Apparently the British Embassy in Mexico just sucks when answering the phones, because, when I went and personally delivered my documents for my student visa, the person (which I knew, from her voice, that she was the same person that "assisted" me on the phone) was very kind, chatty, and patient. She even comment me about my name and asked me if I knew it's meaning, which I do (but that's a subject for a whole other post... mmm... maybe the next one, haven't done a big one in a long time); she asked me if I knew it's mayan meaning, which I didn't (I'm writing this around five days after the encounter and haven't found information about it's mayan meaning... weird). She went on that her son has this weird name which is in french, and that it has evolved to just "Roy".
There were two other soon-to-be british students in front of me who were abruptly called back to their seats because of incomplete documentation (one of them came with a printout of an email of acceptance of the Alban Scholarship, which, frankly, would've been a very obvious red flag when reading the outline and instructions in the webpage and printouts taped to the outside and inner office walls... the other one didn't even bother to fill out the application form... no wonder the british lady was so fed up when I called her). When I was called forth after, having being a witness of the all-familiar wrath of this red-tape-experienced old lady, I was ready to pee in my pants, but was pleasantly surprised by her attitude... I would like to credit that to the fact that I did a little subtle but, in my opinion, enjoyable joke in my encounter "well, ma'am, keeping with the M.O. here, I too am here for a student visa" (I never said it was a good one, jeje); but maybe because I prepared myself (thanks largely to my mom and her paperwork), few questions were asked because I've already had the rest answered by phone previously. The lady probably thought "finally, someone with everything complete"; she even offered to do it in 24 hours (not the published 48) seeing that my permanent address was in Chihuahua (19-hour bus-ride), which I kindly denied "I'm living in Queretaro right now" (3-hour bus-ride) "so there's no need to hury things that don't need to be huried"; she grinned.
So, yes: I'm officially eating my own words... A piece of advise (mmm... Matrix... I'm so watching it after finishing up this post): if you're going to apply for a student visa for the U.K. here in Mexico, prepare yourself before hand (read their webpage, it's very complete, it even comes with a map explaining how to get there, which I gave to the cab drivers that picked me up in the airport; both of them told me that the map helped a lot and that very few cab drivers know how to get there), if you have any questions about anything that's not on their website call them and, remember, be very patient (the lady there is very stressed out), when your turn is up try to start out with a joke and end with some kind remark, the lady there will be very pleasant if you show her that you've done your homework... oh, and change your name to something with a mayan meaning, it apparently helps =)
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