visa fiasco

the last major thing that had to be done before i left was getting my visa. the french consulate for the southeast region is located in atlanta so essentially i had to drive 4 hours for a 15 minute appointment. the day before my appointment i double - no triple - checked the website to make sure that i had all of my necessary forms and documents. of course i failed to realize that my self-addressed envelope had to be fedex or ups, i guess the french don't care for usps  so i was thinking it was going to be a breeze to get one and i planned to stop by ups on the way to work. false, not so easy and even better when i tried to call, they tell me that they don't answer questions pertaining to visa over the phone. apparently return labels can only be done online (mishap #1). thankfully work was slow that day so i was able to set up a fedex account and get most of the details sorted out. after work, i print out the address label and headed for atlanta thinking that i had everything all figured out. the next morning my dad insisted that we leave extra early in case we hit traffic or got lost. little did we know that the address for the french consulate is not exactly correct by anyone's standards because it is actually located on a neighboring street. we ended up at the wrong building but one of the workers gave us a map and told us that everyone gets it wrong. so we race over to the correct building and cut it close to my appointment (mishap #2). at this point im already freaking out because we are right on time which in my book means we are late and i cannot afford to miss this appointment. i make it inside the office with a few other students and travelers and wait for my turn. i'm a little nervous because i don't know what to expect, but i feel confident that i have all of my documents. i'm called next and the guy (who might i add is a very attractive male slightly older than myself which only heightens my nerves. i've only interacted with creep, old country club men and little kids all summer long and i've seemed to have forgotten how to charm eligible bachelors). i tell him what kind of visa i am applying for and i slide all of my paperwork under the glass to him. he looks at my first form and tells me that it is out-of-date (mishap #3) and he asks for the remaning 2 pages of it which i don't have. i turn bright red and tell him that that's the form i got off their website. he gives me a hard time about it but gives me the updated version to fill out. next, he asks for my flight itinerary (mishap #4). in my head im thinking "WHAT?! that was NOT on the list. oh my goodness, i'm not going to get my visa, I'M NOT GOING TO FRANCE!!" if it is at all possible, my face turns even brighter and i sheepishly admit that i don't have it with me, but i do know the date. he kinda laughs and shakes his head and tells me to write down the date for both flights. i look at him wide-eyed and tell him more bad news, i have not bought a return flight yet. at this point i'm sure he is thinking, how in the world did this girl get this job, she can't even follow directions. i made up some excuse that the program told me not to worry about a return flight since i will be teaching for at least 7 months. he shrugs that off and tells me as long as i come back at some point then it's okay. next, i excitedly slide my return envelope under the glass because i am positive that i did this right since fedex walked me through the process. as if things could get worse (mishap #5). my form requested that the bill be sent to the sender meaning the french consulate, not me which he pointed out ever so kindly, not. thankfully he slides me a new return label and envelope and tells me how to fill this out correctly. he then has me place my fingers on a scanner but i'm still so nervous that my hand won't stop shaking and it takes several attempts for an accurate reading. after all of this mess is sorted out, i happily tell him that i did remember to bring my fee in cash, as specified on the website. this time he gives me some good news, it's free for teaching assistants!