Dagnabit

What am I up to? Glad you asked. I'm still in the Netherlands, but (theoretically) getting ready to move. I decided not to try to move before September 1, so I could do my Copenhagen bike trip. And since I've gotten back, I've done a whole lot of nothing. I mean, aside form hanging out and sometimes pontificating on my blog.

Today, I finally kicked myself into gear and went to look at the website from the British embassy. Not only do they want more documents than even the French, they want me to have a valid residency card for the Netherlands.

Ok, it's not that I have an invalid residency card. I'm very kosher on immigration status. Well, pretty kosher. As in, nobody wants to deport me or deny me entry or anything. However, my Dutch ID card expired 4 days ago. Renewing it is absolutely no problem. You just make an appointment. However, I don't intend to renew and I wouldn't be able to get an appointment for any time soon.

but the British demand that I have an ID which is not expired. And since I'm not going to get one, that means that the only way I can get a student visa is to return to the US.

As an American citizen, I can get a 6 month tourist visa. And then I can come later change my status. So as long as I don't seem like I'm doing something untoward, I won't have a problem getting in. (Sorta Kosher.) And I'll have to ship my stuff, because if it seems like I'm coming in to gig illegally, that's a problem.

So all is ok, but really, really frustrating.

And I must fly there soon to find a flat. My immigration status means I must find shared housing and must find folks who are going to be chill about it. But I want chill folks anyway.