Two Day Service

About a month ago, I went through the process of acquiring a German residence permit (Aufenthaltstitel). It was, in a way, a bit hair-pulling considering I needed that permit to apply for a French visa but also because I really didn't hear any feedback on my application until I got the notice of approval, and it took about three weeks to accomplish. So, naturally, since the visa I'll have to travel to France serves as a residence permit, I was expecting similar processing times. As stated in the previous post, I specifically went to Switzerland because, normally speaking, the visa process takes several weeks.

I was wrong with what I had assumed. For me, it took two days.

Yesterday, I headed up to Frankfurt am Main rather early in the morning and got to the consulate well in advance of my appointment. I had directions, but I really didn't know where I was going. Surprisingly for me, the U-Bahn put me out on Zeppelinallee, the road that the consulate was situated on. And it was a very quick walk up the road to my destination, a rather unassuming building distinguished by the French flag and the emblem of the French Republic.

I headed in, greeted the guard in French and, after a quick bag search, I went back to the visa section, a small office. I was served rather quickly by a lady who spoke some English (which helped out a bit) and, after being fingerprinted and photographed and all the papers I had were sorted through and sorted, I was given a receipt and told to return the next day with my passport. This isn't what I thought would happen...

I otherwise accomplished quite a bit of sightseeing and exploring in Frankfurt, despite the rain, and headed back to Ludwigshafen, still confused. What just happened... did she really say I could return tomorrow? Adding to the fun was that I had only taken a day off work for the visa appointment, expecting a much longer turnaround. So, I formulated a plan.

Today, I headed into work and explained to one of my coworkers that I needed to run to Frankfurt. He, fortunately, understood, so I headed almost immediately to the train station. About an hour later, I was in Frankfurt. I made my way back to the consulate and the person who had served me the day before, upon recognizing me, indicated that she would help me after she was done with the person ahead of me. Once she was finished, I walked up, gave her my passport, and, after printing off the visa sticker and getting it signed by the Consul, I walked out of the visa office with a shiny visa de long séjour valant titre de séjour. Score.

So, yeah. A process that takes a lot of people several weeks took me two days here at Frankfurt. And I have no idea why it got approved so quickly. But, ultimately, you just take it with a smile and walk on.

Swiss Vacation... and French Paperwork Hell

Last week, I decided that I really wanted to go to Switzerland. And here I am, writing this from Zürich.

To elaborate further, the main reason for this trip, other than wanting to go to Switzerland and take lots of pretty pictures, actually arises from the fact that I go to apply for my French visa on Tuesday. While my application is being processed, however, the consulate probably will have my passport. The processing could take a few days or a few weeks. And, while they have my passport, I won't legally be able to leave Germany to go elsewhere in the Schengen zone, even though there aren't any immigration checks. Accordingly, I figured that getting a quick trip in before I lose my passport is probably not a bad idea, in the long run.

Like the last time I visited, Switzerland is very pretty. And the number of Swiss flags in the streets and wherever you go is pretty impressive, particularly since German flags are not very common where I've lived in Germany. Only drawback to the trip, though, is that everything is expensive... and even moreso now with the much stronger Swiss Franc. As a comparison, when I went to Basel in 2009, it was CHF 1.50 per euro (CHF 1.06 per dollar) and, now, it's CHF 1.07 per euro ($1.30 per Franc). For example, McDonald's meals run about CHF 15 (EUR 13, USD 20), a 1.5 litre bottle of soda is about CHF 2 (EUR 1.90, USD 2.50) at its cheapest... regardless, though, while I'll take my usual travel "precautions" (avoiding restaurants and taxis as much as possible), I'll do my best to avoid letting the rather high prices get to me.

Today was mostly reserved for getting here and lots of wandering around (yes, lots of pictures). Tomorrow will probably feature more wandering, a trip to the Zoo (Zürich Zoo is very renowned) and possibly a few museums, and acquiring souvenirs that people I know might want. Like chocolate. And I'll be out of here on Sunday morning.

So, yeah, that's it from here. Another post might be coming soon-ish. And have a good weekend.