The last couple of months have been a whirlwind. After Tel Aviv in late May, I continued Spanish classes for another couple of weeks. Then, for 2 months (up until last week) I was traveling almost the entire time. It was a busy (and fun) summer, with my friends visiting from the US for 2 weeks, as well as my aunt a separate 2 weeks almost immediately after I returned from Stockholm in late July. I'm realizing it's really hard to work on a blog when you are on the road... Here's a quick summary of the places I visited: Amsterdam, Netherlands (3 times - once for my birthday in June, once for a music festival planned months in advance, and once with my aunt who really wanted to see the Anne Frank house (and I’m so glad she wanted to, it was worth the 2 hour wait)) Italy - Lake Como, Florence, Amalfi Coast (where I drove a boat for the first time and drove the precarious roads of the Amalfi Coast in a rental car with Sarah) Rome, Italy (solo trip where I went at my own pace, saw amazing ancient ruins, ate delicious food and saw how terrible the city bus system is) Spain - Ibiza, Marbella, Pamplona (where I saw how terrible bullfighting is) London, England (where I ate a proper English breakfast, jogged through Kensington Gardens and saw some questionable outfits at Wireless Festival) Copenhagen, Denmark (where I rode bikes in the rain with my friends, ate delicious food at Copenhagen Street Food, and saw the beautiful Louisiana museum) Stockholm, Continue Reading
¡Estoy en España!
It's been so long since I've posted that I almost forgot how to update my blog. Thank goodness for Google. ? So 4 weeks after I had applied for my visa, the consulate e-mailed me and told me it was ready and that I would have to bring my passport along with my travel itinerary for them to issue the visa. I scheduled to pick up the visa February 6th and back to San Francisco I went with my passport and a print out of my flight details. It took just a few minutes and I walked out with a visa affixed to my passport with the date I was entering Spain. Now that I'm actually in Spain, I'm discovering that the next part of the process, obtaining my NIE card (an ID card for foreigners, which also permits my residency for up to a year), is also no easy task. The visa in my passport is actually only good for 3 months, you have to obtain the NIE card as well as part of the process. But that's a blog post for another day. I've been here for 9 days now and am staying in a small 1 bedroom flat I booked on Airbnb. My mom flew out with me and stayed for 6 days. We had a great time exploring the city, doing the touristy things, visiting the sights, shopping, eating tapas, and visiting family. Unfortunately the last day she was here, when we were supposed to go shopping and to Sagrada Familia, we were both sick from some bad seafood we had eaten at my aunt's house the night before. Aunt was also sick, so we knew it was something we all ate. After sleeping until 3pm, I woke up feeling Continue Reading