Adventures in Bureaucracy

[note: after I finished compiling this post, I realized it is quite lengthy. So if you need a potty break, or a drink of water, or if you have to file your taxes, I would go do that now and come back once you're ready.]

I spent the better part of yesterday running around town trying to get everything in order for my permit to stay. (As a side note - the question has been raised 'why do i need a permit to stay if i already have a study visa?' Well technically, a visa is for entry purposes - in order to remain here for any length of time, I need the permit to stay.)

So, in order to apply, I need certain documents, one of which is a statement from the University certifying that I am enrolled, which requires that I make the first tuition payment of 900Euros. However I can only take so much out from an ATM at one time, which necessitates hitting up multiple ATMs from different banks over the course of a few days, which was the first small adventure in this process.

After taking out enough cash to make the tuition payment, I have to go to the bank used by the University in order to pay it. I'm not sure if there are any banks in the US that do this, but Italian banks have concocted an ingenious method to deter bank robberies; in order to physically enter the bank, you have to wait outside, press a button which opens the first of two doors which allows you into a tiny chamber, then the first door behind you closes and the inner door opens (I assume this means a bank officer could prevent the doors from opening once someone is in the chamber, in the case of a robbery). ANYWAYS - I go to the bank, make the payment for which I am given a receipt that I then have to bring to the Student Secretary's office. Begin adventure now.

I go directly from the bank to the Secretary's office, at about 930AM. [Another side note about a cultural aspect of Italy - it's about the size of Arizona but there are 55 million people, so unsurprisingly there are lines for EVERYTHING. A part of Italian culture has been the unruly line; sweet old ladies won't think twice about cutting in front of you if you delay for more than a millisecond. To curb this, many institutions employ the tried-and-true 'Take A Number' method. OK, back to the story.] I take my number for the line, and note that there are probably about 15 people ahead of me and only 1 out of the 3 service windows in operation. My class doesn't start til 1, so I figure I'm still in good shape even with an expected long wait. Well, about 45 minutes in, the sign above the window showing who's turn it is goes blank - everyone kind of looks at each other nervously. The sign comes back on, but surprise! It's restarted at #1 (my number was 3053 and it was on about 3025 when I arrived). So people start shifting towards the window - closer, and closer, and closer... finally someone spoke up and the mob got itself relatively organized after lots of showing of the tickets. I eventually got my turn at about 1045, and all went well. Now I am ready to do the application procedure!

The Permit to Stay is issued by an Italian police authority called the Questura. However, the actual application process is handled at the post office (cuz going to the place that could actually issues it would probably make too much sense). Furthermore, once the application is submitted at the post office, it isn't automatically reviewed for approval - instead the post office makes an appointment for you to go to the Questura at a later date to go through the ACTUAL application process (which, for me, will be in late October). As I have been told, it could take several months to actually receive the permit - however in the meantime, the receipt of my application will function as permit to stay should the authorities request it of me (which begs the question, why do you need the permit?? but what do I know...) I've been told that it has even happened in the past that by the time someone has received their permit, it has already expired! I hope this is an exaggeration but honestly, it would not surprise me.

Outside the Secretary's office I ask some students where the nearest post office is, and they direct me to one that is not far from where I was [other side note - I would normally say 'not far from campus' but the University has buildings all over the city, so this wouldn't really apply]. So I wait in line for a few minutes at this post office, after which I am informed by a nice lady there that this post office does not accept the applications. She kindly directs me to the nearest one that does, maybe a 10 minute walk to the north. Once I arrive there, I thankfully did not have to wait in a long line again, because I was once more informed that in fact this location does not accept the applications either. It turns out the only one that does is the main post office, another 10 minutes south of the first post office I went to. So I walk BACK across town, where I promptly wait in line another 20 minutes before a special clerk becomes available that can help me. Thankfully the coordinator of my program did an awesome job helping me to organize everything, and the application went quite smoothly. But now I have to run back to where my class is because it's already almost 1pm! 3 hours and I only got 2 things done - but I guess that is part of the beauty of living here, no?

Later that night I got my first chance to play soccer with one of my new friends from class. Well, we call it soccer, but the rest of the world calls it futbol - but actually in Italy they refer to it as calcio (kick). We played a version called calcetto (little calcio), which was basically what we would call indoor soccer. It was tons of fun, great exercise, good people (all friends of my classmate), and I was excited to try out my new shoes and calcio clothes that I had bought. I even scored a goal! The only drawback was that they play very late - the game started at 11pm and went til midnight. But that's just another culturaly aspect of Italy; people in general stay up later, for a variety of reasons. It kind of boggles my mind that 6 months ago this was barely a pipe dream and now I am in Italy playing soccer in my freetime. (Also note: pic above is not us, just an example of calcetto so you get an idea of the size of the field)

Today was quite a bit more relaxed since I wasn't running all over town trying to stay out of trouble with the authorities. I slept in a bit and then went to class (accounting - ugh!) I didn't go to the first class of my program today, which is an elective, because I'd been told it would be taught in Italian and I really didn't feel like listening for 3 hours straight. However, as I've found is often the case in Italy, facts are a little more flexible, and even though the website for the class confirmed it would be in Italian it was actually taught in English. I am glad because it is a business to business marketing class and it sounds pretty interesting, so I will definitely be going next week.

Some of the friends I've made in my classes weren't actually enrolled in our program 100%, as they are awaiting confirmation of a provisional spot in the program. We found out today that 1 of our group did get in, and another did not - however, as I mentioned aboveconcerning 'facts' in Italy , that still doesn't mean for sure he isn't in the program. But now he has to wait until November to see, which is obviously a big pain in the butt. I really don't know how anything gets down around here, but somehow things like that don't stress me out; I guess that's why I felt compelled to spend some time here! I really hope he gets in, because it's the same guy that was showing me around the city the other day and helped me get a cell phone. If there is one thing that is already completely obvious, it's that students in Italy really take their studies seriously; I must say I am quite impressed and a little taken aback, as I would say the average Italian student I have met is akin to some of the more serious students I remember from my years at ASU.

The rest of my evening has been relaxing; spent some time reading a legal case for my competition policy economics class (never thought I'd be writing THAT sentence) and just laying around. Class again tomorrow, and then hopefully another Friday night as exciting as the last!