Back from Chennai. The US visa interview was simple and short. I suppose since 10 students had already been interviewed so by the time our turn came the officers were quite friendly and chit chatted with us. We will be going on a B1 visa. For my Indian friends the issuance visa was $50 but its valid for 10 years! That's so cool and for me, being a Kenyan it turned out to be $20 however, validity is just a year. In future, when I have to go again, I will have to go through the reapplication once more... quite a hassle, but let's see when and if I get to go again.

The itinerary has been finalized. We will be leaving from New Delhi on the 29th of September. It will be a non-stop 18 hours flight to Newark International Airport. Our accommodation has been arranged at the Holiday Inn International Airport, Newark. Thank God it’s quite near to EWR as we would be frazzled out. 1st of October would be free so I suppose we would settle in, do some sight seeing. I am already checking out the tourist attractions and museumsJ. Call me an oldie, but I believe Museums call tell you a lot about a place and it’s people.

We get down to business from 2nd. The companies we will be going to are NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange), UGA Global, Dow Company, Sanofi Aventis, Citigroup and the UN. These are in New York. In Washington DC we will be visiting the World Bank, IMF and IFC. A good mix of commercial and financial institutions. A lot of foreground work will have to be done on each company, the history, business practices etc before leaving for USA. I will begin once I’m done with my trim exams on the 20th September.

Alright then let me go and prepare for my Micro Economics paper. It’s at 10.00 am and I have 3 hours to go. Take care... Till next time.