This week started in a crazy manner and it continues to be like this. And it will be like this until the last day of it. It's my week off from work (kind of), and so far it has been fruitful in terms of preparations, which makes me happy as the steps towards departure are finally being done.
So starting with the beginning, I woke up on Monday morning at 6 a.m. in Milan and packed in a hurry to catch my 9 a.m. flight on Orio al Serio. Il Pesce drove me to the airport as usually, check-in, coffee, brioche, luggage check and here I am at the departure gate. Not surprisingly, due to the intense fog that was still around, all flights were delayed. Mine finally departed around 10:00 and I arrived home 1 hour later than planned. I spent the rest of the day finishing my presentation for the Film Marketing conference I'm attending in Paris on Friday.
Yesterday, it was time for run run run and get things done. What I managed to do:
- spoke to the leasing company and received my custom tax invoice, with the final final amount that I have to pay to finally become the owner of my car. Panic. The invoice is due TODAY.
- spoke to my scholarship office at the University and announced I will come with my bunch of documents
- spoke to the National Health Insurance House in order to figure out what exactly I need to do to get that damned European Insurance Card that I will need for my residence. According to the lady I spoke to, I will make the request as an employee, which means I need a document from my employer that states that I am an employee and my contributions are paid... for the last 5 years. Piece of cake by now. Only that my current employer has been my employer for only 2 years. And no, the Insurance House cannot check by itself what happened in the past. So I have to bring a separate document from my FORMER employer, stating that I had been employed there (for the other 3 years) and that my contributions had been paid. Lucky me, I had only ONE former employer for those 3 years. Ah.. and as all this wasn't enough, I also have to bring a copy of my labor booklet (I should mention here that labor booklets are no longer valid but luckily I have it at home so I was able to make the copy).
- spoke to our chief accountant to fill in the document
- spoke to the HR department of my former employer to fill in the document
- went to the scholarships office at the university and brought the bunch of documents that will ensure I will actually be paid that scholarship while I'm a visiting student in Milan
- went to my former employer to get that document (I was impressed of how fast they were in filling it in and giving it to me)
- returned home for lunch
- went to the head office of my current employer to get that document
- went to my local tax office to ask if they can see that my annual tax being paid in another city is visible in their system (otherwise I would have to bring a document from there to state that the annual tax was paid). Panic: the office was closing at 16:30 and it was... 16:30. Obviously the door was already locked.
- went to the police station to declare the damage on my car's right-front door. The police man laughed to my face saying that "accidents with unknown author or cars found damaged in the parking are no longer being declared to the Police, Miss. Go straight to your insurance company." Great, considering that my optional insurance (which can cover the repairing of the door) expires TODAY.
- back home to call the insurance company, to make an appointment for my damage report. Panic. The call center for damages was working until... 16:30. It was 16:45. I also have to mention that I don't actually give a damn about that damage, there's not anything actually damaged other than the outside look of my door but... I'm afraid to travel outside the country with a damaged car, because who knows, maybe the police people in Austria or Slovenia or Italy will stop me to ask me what that is about. If anyone knows if it's ok to drive a "not so very good looking" car in these countries, please let me know, this way I'll take "fixing my door" out of the "to do" list.
So that was yesterday.
TODAY, on the other hand, still a bunch of things to do:
- call the insurance company to schedule the damage report
- get my custom tax invoice for the car paid (did I mention I am lucky to have a brother? :D)
- go to the National Health Insurance House with my papers for the European Insurance Card
- go to the local tax office (again)
- prepare for tonight's event that I will attend at work, and go to the event
- return home and give my car to the service guy for the annual general check-up, oil change, filters change, and who-knows-what-else change. This in order to make sure it won't break down any time soon (and also because, ok, I haven't done the annual check-up for 2 years, so... I think it's the time to actually do it).
- pack my bags for Paris and go to sleep at a hopefully decent hour.
Because yes, tomorrow, PARIS HERE I COME!! :D My flight departs tomorrow morning at 06:10, so I have to be at the airport at 04:30. I'm so happy to see the research group people again and I'm excited about my presentation. And I'm also excited to see my friends in Paris and to travel with one of my best friends ever. It will be my last trip before really entering the "austerity budget" period, so I better get the best out of it.
I'll be flying back from Paris on Sunday evening and then I'll be flying for work to Targu Mures via Cluj on Monday morning, taking off at 07:35, and returning the same evening... making this my 6th flight in 10 days.
Lessons learned and useful info:
- the National Insurance House (Bucharest office) works until 14:30
- my insurance company works until 16:30
- the local tax office works until 16:30
- you need papers as a proof for other papers (lots of them)
- whoever said that Italy is a bureaucratic, slow moving country, with lazy state employees, should try living in Romania for, let's say, 1 month. And then we'll talk about this again :)
Things I will still need to do
- go to the insurance company to declare my door damage
- go to the leasing company to get my papers for the car registration
- go to the car registration office to register the car on my name
- buy the winter tires and put them on (damn this winter!!! and damn the snow and the stupid law of having winter tires... but I guess I have no choice since I'll be travelling 3 countries with my car...)
- fix the car door damage (really, do I really need to do this? DO I???)
- change my birth certificate (in case the "comune" will ask it for residence). This needs to be done in Constanta, which is my birth city, but luckily, it takes 3 hours to get there, 2 hours to get the document, and 3 hours to come back.
- prevent myself from going INSANE (Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Milan with Christmas lights, Il Pesce, Il Pesce, Il Pesce...)
All in all, I shouldn't be complaining that much, and I'm really glad we're in the European Union... I don't want to think of the MANY other things I would have had to do if I was American. (so I'm glad, at this point, that I'm not American :)).
Love,
La Reina Rana :)
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