An update...

Well, there still isn't much to report since I'm not actually IN Spain yet, but I thought I would share my first experience on Spanish soil: The Embassy.

I decided to try to make the trek to D.C to file for my visa during Thanksgiving break back in November so that I would have plenty of time before leaving for Spain. Jay decided to make the trip with me, and boy am I glad he did.

It all started with the metro. We decided to just drive to the Vienna station to park and take the metro downtown as to avoid traffic and parking problems. I looked up the fares online before our trip to get an idea of what we were dealing with and concluded that it would actually be cheaper for us to each buy a day pass by a few cents, plus offer us some flexibility.

So at 4am, Jay and I hop in the car (his mother was nice enough to loan us her Beamer which offered a much smoother ride than the truck) and arrive at Vienna station around 7:30ish in the morning. We both purchase our day passes at about $6 each and put them in the little slot at the gate... it doesn't work. After a few tries, one of the attendants or whatever tells us that day passes don't actually work until 9am. I wonder, whose day in D.C starts at 9am? Isn't the metro open at like 4 or 5am?

We bought a fare card with some money and then went along our way, having already wasted both time and money, and set course for the Spanish embassy with all my random documents in my backpack. We make it to the embassy around 8:15am and sit down on the floor of the lobby along with various other students waiting to file for visas once the windows open at 9am.

Jay and I were starving since we hadn't had food since 4am.... so Jay goes out on a mission. He runs around downtown D.C while I waited in the lobby and finally came across a shady Chinese grocery of some kind with a deli. He came back with a couple sandwiches and sodas and we chowed down in the embassy.

Finally the line starts to form and all the kids and parents start to chatter about what documents they do and don't have. Then it dawned on me: I didn't have a money order to pay for all of this. In fact, I was told the embassy doesn't accept any other form of payment at all. Before I knew it, Jay took off running into downtown D.C in search of a post office. He ran into a nearby hotel and beelined for the concierge desk and quite breathlessly said "Post office! Directions! Please!"

Meanwhile I had made my way to the front of the line and was already rejected at the window since I had no other form of payment. The lady at the window informed me that they also accepted cash, but sadly I don't walk around with $100 in my back pocket. I tried to call Jay to let me know that an ATM machine would suffice, but as I dialed the number everyone in the embassy started shouting at me incoherently until finally I realized that apparently cell phones simply aren't allowed. Whoops. No matter, apparently Jay was already sprinting his way back.

Finally I see a very sweaty and out of breath Jay burst back into the embassy behind the metal detector and he hands me the money order. After all of this I give my papers to the woman at the window and she simply says "4-6 weeks. Next!" A little anti-climatic I guess, but at least it was done.

We did a little sight seeing while in D.C, saw the monument, Lincoln memorial, WWII memorial, and also stopped by a little art gallery with some really old Guatemalan photographs. Afterwards I asked one of the museum guys in Spanish for some directions back to the nearest metro station... which was unfortunately about 6 or 7 blocks away.

We were exhausted by the end, but we finally made it back to Vienna and fought the traffic for a few hours which infuriated Jay. We eventually ended up at the Cammarata home for some pizza and a night of Die Hard 4 and some precious sleep before the Thanksgiving madness the next day.

I am still anxiously awaiting the arrival of my visa, but I'm not too worried yet. I still have some time.

I did book my flight already since the plane ticket prices continue to rise. I'm leaving Roanoke airport on February 17th and arriving the afternoon of the 18th in Oviedo. Luckily I got a $500 scholarship from VT for writing an essay or two to help offset the cost a bit. I'll be returning late on June 10th to come back home. The trip to Oviedo will bounce from Roanoke, to Pittsburgh, to Madrid, to Oviedo. However, the trip back will go from Oviedo, to Barcelona, to Pittsburgh, and back to Roanoke. Madness. I have a few multi hour layovers in between, but all in all it doesn't look too bad.

I am hoping to reserve a spot in a hostel I found online in Oviedo, but unfortunately they don't book more than 30 days in advance. As most of you know, I'm in this hilarious situation because apparently they just don't let you book any sort of housing in advance. Basically I just have to show up, find a place to crash for a few days, and then hope they will find someone for me to stay with or a dorm or something.

Meanwhile, I have been giving my luggage situation a lot of thought and have started a list of things to take with me to Spain. I have collected a lot of advice from seasoned travelers and from the internet, so hopefully I'll plan everything out okay.

I got some great gear for Christmas to help me out on my trip!
- A SWEET new digital camera with 10x optical zoom from my Dad (plus a 1gig SD card)
- a map of northern Spain from Dad
- an adapter and power converter set from Dad
- a wallet bag purse from Dad
- A travel book on Spain from Bob
- A different type of travel book on Spain from Mandy
- An inflatable travel pillow and new leather luggage tags from Bob
- some sweet cash from Meredith and Bob to help me out
- a dual time zone travel alarm clock from Jay
- a dual time zone digital watch from Jay
- a really pretty black shirt with a draped like neckline made out of this neat jersey material that won't wrinkle in the luggage from Jay's mom Kathy
- A really nice Spanish/English dictionary from Jay (much more complete than my current one)
- a fun little book called "Hide this Spanish Book" with some slang and situational vocabulary along with some not so nice words.
- Also, Kathy is getting me a nice packable waterproof trenchcoat which has yet to arrive in the mail. I'm sure that will come in handy!

and probably some other stuff that I'm missing because I'm a little tired right now... thanks everyone for all the help!
Oh yeah, and Meredith: You better believe those "educational" playing cards you got for me last Christmas are coming on the plane with me.