I thought the packing was going to be the difficult part of getting ready for my study abroad experience. In my lifetime my mom, dad, brother and I have probably ordered and shipped hundreds, if not thousands, of packages between the four of us for work, school, and travel. My mom says in forty years of travel her bags were lost once but still found within days. The one time, and I mean worst time, for a package of mine to be lost is when it contains my passport with my student visa. USPS said it could either show up in a couple weeks or somehow got so damaged that it would have been destroyed in a furnace and disposed of. Great second option.
I was supposed to leave for Spain in three days. Getting a new passport quickly wouldn't be difficult except I'd have to start the visa process over again which there was no time for since it can take months. Instead of spending hours debating which sweaters to pack like I thought I would be, my preparation for Spain was filled with planning how to get into the country with no visa. First, I assumed the International College of Seville would kick me out and I'd lose all my scholarships for not showing up on time with a visa. Second, I assumed I'd have to enter the country looking like a tourist and not a student with my 150 pounds of luggage for four months. Doable. If worst came to worst my mom and I figured we'd fly to Portugal and drive into Spain with me in the trunk. Joking... Sort of.
After consulting with UH's angelic study abroad advisor, Vanessa Chong, I quickly learned 1. No, I would not be kicked out of school because of this weird situation, and 2. She found a loophole! Upon arrival into the country, tourists' passports are automatically stamped with a ninety day visa that allows them to travel within the Schengen countries for exactly 90 days. Then they have to stay out of Schengen countries for another 90 days. So if I timed everything perfectly I could arrive visa-less, study, and leave Spain within ninety days and not get in any sort of trouble with the government.
Our semester in Spain is 101 days. The International College of Seville was so extremely helpful and was ready to receive me two weeks late to the start of the semester, catch me up on all my classes, give another orientation and tour of the city since I would miss the original one, and have me take my finals eight days early so I'd be leaving Spain on exactly the ninetieth day.
After hearing all of this hopeful news, I booked a passport appointment in San Francisco for Thursday January 30th, one day after the rest of my program had arrived and begun orientation in Spain. I gathered forms, birth certificates, proof of emergency need for a passport, and flight confirmations in preparation for the $500 new passport appointment that would take up most of the day. But at least I'd have a passport and could go to Spain!
The morning of, my phone pinged at 5:52AM with a text from USPS tracking: "Package departed USPS facility in transit to final destination". They found it. By the look on his face, I think I scared the mailman by bolting out the front door straight for him when I saw the truck pull up to our house.
Aside from the weeks of passport stress that landed me sick in bed for a week, preparing for studying abroad was exciting. I chose my classes: International Business, International Relations, Economies of the EU and Spanish Literature for a light 9AM-1PM Monday-Thursday schedule. I am mostly just bringing clothes for cold weather and gifts for my host family. I figured anything simple like a hairbrush or toothpaste would be easier to buy in Seville than lug halfway around the world taking up room in limited luggage space. A United Airlines toiletries kit will be accompanying me until I can get to the store.
I am bringing exactly 23 Euros in cash for the taxi according to advice from the college. They said 23 Euros gets you from the airport to anywhere in Seville. I'm also bringing vintage letter supplies like paper, envelopes, wax sealing stamps, a feather quill and ink, and string to write fun letters to people back home and at UH. I packed watercolours too as my professor, Benito, said there are great scenes people hangout by to paint. As cheesy as it may sound I also watched the forty minute Rick Steves episode on Seville and learned a lot. Definitely worth it.
I'm receiving loads of photos from the ICS coordinators of my friends and students on orientation which is getting me excited to go meet everyone. I fly out tomorrow afternoon completely legally with visa, passport, and all, not in the trunk of a car. I will land in Seville the evening before classes officially start. Thank you USPS.
