More Visa Adventures

This weekend we (Mom, Dad, Jayln, and I) made the trek out to Los Angeles for my visa appointment, and also to hang out in California.  Our first night there we stayed at the most beautiful hotel called the Millenuim Biltmore, situated right in the heart of the city.  It was built in the 1020's and has been updated, but still had all the original windows, doorknobs, etc.  The lobby and entryway were stunning and it looks awesome from the outside.  The next morning we had the best crepes I have ever had, and started off to the Spanish consulate.

The Spanish consulate was... interesting?  We found the building that it was supposed to be in, but didn't find a sign or anything so we were a little confused.  Later we found the sign, and it was probably five inches long, one inch tall, and hidden on a window pane behind the rest of the signs for the building, kind of funny actually.   When we got up to the actual office, let me just say I was the only blonde in the whole room.  I guess I'm going to have to get used to that!  We talked to several different people while we were waiting, and each had different visa horror stories to tell, each with varying levels of frustration.  Still we weren't worried, we had everything we needed and it was going to go soooo smoothly.  ha. ha. We got up to the window and handed the lady all the things she asked for, but then she started asking for things that definitely were not on the list.  Apparently there was fine print on the bottom of the list of paperwork that stated there might be other things needed.  Seriously?  Would it be that hard to tell us what those other things are? So they took the paperwork that we had and our money of course and we need to send in the rest.  Yeah, 6 hour drive and tons of frustration and I still don't have my visa.

The rest of the weekend went really well.  We mostly spent time with my parents friends from medical school and their kids.  We watched the tail end of a surfing competition at Huntington, hung out at the beach, and went scuba diving at Catalina (which was amazing, by the way).

p.s.

I just got some exciting news! My host family lives in the suburbs of Caceres, and since the adults' jobs and Carmen's activities and school were all in the city, they rented a flat in the city center.  We will live there during the week and on the weekends we will go to the suburbs house.  I am so excited to be in the middle of the city!
I'll keep you all posted!

Bailey