After a 6-hour drive to Chicago, and battling Michigan Avenue traffic for quite a while, I have my visa in hand. The pick-up process was incredibly simple, and took about 3 minutes... which was enough time for her to get lost on Lower Wacker Drive. So... that was a fun half-hour of trying to find each other.
As the clock crosses midnight, we'll be getting into the one-month period... crunch time. Not "oh, a little more than a month" or "in September," but "next month" and "in a few weeks." Wow.
It's happening. The visa was one of the HUGE things I had to do to get ready, and now it's done. My only gripe is with the picture... no smile, swollen lip (thanks to me getting beat up on the way home from Red, White and Boom)... awesome. But it has MY name on it, and the correct dates. Nice.
Alright, Spain. I'm coming. Get ready.
8.12.2010
8.08.2010
Packing it All Up
Right now, the countdown sits at 36 days until takeoff from Cincinnati to Philadelphia to Madrid. Can we get things going a little bit? I'm completely ready to take off and get going. Mostly, I really just want to get to Madrid so I can find an apartment. Part of me wishes that I hadn't been so conservative with scheduling my flight... my visa is ready in Chicago, and I'm picking it up on Thursday. That means I could have been out of here much earlier, and in Madrid, looking for apartments.
I have an image of me getting on the plane, sitting next to someone, us both finding out mid-flight (At the dinner break? At the inevitable "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom?") above the Atlantic that we are both language assistants, one of us abandoning the hostel we had planned and running around Madrid together helping each other find a place to live. Not gonna happen... but it's nice to hope.
Instead, I really have no idea what the first few days in Madrid will hold. It will be very tempting to hop on the AVE and go back to Toledo and go to P ícaro or O'Brien's or Circulo del Arte, or Enebro... how could I forget ENEBRO!? Wander around, finally go into the cathedral (how did I never go in while I was there?), and take the last train back without making any progress on the apartment front. No, I need to focus.
I've been packing little by little, slowly taking out a bag of trash a day, or packing up stuff that I won't need for the next year... or probably ever again (like a Rubbermaid container full of sneakers and flip flops that I haven't worn since I lived on Summit three years ago). This week, I plan to pack up my books and DVDs... that's a large chunk of the non-clothing stuff I have to box up. Then it's just time to get brutal and honest with myself--- it's nice to keep tons of magnets... but is it necessary?
I "made" over 50 dollars yesterday by rolling all of my loose change. It will be nice to make that deposit tomorrow... incredibly satisfying. That's FIFTY DOLLARS! That's... 37 Euro (that conversion wasn't as favorable as I thought it would be). This is what the ideal situation would be: have the Euro CRASH in September, so I can get more Euro at first, and then have it skyrocket before my first paycheck, so I'll essentially be earning more. Again, probably not gonna happen.
I have 20 days left in Columbus, and then I'm moving back home for two weeks. Two weeks of packing and unpacking and repacking and "do I really need to take this with me?"... I'm kind of hoping that I can pack once and be satisfied. Not gonna happen.
I have an image of me getting on the plane, sitting next to someone, us both finding out mid-flight (At the dinner break? At the inevitable "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom?") above the Atlantic that we are both language assistants, one of us abandoning the hostel we had planned and running around Madrid together helping each other find a place to live. Not gonna happen... but it's nice to hope.
Instead, I really have no idea what the first few days in Madrid will hold. It will be very tempting to hop on the AVE and go back to Toledo and go to P ícaro or O'Brien's or Circulo del Arte, or Enebro... how could I forget ENEBRO!? Wander around, finally go into the cathedral (how did I never go in while I was there?), and take the last train back without making any progress on the apartment front. No, I need to focus.
I've been packing little by little, slowly taking out a bag of trash a day, or packing up stuff that I won't need for the next year... or probably ever again (like a Rubbermaid container full of sneakers and flip flops that I haven't worn since I lived on Summit three years ago). This week, I plan to pack up my books and DVDs... that's a large chunk of the non-clothing stuff I have to box up. Then it's just time to get brutal and honest with myself--- it's nice to keep tons of magnets... but is it necessary?
I "made" over 50 dollars yesterday by rolling all of my loose change. It will be nice to make that deposit tomorrow... incredibly satisfying. That's FIFTY DOLLARS! That's... 37 Euro (that conversion wasn't as favorable as I thought it would be). This is what the ideal situation would be: have the Euro CRASH in September, so I can get more Euro at first, and then have it skyrocket before my first paycheck, so I'll essentially be earning more. Again, probably not gonna happen.
I have 20 days left in Columbus, and then I'm moving back home for two weeks. Two weeks of packing and unpacking and repacking and "do I really need to take this with me?"... I'm kind of hoping that I can pack once and be satisfied. Not gonna happen.
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