"How quickly things fall apart that took so long to put together"

         I am not saying that it is over yet, but I am starting to feel like it is pretty close... My passport was stamped and we received a letter from the consulate of Spain. We were so excited and assumed this must be my visa. My family and I had a celebratory dinner and planned out my going away party. Maybe two days later, AFS called and said that it was actually a rejection letter. We couldn't read it because it was very formal Spanish. They said that we should get this all worked out in a week and that I should be leaving on time. Apparently the lady who we gave the papers to forgot to send one to Spain that said I had a school. The consulate called me a week ago and said they were just waiting on an email back from the school. I emailed the school yesterday, and they replied today asking if I was going to be a teacher or a student at the school. This seems promising. We have two business days left to get this done because the visa has to be her 72 hours before my departure. We will get an email if it ships out, so if it ships by Friday, we should be in good shape.

           I'm not quite sure what will happen if I don't get my visa on time. I guess I would leave as a late departure, but I'm not sure how all that would work out. I just hope it gets here in time, so I won't have to worry about all that. 

On a lighter note, I had my going away party Sunday night. We had it at our family's favorite Thai restaurant here. We had about 35 people, from family to friends. It was great to see everybody before I left. We had mini-cupcakes in the shape and color of the Spain flag with baby Spain flags in them. 

           My host mom and host dad now have a group chat. It's really funny because we are all becoming so close. I'm just casually texting my family throughout the day, and it can become quite comical. 

         

We Skyped the other day, and the connection kept messing up. They couldn't figure out how to say that the screen was frozen in English, so I thought I said it in Spanish. They died laughing, and I just assumed that frozen did not translate very well. Later that night, I was thinking about it and realized I told them the screen was boiling. You can't make this stuff up.

"Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God." -Kurt Vonnegut

 

My family at the beach in Benidorm



Each day, Spain becomes realer and realer to me. For example, my family and I took a trip to Miami for an appointment at the Spanish consulate. My time in Miami was a nice, short vacation. I was surprised that so many people there spoke Spanish. Actually, there are more people that weren't speaking English than those that were. We went to mainly Spanish restaurants, and they talked to us about Spain and to me in Spanish. It also helped in that we got free food!Even though the trip was for getting my visa, we did a lot of fun things too. We went airboating in the Everglades, I hung out with a friend from Miami, and I got to meet up with my bestfriend from elementary school. 





My article in the paper



The actual visa appointment itself was extremely underwhelming. We expected it to be sitting down with someone who would ask me questions about my trip to Spain, but we just had to hand our papers to a secretary. She then gave half of the stuff that was required back to us and said we didn't need it. I hope the visa comes soon, but there is really no telling. It was just funny that we had to drive 8 hours to hand some papers to a lady behind a glass wall. 



I also was interviewed for my local newspaper. They put my picture on the front page and an article about my trip to Spain and my love for travel in it. People have recognized me from work and my parent's friends have seen me in the paper! It is a cool feeling. Here is a link to the article. 

http://www.thebrunswicknews.com/story/printer/CoastalPeopleBlackwell-080513-hr 





Miami





I've also already made some friends going to Spain. I have talked to many of the people that will be spending the next year with me, but the conversations can vary greatly. I've spent the last two nights Facetiming Katrina and Sean. It makes me all the more excited to spend the best year of my life with these people. It's great that not only do we have our family and friends to share our experiences with but also people who are having the same experiences as us at the same time. 



Tonight, my family is having Thanksgiving and the AFS Spain Americans are having a phone call all together with a Spain returnee. With only 27 days left, a little less than 4 weeks, I am going to have to start packing soon and saying goodbye to my friends. I've already gotten presents for my host family. My little sisters are going to be so spoiled since kid's clothes are the cutest. I've already bought them some coloring and small picture books and bathing suits since I thought it was kind of odd they weren't wearing any to the beach. I made a book on Mixbook about my life in the US for my parents and plan to pick them up some Swiss chocolates while we are in the airport.