BARCELONA, for the books and for the sun!

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Tanned and Sore

I got back from my 5-day kayaking/camping trip on the Apostle Islands. It was a blast. We were on alert for black bears but unfortunately (or fortunately) we didn't encounter any. 5 days without running water or electricity. 5 days without internet, phone signal or even a watch. Each day started around 7am and I was usually the last one to get up. (Actually I didn't know what time I woke up, I went to bed or when I did anything. The sun definitely was my guide.) Breakfast, morning paddling, lunch, afternoon paddling, dinner (the best meal especially after a day of paddling), weird stories around the picnic table, and back to the tents for a good night sleep. We saw amazing sea caves, 3 shipwrecks and even my first bald eagle. Plus, attacked by mosquitoes (my experience in Taiwan taught me to always wear long pants), got sunburned, followed by spiders, been spooked by other nearby campers, ate thimbleberries that we found along the trail, lost my tiger balm that I bought for my sore arms, and got soaked by the sudden downpour right after a dinner. It was amazing to see how we could fit two days worth of gear and food for 14 people in six kayaks when we paddled to the outer islands for our overnight trips. I love being so near the water, especially the open waters. The trip affirmed my passion for water. In my previous life, I must have been a daughter of Neptune.

The Wilderness Inquiry people are awesome, and so are the other campers. I met a woman who was visually impaired but who is physically active. She even does competitive cross-country skiing. Among the group there were 3 school teachers (including my two tent-mates), a psychologist, a NWA flight attendant, and 3 boys.


I also spent 3 days in Twin Cities before and after my Apostle trip, visiting the Mall of America (boy, isn't it huge) and Lake Como (the place where I learned to walk 25 years ago). Learned how to fly an F-18 (but couldn't land it on a carrier, only on land) and had dinner at a Bubba Gump (remember Forrest Gump?) restaurant.

A great pre-MBA vacation. Only if it was longer. I got less than a month before I fly to Barcelona. Still got many other things on my to-do list. What's next?

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Visa: In Process


I'm back from my San Francisco trip. Quite an experience. Found a hostel near Union Square. Took a cruise with a friend at Fishermen’s Wharf to see the fireworks. Hay mucho frio.

Got up early on Wednesday and walked to the Spanish consulate. Got there at 8:30am. There was already a line of ppl waiting outside and I was #18 on the signup sheet. At 9am, the consulate staff came and took the signup sheet. So basically, if you came after 9am, you couldn't get yourself on the list. There were two people that came out of state (one from Washington and another from Alaska) who had return tickets for the afternoon who arrived after 9. Cannot blame them, 'cause the consulate's website showed the visa officer hours as 9 to 12. Don’t know if they successfully got their visa applications in. As for me, everything went smoothly except for one thing. My clearance letter. It is not enough to get it notarized; I need to get it legalized by the state government. Something about the Apostille of the Hague Convention. At least the good news is that I can have the letter sent in after I get it legalized. Whew. I ran down to the post office in Macy's, got the paperwork sent to Olympia via express. Hopefully I'll get it back next week to send it down to San Francisco.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Go Visa!

I am so near to giving up. This whole visa application process is driving me nuts. I don’t get it. This past Friday, I missed the DHL delivery of my confirmation letter (the one I need to have in order to apply for a visa.) So, chasing the clock, I ran (drove, actually) to the DHL dock near the harbor and followed the yellow DHL trucks (ducks) to their depot (nests) and finally got my package. Anyways, I’m going to San Francisco on the 4th of July in order to be in the consulate on the 5th. Currently, I’m trying to find a cheap last minute plane ticket and a hostel to stay at. Even before actually starting the program, the cost of my MBA degree is accumulating at a fast rate. (I got my credit card statement with my Kinko’s VC room rental charge for the interview.) Hopefully I have all the documents needed so I won’t have to fly to San Francisco again later. I got a classmate who flew to the Chicago a few times just to apply for the visa. And another one (an American in Germany) had to fly to the States and Switzerland to get the necessary documents.

To give you an idea of the visa application process, here is a list of documents required:

1. Three Schengen visa application forms
2. A Valid Passport for a Minimum of Six Months
3. Three recent passport photos on a white backdrop
4. Proof of admissions as a full time student as Spanish Universidad.
5. Proof of financial means for period of study in Spain
6. Clean bill of health (physical and mental) issued by your General Practitioner
7. Individual or group travel health insurance
8. If studying 6 months +, a certificate by police authorities indicating an absence of a police record.
9. $100.00 USD
10. Additional Requirements may apply.

I have #1. On the last page of the application, it's a full page of Spanish. With only 3 years of very broken Spanish under my belt, of course I cannot understand anything. But thanks http://babelfish.altavista.com/ now I can understand almost all the fine prints.
#2, very straight forward but annoying. It takes 45~60 days to get the visa and I'll have to leave my passport with the consulate during that time. Meaning, I cannot travel. Well, I'll have to spend another month in Seattle drinking Starbucks. (Wait, I don't drink coffee.)
#3 No problem.
#4 Will receive this once I send in my deposit.
#5 Well, there are some things I can do in Seattle. For example, visit a bank.
#6 Simple task.
#7 Same as #4
#8 This is the fun part. Needed to go visit the police department. I’m a good citizen. Got a clean record.
#9 Racking up my debts
#10 Please, oh please. No surprises, please, when I fly down to San Francisco to visit the Spanish consulate.

After visa, there is housing. Need to find a place to live. Not too far from the school. But not too expensive. Biggest problem, I'm not at Barcelona now. All I can do is search online. *sigh* I miss Wellesley's guaranteed housing.

Since don’t see myself having the chance to go back to Taiwan this summer, I’m going to order the Rosetta Stone’s Spain Spanish program. Hopefully I can regain all the Spanish I learned back in high school and college. Es extremadamente caro. Pero necesito un buen programa. Me gusta la pronunciación componente. Espero que sepa hablar como un nativo.