All systems go!

 I will soon bid adieu to this side of the Atlantic.

After ten years of saving, four years os developing a plan, and six months of paperwork, it looks like I am really going to Spain! I was notified by the Spanish consulate in Miami that I had been assigned an appointment time.* This entire process had been somewhat opaque, so I wasn´t quite sure it I had been approved, or if I´d need to provide extra documentation and have an interview. I arrived an hour early, walked around the block until the right time, and then presented myself, clutching my color-coded, labeled, translated (but never stapled) documents. After verifying that I did, in fact, have an appointment, my passport was taken and I was sent to the waiting room. Forty-five minutes later, they handed me a passport with the visa glued inside and wished me good luck. And that was it! I had braced myself for an ordeal, having heard stories of other consulates, but all for naught.

So, wheels are turning. I plan to leave for Spain in early July. In the meantime, I need to pack up everything in Gainesville, say goodbye to the friends I´ve made here, and do a few more trips to DC and Ohio. Oh, and research approximately a million things: how to open a bank account, how to register with the police, where to buy second hand furniture, how to ship my things to Madrid... Stay tuned for more adventures in bureaucracy!

*The exact phrasing was, ¨We are awaiting you on Tuesday, May 9." It just tickled me to picture them resting graciously until I was granted an audience with them.