All for a little piece of paper...

Total miles traveled to NYC and back ... 256

Total hours spent on trains ... 6.25

Total spent on obtaining student visa ... $264.36

Total spent on subway fare ... $16.00

Minutes spent in the Spanish Consulate office ... 25

Times we looked at either an a) subway map or b) city map ... too many to count

Times we got lost in the city ... 0 (yay, us!)

Number of Starbucks establishments we came across ... too many to count

Number of coffees consumed ... 3

Number of "Ray's Pizza" restaurants we saw that claimed to be both "the best!" and "the original!" ... 4

Total hours spent on this visa-obtaining journey ... 16.5


... spending a day in NYC, knowing that my student visa is on its way = priceless and wonderful!

En Granada, lo que tú quieras...

Located just an hour drive from the coast (Costa Tropical), Granada also sits at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. This unique location makes it possible to both ski and swim on the same day... a fact that Granada is famous for! The city is the capital of the province Granada and it's part of the autonomous community of Andalucía. Granada's population fluctuates, what with it being a largely student-populated city, and it's measured anywhere from 250,000-350,000. (Students, both Spanish and foreign, make up between 20-25% of the city's total population!) It's also located near the cities of Sevilla and Málaga and it's within a 4 hours drive of Madrid. Granada has a great climate that ranges from a sunny Mediterranean summer to rain and moderate temperatures in the winter.

Granada has a rich and fascinating history. The city had been settled by moors for almost eight centuries when it was the last Moorish town to be conquered by the Christians (Los Reyes Católicos, Isabella and Ferdinand) in 1492. The city's important Arab roots are still very visible, especially in famous monuments like the Alhambra and Generalife (Moorish fortress and palace) or the Albaicín, a beautiful neighborhood that contains a mixture of typical Mujahardín and Spanish architecture.

As you all already know, I studied abroad in Granada from early January-late May in 2009 and I have just 75 more days until I'm back! I bought my plane tickets last week- I'm flying BOS-MAD-GRX with Iberia on Saturday, September 18th. I can't wait! I have my appointment at the Spanish consulate in NYC coming up... hopefully that goes well and without a hitch! Wish me luck...

I just knew that sooner or later...

...I'd encounter the first set of "roadblocks" in the process of obtaining my student visa for teaching abroad in Spain. (I should have known that things were moving along too smoothly!)

So... last week I was able to schedule a doctor's appointment to get my medical forms for CIEE filled out and my letter of good health for the Spanish Consulate written and signed by my doctor. Went into the office on Tuesday morning, went back to pick up the paperwork Wednesday afternoon. Easy. Simple. No problems.

I shouldn't have expected the same easiness to apply to the Consulate's "police background check" requirement!

Okay, so, the Consulate in NYC requires that I go to my local police station (or, in Ellington's case, my local state trooper's office) so that they can run a criminal background check on my name and, seeing that nothing comes up, write me a letter or "Certificate of Good Behavior". Once I receive this, I am to send it in to Connecticut's Secretary of the State's office where, after paying a fee of $40, they will stamp it with the "Apostille of the Hague," a special authentication thus making my background check legal for use in Spain. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Right. Well, at least that's what I thought. Two weeks ago, I went to the trooper's office where the sergeant (luckily, a very pleasant man!) ran my name through the system and agreed to write and sign my certificate of good behavior. A few days later, I picked it up from the office and filled out the order form for the Apostille. I wrote the check and sent it in to the Secretary of the State. Simple. Done. Right?

Wrong.

So, last Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from the Secretary of the State's office telling me that the certificate had to be notarized before it could receive the Apostille. I was a little upset at not having known this requirement, but thought, okay, I'll just take it to the town clerk or any bank and have them notarize it for me. Well, I've never had anything notarized before and assumed that it was just some stamp for legalizing signatures. I should have known that the notary official needs the person SIGNING the letter to bring the document to be notarized, not the person RECEIVING said document. I found out this morning when, after arriving at the bank and asking for a notary official to legalize my document, the woman told me "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you need the trooper who signed this letter to come in to notarize it, you yourself can't."

After all the stress that I've been going through, worrying about this stupid visa, I just nearly started crying in her office from the sheer frustration of it all. So... not knowing what to do, I went back to the trooper's office. I couldn't believe that I had to ask him yet another favor... and this time with a notary requirement involved! I didn't want to put him out or cause him an inconvenience! But, like I said, the sergeant was very nice, and after hearing my story and how necessary this was for my teach abroad experience, he agreed to drive down with me to the town clerk's office to have his signature notarized. I thanked him about a million times and then went on my way.

So, I get back to the home where I'm babysitting (more on that in a bit) and I find the following email in my inbox from CIEE: "And in visa news… it seems consulates are migrating from the local/state background check requirement to FBI background reports/checks, much in the way they are slowly migrating from the Schengen Visa Application to the National Visa Application. At this point participants are catching on that consulates can make changes quickly and without notice." What?! I have to now, after going through all that trouble to get the local background check taken care of, get an FBI background check?! My appointment with the Spanish Consulate is on Thursday, July 22nd and FBI background checks can take up to 12 weeks to come back to you! Definitely NOT going to work for my situation. Luckily, though, after panicking for a few minutes about yet another problem, I checked on the NYC Consulate's website and its FBI background check requirement doesn't go into effect for student visas until October 1st. However, I'm going to start the process for the FBI background check, too, just in case. As I've come to find out, the consulates change their requirements all the time and without notice (or rhyme or reason, for that matter...) I just hope that now I have everything in order!

A little bit about CIEE...

So, I promised in my last post that I'd talk a little bit about Armilla, Granada and CIEE. Today, I'll talk about CIEE.

CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) is the program through which I'll be working and traveling to Spain this September. It's been around since 1947 and its mission is "to help people gain understanding, acquire knowledge and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world." Currently, CIEE has teach-abroad programs in Chile, China, the Dominican Republic, South Korea, Spain and Thailand.

I can't take credit for stumbling upon CIEE; I only discovered the company thanks to one of my Stonehill friends, Stephanie Kudlate. Steph graduated one year before I did and spent this past year living and teaching abroad with CIEE in... and here's the kicker... Armilla, Granada! (Yup, that's right... Steph taught English at the exact same school at which I'll be teaching! I couldn't believe it when I found out... such a small world, really!) Anyways, Steph's a lot like me in the fact that as soon as she returned to the U.S. after studying abroad in Granada, she, too, began looking for ways to go back to Spain after graduation. She discovered CIEE and has had a great experience teaching through their program. When I told her about my plans to return to Granada, possibly as a graduate student at the University there, she suggested that I look into CIEE for a more economical way of getting back to Andalusia. Long story short, I researched CIEE and really liked what I saw. The program in Spain only offers placements in Andalusia, and while there was no guarantee of getting a teaching position in Granada, I thought that being placed anywhere in Andalusia would be better than not returning to Spain at all. And as you all already know, luck was on my side- while Armilla technically isn't in Granada-central, it's basically as close as I could have hoped for!

CIEE's teach abroad programs vary depending upon a few factors. All of the programs have differing lengths that span from five months up to a full year. CIEE's program in Spain spans eight months with teaching assignments starting on October 1st and ending on May 31st. However, I'll be in Spain a little longer because I'm heading over in mid-September and plan on staying until mid-June... mid-July... mid-August? (While I'd love to spend next summer abroad, I'll just have to wait and see what my a) Dad and b) finances have to say about my length of stay, haha.) 

 Furthermore, a lot of the programs differ in aid provided by CIEE and actual teaching responsibilities. Technically, I am going to be working abroad as a "Language and Culture Assistant." Here's a quick snip-it of what exactly that job title means: "As native speakers and experts on the U.S., assistants stimulate the students' interests and greatly improve their oral communication abilities. Program participants may work with entire classes or with small groups of students to develop speaking, listening, reading, writing skills, and cultural understanding. In many schools the teaching assistant also teaches English to members of the school staff." I've found a lot of great online resources and books that will help me prepare for the teaching position this summer, and right now I'm weighing the pros and cons of taking an online TESL course.

If you're interested in learning more about teaching abroad with CIEE, check out its website!

Some thoughts...

Well, it's been a full week now since I graduated from Stonehill College on May 23rd. Since then, I've been busy at home, seeing family and friends and starting up work again (finally, a little money in my bank account, woohoo!). Everyone's been asking me "So, Katie, how does it feel to be a college graduate?!"

Ever get the question: "So, _______, how does it feel to be one year older?!"

Well, for me at least, the answer is exactly the same: it doesn't feel any different!

I feel just about the same... nothing special. No "Wow! College graduate!" thoughts. To tell you the truth, I think a part of me is still in denial about the whole thing. It hasn't quite fully hit me that come the end of August, I won't be packing up my car and heading back to Stonehill. The fact that that stage of my life is over and done with is one that I'm having trouble letting sink in.

One thing sure is sinking in, though, as the summer starts up- the reality about actually returning to Spain. The "Yay, I'm going to Spain in three months!" feeling at the same time as the "Holy crap, I'm going to Spain in three months..." feeling. I applied to CIEE's teach abroad program, I was accepted and I sent in the program forms and fee. What?! I actually did all that?! This is really happening...?! Everything that I'm feeling and thinking is completely indescribable... but basically, what it all boils down to is the fact that in just three and a half short months, I will be boarding a plane to Granada and will begin living and teaching abroad until next June!

Wow... I've never been so excited or so scared to do anything in my life!

Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get back over to Spain. My semester abroad in Granada last spring was the best semester I had in college... I loved the places that I traveled to and the activities that I partook in. I made wonderful friends from around the world and developed an amazing relationship with my host family. I loved the constant frustration and exhilaration of learning (and, when you really think about it, living) Spanish every day. I can only imagine what I'll learn, see and do in these ten months abroad!

That having been said, I'm still really nervous about this whole "teaching" thing. Everyday I seem to question my ability as to whether or not I'll be able to hack it over there. I just want to do well... not so much for myself but because I'm actually going to be responsible for students' understanding! I went to the library the other day and checked out about four books on teaching... no joke... and I have plans to make a trip to Barnes & Noble soon to buy some books on TESL. If I can accomplish one thing this upcoming year, it will be to instill in my students some of the same passion for languages that I have... even if it's just one student! I love studying Spain and its language and culture, it never ceases to challenge or amaze me- colloquial phrases, grammar, vocabulary, holidays, food, ins-and-outs of everyday life in Spain, etc., the list goes on and on. I only hope that I'm able to do that about English while I'm teaching abroad. It's a lofty goal, especially for one with no previous teaching experience, but we'll see!

Yesterday I traveled up to MA to visit a good friend for her graduation party. As I was there, surrounded by our friends and all her family, I started to think about how much I would miss everyone while I'm abroad. I've never been one to get homesick in the past, but I also know that ten months is a long period of time to go without seeing friends and family. Thank God I'll be with my host family again this time around and that some of my friends from Spain will still be in the country (at least during the holidays). Although... who knows who else I'll meet within the next year!

Alright, enough rambling for today, in my next entry I'll talk a little about CIEE and Armilla, Granada!