Arrival

The original plan was to take a simple flight from Eugene to San Francisco then San Francisco to Dubai, arriving at 7:45ish. Upon arrival, I would breeze through passport control since I already had a copy of my visa meet my driver who would take me to AUS. Then I would shower, settle in, and turn in early. That didn't happen.

Instead my flight to San Fran was canceled, making miss my connection. So we rerouted through Portland and my new itinerary was Eugene to Portland to Chicago to London to Dubai and I would arrive more around midnight. Well apart from almost missing my flight to Portland, I made it to Dubai just fine! Upon arriving I walked straight to passport control. I waited in line for nearly an hour only to be told I need to to go get my ORIGINAL Visa from the visa collection place downstairs. So I went. They told me that my visa was not in Terminal one, it was in Terminal 3, the mixup stemming from my changed flights. I asked if a worker could go get it or if it could be sent here in anyway. They said no and told to either walk to Terminal 3 (which could take an 45 minutes, then walk BACK) or get someone on the outside to fetch it for me. I called my advisor and she told me to just get a temporary tourist visa and we would just sort this all out with the University the next day. I asked the Visa Collection desk where to go to get a tourist visa, he said go back and stand in the same line. So I did, only to be told 45 minutes later that I still need to have an original visa and he can't give me a tourist visa. So he asked me to go across the hall to Office 1 where a lady told me the same thing. I need my original copy, go to Terminal 3 or ask someone to go get it for me, which would cost me 500 dirhams for the transfer. I called my advisor again, who asked to talk with the agent. She must have done some finessing because the next second my passport was stamped with a 30 day tourist visa and I was on my way BACK to the Passport Control line. This is where things got a little better, I got in the back of a line that was sure to take an hour to get through, but one of the men who guide people into the proper line recognized me and told me to come with him to the front of the line since it was my second time through (little did he know it was my third time, but that really didnt matter at this point). So I finished Passport Control in 5 minutes, got my bag, which was sitting off to the side of the baggage area and went out to meet my driver. Now it is nearly 3 hours after I landed. Finally arrived at AUS and was shown to my dorm.

I have a roommate, but she has yet to make an appearance. I also see she was most generous to herself and took most of the shelving/drawer space. It's not that big of a deal, since I don't have much stuff anyway, but I kind of would like to not keep my undies in my desk. Now I am getting ready for my first Orientation in a half an hour, so I have to wrap this up. Will try to write soon with more details about the UNIVERSITY and not just the airport :) Also I will try to post photos soon!!!!