today is visa day. it's truly an eye-opening experience. first thing is about the number of US visa applicants in china and their determination of getting it. second is about the process US visa application itself.

me and another 5 delegates of PKUMUN went to US embassy in Beijing to get our visas done. hui ling made an appointment 2 weeks ago, i got no. 425. paid renminbi 830 (US$100, isn't it expensive?) for application.

we had our interview appointment fixed at 1pm. boy... we've gone through at least 4 checkpoints before we could really enter the main building of visa interview at 1:40pm. no cellphone and bag are allowed. we dumped all our belongings to chen ke's boyfriend who will be waiting for us at McDonalds.

actually i thought the interview will be like both the consular officer and the applicant sitting down and talk for few minutes in little rooms/cubicles. to my surprise, the setting of the interview room is exactly like any bank's front desk teller. consular officers sit behind the glass of 8 counters. applicants would have to step on a higher platform, standing, and speak to the officer, answering all his/her questions. i personally do not like the way they carry out the interview.

after checking the passports and applications, again, we stood and waited for 2 hours before we're called. there're very few seats available, it's meant for children and senior citizens. we're observing others while waiting. people who went to counter 6 was unlucky. at least 6 were rejected. liu miao said, chinese tried every possibility to get US visa, even after 6 or 7 failure. only 8%-10% will be granted visa.

why do people wanted so much to go to US? is it because they believe that things are better in US? and is it really so? look at the people who're lining up together with us, there are children, teenage students, fresh graduates, business people, senior citizens on wheel chair... eventhough the US$100 will not be refunded if there's a refusal, people still willing to keep trying.

and when it's our turn, 6 of us squeezed in front of one counter. the officer is sooooo damn good looking. hehe. we had interesting conversation with him, in english, although he speaks good chinese. he asked questions on our intention to study in US, occupation of our parents, funding of our trip, studies... the on going chatting was relatively relaxed. he main concern was whether we're gonna stay there and wouldn't return. we said we still have to finish our study in beijing. then he carefully take down the years of studies of each of us.  we're quite confident, cause we knew we have good reasons and invitation from harvard to visit US.

at last, all of us were granted the visa. it's another 40 minutes of waiting for the collection. for B1 visa, we got 4 months permitted stay, it's 2 months shorter than 3 other delegates who applied earlier. i'm happy for my money is not wasted.

so reliefed after the whole thing was done. i suffered dizziness because of standing too long and being too hungry. took me FIVE hours for everything. how scarry.