Moving to Spain

¡Hola! This is my first blog post about my trip to Barcelona, Spain!  I have not yet departed, but one week from today I shall be on a plane to BCN, where I will live with a host family while teaching English at a local school.  I am so excited and a little nervous. My Spanish skills are a little lacking. So far I can say things like "No hablo espanol" and "Me gusta la cena." Perhaps that will be useful.... who knows?  I'll learn. ;)

It is amazing how quickly time has passed since I found out I was accepted into the CAPS program (Conversation Assistant Program for Schools).  I was notified of my acceptance on December 4th.  From that day forward, I spent every moment of every day either working or running errands to obtain my visa.  It was costly and time consuming, but in the end it paid off.  I flew down to Miami on Christmas day, had my appointment the following morning, and yesterday the visa arrived.

Some advice regarding visas: get started as EARLY as possible and do not waste a single moment until you have handed off your documents. It can take several weeks for your visa/passport to be mailed back to you.  Each country has different requirements and so does each consulate/embassy, so you must do your research and read carefully.  Make calls and send e-mails.  It pays to ask questions.  I'm pretty sure I ended up getting documents I did not even need, but better safe than sorry.