This is the usual process flow:
Receive Letter of Invitation from Host University ---> Send to Russian Consulate --> Get Visa in passport --> Start LEADER adventure
However, everything that could go wrong in this process, has! Murphy's Law I guess.
Our Letters of Invitation (LOI) were sent for the wrong day (meaning we had to reschedule our flights so that we would be entering Russia on a later date than originally planned) and then we found out that we need to get certain blood tests because they sent us a different class of LOI then they usually do! This puts us in a very tight time frame…as the tests generally take 2 weeks to get back…and I am leaving in 9 days.
Silver lining:
Since I couldn’t go to Moscow as originally scheduled, I have re-routed to spend some time in Prague….which I am VERY excited about. Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic center of the Czech Republic for more than 1100 years and is situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia. Castles, architecture, crystal, oh my! I am staying in Old Town (Staré Město) and cannot wait to check out the spired towers of Týn Cathedral.
That is, of course, if I can get my Visa in time to make my flight! These types of roadblocks teach me a very important lesson - there is no point in stressing out when it comes to travel plans. Life flows on and, as my dad always says, everything will work itself out. You have to go with the flow and hope that life is unravelling as it should...
