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 a little better, but then homesickness kicked in and I half-thought about flying home with my mom (there’s no way I would have done that, but the thought did cross my mind). Luckily, after a good night’s sleep I felt much better in all respects.
After my mom left on Wednesday, I spent the next couple of days recovering, fighting a cold, organizing my apartment, doing some shopping for necessities and food, and watching Big Bang Theory (dubbed in Spanish for practice) on Netflix. I also spent some time with my family who live outside of the city. Today is Saturday, and it was pouring down rain most of the day, but I had some more errands to run. My big task of the day was to find a notebook to bring to Spanish classes that start on Monday. They had a small selection at Servei Estació (which is a decent-sized, 7-level hardware/electronics/home goods store, that sells many things, although a bit pricey), but I wanted to see if I could find an actual office supply store, somewhere that sold notebooks that were not only more reasonably priced but had lined paper instead of grid paper, which is apparently a thing here. So I used my trusty Google Maps and searched for some places, and decided to go check out Folder Papelerías which is about 2 km away. If it hadn’t been raining I probably would have walked there, but instead I grabbed my umbrella and took the metro. It was about 4pm when I got there and the streets were empty (probably due to siesta time, or the rain, or both) and it was quite peaceful. My route took me up Carrer de Corint, which is not actually a street but a pleasant pedestrian pathway.
On my way back to the flat, I found another little store called Wolala that reminded me of a combination of two aisles of Target and a RadioShack, it had some of the things you could find at Servei Estació but at cheaper prices, I bought a small bamboo cutting board for 2€.
Tomorrow should be a clear day and I’m thinking of renting a bike to explore the city some more. Pics to come! Follow my insta @wineandpassports!
Wow! Good post!