether that gives me any clues through different wording. It was at this point that I realised I had filled in the old form anyway. I return to the site. No luck; it was the same form everywhere on the site. I proceeded to find the new form on the Edinburgh consulate site and (after a lot of ridiculously difficult (read: easy to everyone but me) technological stress) I filled it in. Now on the original form I couldn't decide what to choose out of single/double/multi entry on the visa (basically the amount of times you're allowed to re-enter the country), so I left it blank. By the time I'd filled in the second, new form, I'd settled on multi-entry, and duly ticked the relevant box. I took both to London with me. It's obvious what's coming next. London, bizarrely enough, demands that we use the old visa form, so I handed that one in. You pay on collection for the visa, so when I picked it up, the woman behind the counter asked for £50. "£50?" I ask. "It is multiple entry, right?" "Yes, yes, multi entry.[insert mad I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about-so-I'm-just-going-to-agree Chinglish accent here]". Okay. I walk off and then check the visa. Single entry. I realise what I've done. Clearly if you don't specify, they assume single entry. Added to the fact that I'd filled in the date of my expected first entry and said it would last 365 days. D'oh. I guess if I decide to leave the country then I'm going to have to change my visa IN China. Shucks.

Anyway, getting the visa was in practice nowhere near as hasslesome (it's a word!) as I was geared up for. The dad and I went to London on Thursday night, and stayed in a lovely Travelodge. Then on Friday morning we intended to get to the embassy for quarter to nine, but finally made it at quarter past. Halfway down the street we spot a snaking queue. When you see something like that you just KNOW that that particular queue is there for you to join. The British mentality, I suppose. And of course, it was. Made some friends in the queue through pen and pritt-stick sharing (hello!). Kat going travelling for a month, and Ally who is teaching in Shaoxing (I think that's the place, outside Shanghai) for a year. Everybody doing something different. Spotted James from Newcastle in the line too. Small world. We finally got in, handed in our documents, forms and passports, and popped off down Oxford Street for some Starbucks. Then back to wait in line AGAIN to pick up and pay for out form. I found myself (almost) inexplicably shaking with nerves. The whole deal rested on this. No visa = no China. No year abroad. No problem at all. I paid up and then spent the rest of the day being a tourist and hitting all the Monopoly streets. Delighted that the visa is done. I was also heartened by how much I know about China and how prepared I actually am compared to some people I overheard talking whilst eavesdropping during the long wait. Very confidence-building.