Ufficio D'immigrazione!

This morning I had to go to the Italian immigration office in Cremona, by my self! I found the office easily enough. It was right next to the last government building I was in, across from the Ponchielli Theatre. I arrived at 8:30am, the office wasn't open yet but there was already a long line at the door. I knew right than that this would be a long morning. When I finally got inside, there was one seat left so I sat down. A few more people arrived and around 9:15am a man popped his head through the door and said something in Italian. He spoke really fast so I couldn't quite understand him. Something about appointments at 9:00am being pushed to 9:30am. I asked out loud that if any one spoke English, could they please translate for me. In response I had 12 heads turn to look at me with a confused/amused look on their faces. I guess not! Just then Matt walked in with his host cousin and her friend, thank god a friendly face. I jumped out of my seat and ran over to him but before I could reach him a had shot out and grabbed my arm. It was Sierra a friend of mine from my Italian course. Apparently she had been there for a while and I just didn't notice her. They wondered why I looked kind of freaked so I told them the story about what just happened to me with the staring people. Then Kayleigh showed up, it was like an exchange student party going on in the immigration office! After a while of Matt playing get to know you with Sierra, we started talking about war. Which then brought up the topic of religion and how Matt is Agnostic but Kayleigh is Christian and we got into a conversation about the legitimacy of God. Which than became a conversation about science and the theory of relativity and the String theory. Once we had exhausted all our knowledge on those subject we went on to play a couple of card games. Keep in mind that this was all going on within the waiting area of the Italian Immigration office! Kayleigh, Matt and Matt's host cousin played Briscola, an Italian card game played with Spanish cards. Sierra and I both found the game extremely confusing, so we just watched. Than we played a  variation of the game spoons it was a lot of fun, but before we could play a 5th round it was my turn to go into the office. By this time it was already 10:45am. In the office the man looked at my passport, put some information into his computer than took all my finger prints and both of my palm prints. After that I had to sign a couple of pieces of paper. In all it took 2 and a half hours from the time I arrived there this morning to the time I left. It was definitely a much more enjoyable experience than that of the Italian Visa office in Toronto, but I still hate all government offices!