Brussels: Applying for US Visa

Posted by Katrien Vander Straeten Jun 8, 2006

On Tuesday I spent a grueling first half of the day in Brussels,

applying for a new US visa. My appointment was at 10 am and they had asked me to come ten minutes early. Always punctual, I made it on time, leaving my home in Antwerp to catch a tram and train at 8 am.

But something had gone wrong with their computers, and I spent an hour waiting in line, outside (luckily the weather was not too bad), then two hours inside a little makeshift room with all the other interviewees.

No watches are allowed, and there is no clock on the wall, so you can't tell what time it is, except perhaps by the progress of the movie that is playing on the one tv screen (volume on zero, French subtitles). Unfortunately the movie was King Kong, a movie which proceeds in jerks and stops, with heart-arresting (and quite gruesome) action scenes and soooo slooooooow romantic intervals.

Well, the only time I was able to measure almost exactly was my interview, which lasted two minutes. When I came out, it

was 1:30 pm.