John “Hannibal” Smith , the cigar chomping leader of “The A-Team,” had an oft repeated catch phrase throughout the four history of the show which provided the title of this post.
Whenever Hannibal uttered the phrase on the show, it was rooted joyous exhalation; a signal that no matter the odds, The A-Team would pull through and get the job done.
In a lot of ways, I can truly identify with Hannibal’s catchphrase because, for a brief moment in time, it appeared as if this trip was not going to be a possibility for me.
Flashback to about a month ago.
It seemed like a typical Monday. I went to class on the Syracuse campus and also ran a few errands that I had to get done. Everything appeared to be going normally, until disaster struck: my passport and my wallet had somehow fallen out of my inside pocket of my leather jacket as I was walking around getting things done.
An amalgam of thoughts raced through my brain as I attempted to process what had happened. I know realized that getting everything replaced would be a huge hassle, and, moreover, I knew that getting a new passport in time for the trip, which was a month away, was going to be quite the process.
Over the course of the month of April, I had to obtain various documentation to send off in order to obtain a new passport. This was a particular laborious process, that seemed almost endless. First, I had to get a certified copy of my birth certificate from the state of California in order to get the process going.
After waiting for its arrival, the ball could finally get rolling in terms of sending out the passport application. Once the application was sent out, weeks passed until I received any further word about its status.
After what seemed to be forever, I finally received notice via email that my new passport existed. However, I still needed to apply for the visa in order to go to India.
That process went relatively smoothly, but, I still had nagging doubts that the passport and visa would not arrive in time.
Finally, on May 9, only three days before graduation, SU Abroad notified me that my passport and visa had arrived. I was elated! The long process was over, and now, India seemed even more tangible.
Things came together, thankfully.
We all leave for India tomorrow (!). It’s amazing that we are going on this journey abroad. I can’t wait to get started and see what we are going to do while we are over there!
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