Post 4: Visa finally approved

Simply put, the past week has been crazy.

Last Thursday, we found out that I would be spending another weekend in the USA, so my school decided that it would be best if I attended until I left. Because of all the problems we were experiencing, my school didn’t want me to run into problems when I returned for senior year. I was given a schedule Thursday afternoon and told I would start school the next day.

I was really nervous about going back to my school, because classes were about 10 days into the year, which meant I would be really behind, and I knew that everyone would be asking me why I wasn’t in Spain. My teachers were extremely welcoming and understanding of my situation when I started on Friday. However, some of my teachers and I were a bit confused about what I was supposed to be doing. We weren’t sure if I was supposed to catch up on the work I missed or if the work I was doing even counted.

After we got things cleared up, I was pretty much expected to just jump into whatever material the other students were learning in my classes. Trying to pick up after missing 10 days was really difficult and stressful. I didn’t have the review or background from the days I missed to just jump in. Rightfully so, my teachers expected me to put an effort into my classes, but this was frustrating to do because I felt so lost.

On my first day, my Spanish teacher from last year, Señora Kriebel, let me come to her Spanish 2 class during my lunch. Also, Señor Vidal, the AP Spanish teacher, told me that I was welcome to come to his class during 4^th or 5^th period if I had a lunch study or lunch. It was a great feeling to know that I could go to a class that didn’t stress me out or make me feel lost.

Since I didn’t hear any news about my visa being approved on Friday, it meant I would have school on Monday. My second day was actually worse than the first, because I received bad news in first period. My host mom texted me saying that AFS Spain told her my visa wouldn’t be ready this week, so they were putting my departure off by a week again. I was so bummed out and just wanted to go home, so I could get away from being stressed about school and my visa.

Tuesday was much better than my first two days of school, because I was finally starting to grasp the material from my classes. I had to make a math test, which I’m pretty sure I did poorly on, but I tried to not let it bother me. It was only my third day of school, so I decided to take my mom’s advice and give myself a break.

Ok now for the good news… We had off from school today (Wednesday, September 23^rd, 2015), but I woke up around 8am, and I was SO happy that I did. Hoping for good news, I always check my email when I wake up. Today I finally woke up to AMAZING news: my visa was finally APPROVED! I was so excited that I started crying, and when I called my mom, she started crying. I immediately emailed AFS to notify them, so we could begin planning my new departure.

It was wishful thinking, but I was hoping that AFS could book a flight tonight, so I could be in Spain before Friday. I can’t remember if I explained in a previous post or not, but my host family is leaving for a 5-day trip to Italy on Friday. If I wanted to make it before their trip, I would’ve had to leave today. Obviously that didn’t happen, because I’m currently sitting in my room typing this post. Although AFS explained that they are 90% sure of my new departure date, I’m not going to write the exact dates here, but I will say it’s next week. When they give us confirmation tomorrow or Friday, I’ll update my blog. I don’t want be disappointed again if it gets delayed for some reason. However, I don’t think it should, because my visa is safe in the hands of AFS.

Since my school is aware of the latest news, we decided that tomorrow would be my last day, so I have time to be with my family and prepare to leave. Tomorrow will only be my fourth day of school, but I do have to say, if I weren’t studying abroad this year, I would’ve had an amazing group of teachers.

Today was probably the second best day of my life (the first being when I found out I was selected to study abroad with my best friends). I can’t even describe how excited, relieved, and happy I was. Throughout the entire day, I was trying to do homework, pack some things, and other stuff, but I couldn’t focus because of how happy I was. I was just so relieved to finally hear that my visa was approved. For a while, it felt like I wasn’t going to study abroad, since the problems kept getting progressively worse.

However, today has wiped away all of my worries, and now I can look forward to joining my best friends, Nolan and Brittany, in Europe. I was texting them for much of today, and we couldn’t contain our excitement. I feel so lucky to have such amazing best friends.

Halfway through today, my cousins Keke and James came over to hang out for a bit just in case my wish of leaving today came true. For dinner, my Mom, Meme, and I went to Chipotle to celebrate, and then my friend Tori came over with coffee ice cream (my favorite) and a goodbye gift.

I’m so thankful that everything has finally worked out. I’ve had the most wonderful people supporting me throughout the past weeks. Now it’s time for to get on with my journey of studying abroad in La Coruña, Spain! I’m looking forward to the day when I can update my blog in Spain instead of the United States.

Abrazos y besos,

Taylor Young