And I thought the worst was over...

Hell no. Shit hit industrial-sized fans several times over. Excuse the language, but I can't even begin to express how much worse it all got before I finally got my visa (multiple...I'll get into that eventually) application in the system. Seriously, this has been the single most stressful experience of my life. I am really not exaggerating here. So my last four days looked like this:

Monday: "The Labor Office"/1st attempt to get to Bratislava
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Kara takes the number 9 tram to Zizkov to apply for her work permit at the Labor Office. Upon being told she took the number from the wrong button (the freaking button says "Work Permits"--what the hell else am I gonna press?!?), she gets a new number from the other button and promptly reads it upside down. Therefore, Kara spends the ENTIRE day waiting for number 600 to come up. So while number 009 comes and goes within the next 20 minutes of getting her new number, Kara comes and goes, checking back periodically, having lunch with Lea, etc. etc. And then realizes what she's done and wants to kill herself. Gets a new number: 132. Should be okay--it's 3:30 and I have until 5pm before the office closes. The numbers had been moving about one every 3-5 minutes, so despite all general stupidity, I thought I was in the clear. This progression suddenly stops at #126, however, for (ever) at least 30-40 minutes. After a (failed) attempt to beg to the office girls filing the permits, I was able to change numbers with some nice Americans and just barely managed to get the permit at approximately 4:45pm. Jesus christ.
Which leads me to the next section of Monday: the plan was to get the permit ASAP and then catch the next train to Bratislava (Slovakia) to apply for the visa. Had to make copies of all my official documents before leaving Prague, which of course involved standing in line behind some guy who had 10 BILLION copies of some random sheet music to make... After that holdup, I was so brain dead that I got on the tram (to the train station) in the wrong direction. 18:23 train to Bratislava? Most decidedly missed. Sooooo I head to the other train station, realize I am not functional enough to actually complete any train ticket purchasing, let alone riding, and just go home to my wine. which leads me to...

Tuesday: First trip to Bratislava
Upon deciding to take the 12:30am train to Bratislava, I spend the evening generally unwinding and mentally preparing for the next leg of my quest to legality in the Czech Republic. Scott takes me to the station, I get on the train, and promptly pass out into the deepest of all deep sleeps. 6:15. Location? Nove Zomky. Locations since passed? Bratislava.
That's right, folks. Kara slept through the stop in Bratislava. Thank god I had some Slovakian currency to pay the conductor for the extra leg of the trip. So I get to this random train station in Slovakia, manage to buy yet another ticket BACK to Bratislava, and go sit on (what I thought was) the train. So the departure time comes and goes, I decide something fishy is going on, and (thankfully) get off the train. My train was apparently delayed in Budapest...so I wait in Nove Zomky Nadrazi (station) for about an hour until I am finally able to leave at 8:30. Yep, I've been "in transit" at this point from 12:30 until 8:30. But hey, I got some good sleep in there.
So I made it to Bratislava, which at this point was an accomplishment in and of itself. And I made it to the Czech Embassy Consulate, also very nicely done, Kara (Bratislava is not the easiest city to navigate, especially on foot after my past 24 hours). The Czech Embassy is of course only open to accept visa applications for 2 total hours in any given workday: 11-12 and 14-15. Oh joy. Morning=failure (long line of people). Afternoon=failure ("you must apply for a short term visa as well while you wait for the long term visa to be processed...you don't have the required documents...this thing needs to be an original or noterized copy...this needs to be dated within 6 months of the current date...the work permit confirmation slip is not valid for the short term visa (but is of course just fine for the long term visa). Yep. Numb. Just numb at this point.
So I take the next train home to Praha.

Wednesday: official document collection
So after being told I needed a significantly greater/different amount of documents in order to complete my visa(s), I spent the entirety of Wednesday, November 26 collecting the required forms, etc. etc. etc. lalalalala. Upon a severe badgering of my landlord and an extensive trip back to Dejvicka, all required documents were attained. This day was, in retrospect, the easiest. At the time, I was always about 3 seconds away from completely giving up and deciding to just live here illegally as long as possible. I know that sounds bad, but it's really pretty typical of Americans to be in Prague without the necessary legal status. Anyway, that leads me to stage four of Kara's saga...

Thursday: Bratislava version 2.0
Yep. Back to the Brat. Upon getting on the train (at 5am), the conductor tells me that I need to make a transfer at some place that, upon writing the name down, looks like it's in Russian (i.e. non-Czech or English or any standard Roman alphabet characterization)....After conducting a search on my immediate train car, I found a very nice Austrain who helped me talk to the conductor and figured out what was what, i.e. that I was in fact on the correct train and simply needed to make sure I was on the very back end of said train, as this end would be disconnected and sent en route to Bratislava upon reconnecting with another set of train cars at a certiain stop blah blah blah you don't really care about these details...Sooooooo I got to Bratislava, went to the Embassy at 11 and managed to get all my paperwork processed by 11:45 via some serious eye contact (re: "I am in a state of complete desperation please have mercy on my soul") with the lady who processes all the visas. And now...

Wooooooooooo! Never before have I felt the relief I feel right now. Seriously, nothing could bother me. I am on cloud 9. Go ahead, try to get me down. You will fail. I am the definition of relief and complete accomplishment. So there. This is my saga. I am legal. Woo hoo. This is the end of my saga. Toodles,
Love,
Kara