The pack contained everything I needed to begin my visa application and that ran fairly smoothly with a slight hiccup with getting a visa acceptable photo as the passport photos are too thin and so I had to nip to Asda and get photos done again which cost £7!
Once I'd got my head round what was needed I filled a folder with everything I needed to take and rang the US Embassy to book an appointment. The cost of the visa interview was $160 although this was expected I did not expect the atrocious train ticket prices. After discussing it with my parents my mum said that we could drive down and visit Harry Potter Studio Tour (whilst we were down south anyway), stay the night at my brother's flat in Cambridge and then get the train from there which is considerably cheaper.
On the day of my visa interview we had to wake up super early to catch our train to get us their with enough time to then get the tube and walk to the Embassy. Horrifyingly the train we were on had to be aborted as there was a broken track further along and I really did not want to be late for my 11:30 appointment but within 5 minutes a replacement train had arrived in the station and we were only delayed a quarter of an hour. We found the Embassy no problem and there was a massive queue to even get in the building. the security was very high and we were not able to take mobile phones in with us which was a problem as I didnt know how I would meet up with my mum after my appointment. A woman who worked for the Embassy told us of a Starbucks just around the corner so we said we would meet there. Once in the Embassy it we heaving! It reminded me of a airport with a lot of rows of chairs all facing a massive screen which would call out numbers and which window they were to go to.
In total I was waiting in the Embassy for FOUR HOURS! If you're about to go please take my advice and pack a book or crosswords or something, I was close to going stir crazy but it was all worth it once I was told my visa application had been accepted!!
I managed to find Starbucks no problem and we went to some tourist-y shops to get Union Jack goodies for my host family and finally heading back to my brothers so we could pick the car up and head home.
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