after spending most of yesterday on the phone and faxing i've had to settle for this solution:

i can't get a delivery service to work as fast as would be needed to get a duplicate of the document i lost to me before sunday when the new flight was scheduled for.. the only help the american embassy in sweden could give me (after at least 23 phonecalls spread out throughout the day and two faxes that i had to walk through town in rain in just my SHORTS because i didn't have time to change into long pants to send from my mom's work) was "some people have brought a copy of the document in the question and gotten in."

he further elaborated that this sometimes is accompanied by a $100 fee. there's no guarantee at all that i would be let in, and there's just as much of a risk that i would show up at the airport and get sent back to sweden and have to find a new plans while being considerably more broke.

"we don't recommend anything in particular - it is your choice if you want to risk it"

so, the decision has been to reschedule the trip *again* - it is now scheduled for next saturday. expressmail will take 3-4 days to deliver the proper I-20 to me which means it should be here sometime around tuesday, but i booked the trip for saturday to give it all week to arrive.

m(r?)s shumate at nccu is sending me the document today through express mail. i was worried about missing 4 days and being dropped and tuition and all but she calmed me down and said that anything that has to do with the school she can take care of and for me not to worry, so i'm going on that. so, as it looks now, i'm stuck here for little over a week, but should definately be able to go next saturday (21? i think). blah. stress. bah. if this doesn't work out, expect a lot of muttering along the lines of "wing. staple. forehead."

isn't it cute? i call him billy.

9 days (??) til i MAYBE leave sweden