Despite everything being clean, my mother decided to wash the clothes I had given her. Thank goodness she did! She found it and my Dad messaged me about it. I proceeded to say some unsavory things, ones that would’ve made a pirate chuckle. We talked a little about it, and my Dad shipped the passport to me the next day, but things are never that easy.
My Dad shipped it on Monday and FedEx recorded it as delivered on Wednesday morning. Normally, with packages the post office on campus emails you and tells you which location to come to. I decided to not wait for this on Wednesday, but after it not being there I decided to wait Thursday out. Afterwards school closed for the Easter holiday until today (Tuesday). So this morning I went to the post office and they pointed me to another place called Central Stores where FedEx picks delivers to. They didn’t even have a record of anyone signing for it! Not only that, but on proof of deliver the name listed “S Smith” (Smith for confidentality). Well, an “N Smith” works at the office and he was there, and stated that he didn’t remember signing for anything. I was then told the drivers tend to know the people inside so they sometimes just write their names down to make things faster.
After talking with the people there and frantically messaging my Dad trying to search for information needed to get a signature image, the people there called FedEx and told me it would be a few hours until the signature came through. At this point the signature was really the only thing that would’ve helped that office track it, so I went back to my flat to get lunch and complain to flatmates. After I had eaten, I went to almost every front desk on campus asking for information. A lot of it was conflicting, but most of it pointed back to the office waiting for the signature. At one point I went back to them and they still hadn’t received anything. Then I went back to my dorm to try and speed up the process by contacting FedEx on my end, no luck there either. At this point I had an hour until the office closed, so I decided to go back.
On my way back I decided that my day had been unlucky enough, so I would be optimistic. This lead to me going to the copy center/post office where students send things from (Yes there are 3 post offices) and exchange some Pounds for Euros. I then had to wait 10 minutes for the girl in front of me who was sending off a batch of ebay sold items, all of which had to be weighed and then had some information entered into a computer. Getting my Euros however, was easy and then I was on my way.
Following receiving my Euros, I went to the office helping me, and the first of the two men there, “N Smith”, turned to me and said “I think we have your passport. It just came in.” FedEx had just delivered it! He then told me that he said he thinks the package was damaged in transit.
The FedEx envelope had been ripped open and there was nothing inside the card board inner section. Deflated I said I didn’t see anything, they then turned the package over and I saw an imprint of a passport in the plastic. “N Smith” pointed at it and re clarified something he had said earlier making me feel a little stupid for not having noticed. The good news is that little shape in that strange hidden plastic bag was indeed my passport! Just in time for me to leave for Europe tomorrow! I know this description isn’t the best, but my I wasn’t exactly thinking about taking photos to show y’all why all this was going on.
The rest of the day, I relaxed by: seeing if I could get a haircut (I couldn’t), doing laundry, packing, and going through photos and working on this blog. Hope you all had a better day than I did, and if not remember what I always tell myself in these horrible circumstances: “It could always be worse.”
Until next time,
Reed
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Read more from Reed at https://reedingatcolchester.files.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the Exchange program with University of Essex, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/essex
