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Hello all,

As some of you might know, I had to cut my adventure short. As of now I am back in the States and doing well. Still trying to get my health issues sorted out, but I feel better being back home. Below is a post I made to Facebook a few days before leaving that kind of sums up what was going on. Now that I have better internet access, I'll post a link to some more pictures. 

-Jeremy (aka Yeremi)

Dear friends,

For those who have not yet heard, I am leaving Spain this Sunday (27 May) to return home to the States. I know this is quite sudden (I only finalized my decision this morning) and could come as a surprise, but I feel this decision is in my best interest.

The past month or so, I have been going to different doctors, clinics, and hospitals with stomach problems. Each medical professional made suggestions on what it might be but I have never received a definitive answer. Along with these stomach problems, my anxiety, something that plagued me in the past, has been increasing. For the last few weeks I have been suffering from bouts of anxiety, stomach pains, and the associated physical symptoms. After much consideration of my health, I think that it is best that I return home to hopefully improve my anxiety problems and therefore allowing my doctor to better treat my stomach problems.

That said, I can safely say that I will not have any regrets returning home now. With all certainty, I have accomplished everything that I set out to do, and then some. I remember my biggest fear coming to Spain was my Spanish abilities. Not to say that 4 years in high school and two in college didn't prepare me, but I vividly remember my first day in Madrid trying to tell my hostel's address to the taxi driver. In comparison, one of my proudest language moments in Spain occurred less than a month ago when I was able to successful talk to someone in Spanish on the telephone. While this might sound silly, I assure you this is not a feat to be laughed at. At this point, I definitely do not consider myself fluent, but I am extremely pleased with the progress I've made over the past 8 months.

Besides increasing my knowledge of Spanish, I was also nervous about how my work would proceed. Thankfully this went well. I have loved nearly every minute of working with my students and teachers in my schools. Thinking back to the first days and hearing my students speak now, I know that my work helped to improve their English skills. If nothing else, my students can now respond to my habitual question of "how are you guys?" without a puzzled look and some Spanish side discussion as to what I said. I've also enjoyed working with my other auxiliars. Kyle, Tremaine, Afeefa, Aaron, and Nat are some of the most patient and passionate people I have ever encountered.

Of course, I was also nervous about meeting new people in such a foreign environment (pun intended). Thus, I also want to acknowledge all the friends I have made in this experience. With all honesty, I would not have made it past the first week of Spain without all of you. I would name you all, but there are so many of you and I would hate to leave someone out. I consider you all very good friends of my mine and I hope that no border will keep us from keeping in touch.

Thank you also to all my friends, family, and loved ones back home for your support. I'm sure I've talked to many, or all, of you sometime in the past 8 months with some sort of gripe and I want to thank you for listening, or at least pretending to listen.

In addition, my time in Spain wouldn't have been as pleasant without my flatmates Tiffany and Felipe. Everyday you guys helped me to see the world a little different and I was constantly learning from you both. Plus, you're both awesome.

As for my last few days in Spain. Tomorrow I bid farewell to my school, students, and teachers. Followed by a lot of packing and meeting up with some friends throughout the day. On Saturday I am going on my final day trip, to a city called El Escorial. Then finally on Sunday, I catch a 9am flight that arrives 9.5 hours later around 1pm in Charlotte, N.C.. Finally, I have just a two hour flight from Charlotte, after a three hour layover, which should get me to Detroit around 6pm.

I just wanted to share with you all this short, disjointed, farewell to Spain and collection of my thoughts. I'll post some more thoughts at a later date in my blog, most likely when I'm in the States.

These past 8 months have been a time of my life that I will never forget. Absolutely no regrets.

First Crisis (Adverted) and Synopsis of First Adventure

 

First, my apologizes for the neglect. I’m sure my five or so readers have been wondering what has kept me. I blame it on my last few weeks of work and getting stuff ready to leave. I promise to do better.

Today we adverted the first of many crises that I’m sure that I’ll experience before and during my adventure. Two days ago, the webcam on my laptop failed to work. Seeing as I’m planning on using Skype to talk to family and friends, a webcam is quite the necessity; in addition, my laptop was only three months (and three days) old at the time, so a hardware failure could be the sign of things to come. I contacted HP today, they offered to repair my laptop, but it would take a minimum of 6 business days, time that I cannot afford. Given this situation, my best option was to backup my files, wipe the hard drive, and return it for a new one. Unfortunately, Costco has a strict “no electronics return after 90” policy and my laptop was purchased 93 days ago. As you can see this became a problem. However, thanks to the wonderful people at the Roseville Costco (shout out) I have a new, better, computer in hand. So hopefully this computer can make it through the adventures I’m about to throw at it.

Tomorrow we (the laptop and I) venture to Chicago to pickup my passport with the affixed Spanish student visa. Now some of you might be thinking, why a student visa?, I thought you were working in Spain. Well great question folks, my best explanation is that the program considers us as continuing our education (probably to avoid taxes) and because of this, we need student visas. I’m sure student visas also take less work on the Spanish government end, both from issuing and providing us the necessary paperwork, and if I know one thing about Spain, their bureaucracy tries to avoid work. The following video may help illustrate this conclusion.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of you may also be asking, “why do you have to go to Chicago to get your visa?”. Again, another fine question, you guys are great! Well the answer lies in how Spanish visas are processed. To apply, you must follow the protocol of the Spanish Consulate that has consular jurisdiction of your residence. The Chicago consulate has jurisdiction over Michigan, thus I must make friends with them. Chicago requires the following documents for a student visa:

• National Visa Application Form, plus (US Citizens: 1 PHOTOCOPY). Before being copied, the form must be signed and filled out in print. Illegible or incomplete forms cannot be accepted. Information on date of arrival in Spain #21 is essential.
• US citizens: Original Passport signed by the bearer and still valid for at least 1 more year from the date of application, with at least one blank page to affix the visa.
• Proof of residence in this Consulate´s jurisdiction Photocopy of ONE of the following: U.S. Driver´s License, U.S. State ID Card or Voter´s Registration Card.
• Recent standard passport  photographs: US citizens: 2 photos. GLUE one photograph to each visa form.( DO NOT STAPLE THE PHOTOGRAPH)
• Proof of admission to Spanish Academic Center as a full-time student, from the Spanish Center or U.S program, indicating nature of studies and registration number of the center of studies with the Ministry of Education (if not registered, state so)
• Proof of financial means for the period of stay in Spain, proof could be:
• Proof of Medical/Accidental Insurance with international coverage, Written confirmation from insurance company of a valid health/accidental insurance with full international coverage in Spain and rest of Schengen countries with a minimum coverage of $37,000. Or Travel/accidental insurance coverage for the entire trip.
• 8. Medical Statement (only if your stay is for more than 6 months ) : a doctor’s recent statement (issued within 3 months from the application date), on doctor's or medical center's letterhead, indicating that  "the student has been found to be free of any of the illnesses that may have serious public consequences, as described and established in the International Health Regulations of 2005".
• Non-refundable visa processing fee. Money Order ONLY, payable to the Consulate General of Spain. Personal checks, credit cards nor cash can be accepted. US citizens: $140.00.
• If period of study in Spain is longer than 6 months, FBI Background Check notarized and legalized by the "Apostille of the Hague" (Local police background checks are no longer accepted as of June 15, 2010). If the applicant resided in a country other than the U.S., then you must present Certificate (s) by Police authorities of ALL PLACES where applicant resided during the more than six months during the last five years, as to absence of police record. If the country is not the U.S., the certificate must be legalized by the Spanish Consulate in that country

Of these items, only the italicized items are provided to us by the program, everything else is up to us. The majority of the items provided no issues, fill this out, staple this, take a picture, pay this, but, the FBI background check proved to be a whole adventure in itself.

To receive the proper FBI background check one must: get fingerprinted, fill out form to FBI (including a note for them to certify the results), wait 6-8 weeks for said form, pray that you don’t have a record, fill out State Department form, attach completed background check, give State Department a $8 check, send background check to State Department, wait the estimated 8 days, begin freaking out after 2 weeks, attempt to call/email them, begin process again with hopes of getting new background check to friend in D.C. to do walk-in service, receive background check after 4 weeks, mail new background check to friend, receive processed background check from the State Department hours later (after 6 weeks), ask friend to send forms back, and finally you get to relax. In that process I missed a visa appointment, forcing me to reschedule twice.

After acquiring the documents, one must come to Chicago. Many consulates will allow out-of-state persons to mail in documents, however the Chicago consulate likes to meet you. So one day last August I drove 6 hours, paid $26 to park for four hours, dragged my body through the record setting 106 degree heat, found the consulate, turned in the paperwork (took all of 10 minutes), decided to go to Art Museum for culture (mainly to cool off), and then drove the 6 hours back home with some photocopies of your documents, that you made, and missing your passport. Chicago completed my visa in about 2 weeks, and now it’s time to return to retrieve my passport con un visado. So today, 9/13, I’m flying from Detroit to Chicago at 10 am, picking up my passport and visa, hopefully spending some time in the city, and returning home to Detroit at 4 pm. Believe it or not, the flight is cheaper and, obviously, faster than the drive to Chicago. Advice: fly to Chicago Midway if you need to go to the city.

In a few hours, read 8 pm, I should be posting a picture of my visa, meaning successful completion of my first adventure. If you don’t see said picture, I may still be struggling in red tape, send help…please…