The Plot Thusfar...

Our brave and intrepid hero - yours truly, lest you forget - is preparing for a return visit to Iceland, for take two on the MA, for a second crack at a foe which had bested him once before, in 2007.*

As of this moment, I have handed in my two weeks notice at a call centre job I never really liked and the vast majority of my Visa application is already completed and in the hands of the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration (also known as Útendingastofnun or UTL).  The labyrinthine passages of UTL's Visa approval system notwithstanding (I need to provide proof of registration in my program to apply but can't register in my program unless it's in person, for example), things are looking to be progressing much better than they did in 2007.  For one, I have an actual place to live this time, not a couple of places I can look at before deciding on one like last time (that was a trainwreck and a half, I tell you), I know who my housemates are and I've actually spoken to them (a massive improvement over last time as well) and my landlord isn't a prick.  I also know what I'm doing for my thesis.  All of these are huge improvements over last time.

I leave for Iceland on 19 August, 2011, at 21:10 EST and should arrive in Keflavik at 06:25 GMT on 20 August, barring any delays.  In the intervening 11 days, Emily and I are finishing the packing, looking for a new, smaller place for her to move to and preparing for various and sundry going-away related things.

There may be a few posts between today and the 20th, likely one after the going away party I'm throwing (dubbed, of course, The Jimpocalypse) and possibly another the day I leave.

Stay tuned, faithful readers!


*For some clarification and background, Emily and I went to Iceland in 2007 so I could do my MA in Medieval Icelandic Studies.  Unfortunately, the sheer impenetrability of the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration's Visa process resulted in a quick retreat to Canada after a week of trying to figure out how in the nine hells our Visas would be approved because we'd not completed the Double-Secret Handshake that UTL requires.