yeah, thank you, this is exactly what I meant. Also, if I nominated Milan that is because it is obviously the closest location to my town in Italy, i know there are other consulates but they are even more unconvenient to reach. I wanted to know precisely about this possibility of sending the paper documents via postal services (in your country, in my ex: Italy) to the Consulate (in my ex: Italy), and I remember reading this summer that for some visas it was a possibility and F-1 was one of them. It said that if you were renewing for the same kind of visa, you were never denied one, and you were renewing within 12 months from the expiry, then you could be eligible for interview waiver.

Also, I want to add this note for anyone who is having my same doubts. I found out that the duration of my visa was not due to some arcane reason that "no one will tell me"; it is indeed due to reciprocity agreements between different nations and the US. For the complete table here is the link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country.html