Woot woot!

Oh yeah, baby! I've got my plane tickets and I'm flying out on Saturday!

Somehow it doesn't seem real until the flight is booked.
Would you believe that I just got the tickets this evening?
And that's only because I wouldn't stop harassing the recruiter to book them.
He kept telling me, "Oh, it's no problem, there are plenty of seats. We've got time." In fact, I think those are exactly the words he said to me over the phone last night.

My response was, "Yes, I understand. But I would like to know when I'm flying out..." So he finally gave in and called the travel agent to book my flight. Lo and behold, there weren't any seats available for Friday night.
Hmmm...maybe it would have been wise to book the tickets more than four days in advance? So he said he would book them for Saturday. He told me that he would book them the next day (today) and send me the itinerary.

And he did! I fly out Saturday afternoon. They've booked me nonstop to Seoul (flying time is just under 12 hours), so I will arrive Sunday evening.

Yes, I know. Saturday afternoon + 12 hours does not Sunday evening make.
But Seoul is 17 hours ahead of PST, so we're talking Saturday afternoon + 12 hours + 17 hours. AKA Sunday evening.
Kinda trippy.
It'll be cool on the way back, though. I'll leave Seoul, fly for 12 hours, and get to Seattle 5 hours before I left.
hehehe

I'm going to get back to packing - I'm actually way ahead of the game and may not end up scrambling around the night before, hurling things haphazardly into suitcases.

Hmm..that'd be nice.

Tomorrow I'm going up to Seattle for my visa interview.
They'd better accept me, cuz hey - I've got plane tickets.
It seems to be more of a formality than anything else. I just have to try my best to not act crazy, and they should give me a nice shiny little stamp in my passport.

Of course, the shiny little stamp takes 24 hours to process, so unless I can sweet-talk the interviewing officer into speeding things up and returning my visa'd passport to me tomorrow, I'll be schlepping back up to Seattle on Friday to retrieve my little blue book.

Including the trip to the airport, that would make three trips to Seattle in as many days. For anyone who hasn't noticed the price of gas recently - it ain't cheap.
Here's hoping I can charm the folks at the Korean consulate...

I know that I have been woefully remiss in my blogging lately.
I would apologize, but it's my blog - I do what I want.
Also, I haven't seen you folk commenting recently, so... yeah.

There seems to be something about coming home that sucks the blogginess right out of me.
Call it catching up with family and friends.
Call it slow internet access.
Call it laziness.
Call it what you will.
But I can tell you right now, that new adventures breed blogginess.

Well, new adventures and comments.

So the new adventure are coming, now it's up to you, citizens of Townsville! Comment away and watch the blogs of new adventures pour in like...
like...
blogs...

Errr... right...

Onward!!

More pictures- -part 2

Apparently there is a limit of how many pictures you can use in one post. So this is a continuation of the last post.
Elida and me in front of Drumheller Fountain.

Elida and me driving around in my car.

So that's it for pictures. We hung out at the UW campus for a little while, then went to the Bellevue Square Mall. On Friday I met her and Jerome (along with a friend of hers and a couple of friends of his) at Beso del Sol for some salsa dancing, but I left my camera in the car. That was a lot of fun, too. Essentially, then, much fun was had in little time - because that was all we had. Although we didn't have long together and it would have been nice to be able to spend more time with Elida, I am thankful for the time that we did have.

I realize that this post has basically just been pictures- but hey - I'm in the midst of Post-Finals-Crash - you guys should be grateful that I'm posting at all.

So in closing, it's midnight and I work at 5:30 am, so I'm closing. Bye.

More pictures

Okay, people, so I'm finally posting pics of my time with Elida. Due to our schedules, we didn't get to spend a lot of time together. But she flew in on Thursday, May 18, and after touring downtown Seattle with Jerome, they picked me up near the UW campus so we could all have lunch together.

Elida! I took this picture of her right after they picked me up.
Elida and Jerome in the sushi restaurant.
Elida and me in the sushi restaurant. This is Suzzallo Library, one of the two main UW libraries, and Red Square (although it doesn't look very red and it isn't at all related to communism).
This is the quad. A couple of months ago the trees were covered with cherry blossoms. However, I don't have a picture of that.Another picture of Red Square. Still not red or communist.

A bit of seriosity for a change

Wasn't quite sure how to spell seriosity, as I just invented the word. I'm pretty sure I'm going to start using it, though. Seriousness just has too many s's in it- unless, of course, you're a snake. Cobra- feel free to use the word. I did imply that this was going to be a serious blog, though, didn't I? Back to that, then.

Oh, how the time does fly. It's hard to believe that I have now been living in Madrid for nearly 7 months. And I don't want to move back to the States. I'd like to go back for the summer to visit, but then return to Madrid in the fall. Unless something drastic happens, though, this is not going to happen. (Raul- that's a subtle hint for you: Go ahead and propose already) I have one year left at the UW, and I don't think I would be able to graduate next spring if I came back here in the fall. That's okay, though. I like Seattle, too. Once I get over the reverse culture shock, I'm sure I'll be glad to be back.

So, I have just over a month left in Madrid and over two months before I return to the States. I know it's going to go by ridiculously fast. Especially because of how busy I'm going to be: This weekend (April 21-23) I go to Granada. Next weekend (April 28) I go to Berlin, then to London (May 4) to meet my family. We'll all be there together for 2 days, then they come back with me to Madrid (May 6) and they're here until the 11th. The following weekend my roomate moves out and it is my last free weekend before finals. I was thinking about going to St. Petersburg, Russia that weekend, but that might have been the last straw in the coffin..er..the nail that broke the camel's back? Then I have 2 weeks of finals (May 20-30...yuck). At some point in the two days after my last final is over, I move out of my flat. On June 1st I go on a hike called the Camino de Santiago. It is a pilgrimage to the city of Santiago de Compostela, which is believed to be the burial place of James the apostle. For more information, click on the link above. The section of the hike that I will be doing covers a total of 170 miles. After which, I come back to Madrid for 3 days (May 13-15), go to the farewell dinner for my study abroad program, and get a little rest before going to Morocco for about 12 days. I'll return to Madrid on or around the 28th and head back to the States. However, on the way back, I may or may not be stopping in Munich to visit Hannah and I may or may not be stopping in New Jersey to visit Christin and my other friends out there. Right, so, that should keep me busy.

When I get back to the States I get to figure out where I'm going to live for the summer- Centralia or Seattle (not to mention with my parents or my sister). At some point during the summer I need to find a place to live in Seattle, get a job, and buy a car, not necessarily in that order. Hang on, I'll also need to take care of the bureaucracy end of studying abroad (getting all of my credits transferred and such) and register for classes for autumn quarter. So, yes. I am looking at the months ahead with a little bit of trepidation. I'm going to be going on a Transition Rampage.

I'm not really worried, though. Mildly apprehensive, maybe, but not worried. I know that God will take care of me; He always does.