Visa Application and Cheating at Coffee

Visa Application.
The words that have stricken fear in my heart since Day 1 of this long, paper-work-filled process. I don't even really know why, except that AFS always talks about this part of the process as long and arduous.
Turns out, they break it down into four neat little categories for us (I think). I received the first part on Thursday the 27th. Although it did require a couple of notarizations and apostilles* it does not seem too complex. However, this is only part one of four and who knows what the rest of them will entail (my fingers are crossed for more easy paper-work).
*An apostille (as I recently learned) is a sort of national notarization. Once the document has a state-"sanctioned"notarization, we send it to the secretary of state and they give it an apostille. This means that all countries who have an "Apostille Agreement" with the U.S. accept this document as notarized. (By the way, does anybody know the rule about *'s? I do not know if I should have put this section of the post at the VERY bottom, or if the middle is okay???)
On to less paper-work-y matters.
Coffee is apparently more prominent in teens' life in Spain than it is here. Now, this would be no problem for those of us applicants that actually like coffee. Unfortunately, this is not me. Besides the smell of coffee, I am pretty adversed to it. HOWEVER! (yes, I just made that it's own sentence; I felt like it needed an exclamation point.) When you put one part espresso and one part sweetened condensed milk and mix it up to a desert-like concoction of yummy-ness it is REALLY good. This magically delicious drink/desert is called a Café BonBon, and if I am going to be expected to get coffee socially in Spain, this is what I will order (whether or not it is considered cheating).
Well, that was my take on visas and coffee.
Adios for now!

Rehearsal for Murder

The first part of this post is actually not even close to related to my study abroad, but it IS necessary. (I promise)
OK, so I just saw the IHS school play: "Rehearsal for Murder" (or R4M, as they say in the program for the show). To be honest, I wasn't excepting a lot, I've never been to a HS play, and all I've ever been told is that they suck.
But I was really impressed.
After all the play within a play within a play stuff was cleared up I really enjoyed the ending.
For those of you who have seen it:
**SPOILER ALERT**
I also totally called that the (fake) police officer did it!
**END OF SPOILER ALERT**
Okay, now that I got the my critic side OUT, back to study abroad.
Today, I was calmly watching TV, having a nice, calm friday afternoon, when all of a sudden I started freaking out about leaving for a year and WHAT IN THE WORLD I AM GOING TO COOK FOR THOSE PEOPLE?!?!?!
All of everybody (I think that that is english :) ) says that cooking is a great way to bond with host families. So today, I was thinking about what I'm going to make for them, and I realized: I CAN'T COOK!!!
So, in a panic, I run upstairs and I basically grab the first cook book I find that had any sort of cultural relevance to me and I make crepes. So then for the next half and hour I stress-baked (that's a thing right?) and I was super-duper happy with the results, since even the first crepe turned out good.
But baking (mainly the consuming step) is very therapeutic and I absolutely felt much better afterwards :).
Adios!

OMG I JUST GOT ACCEPTED!!!

So for those people who haven't read the particular Verne novel referenced in the title, stop reading this blog, go to your local library, and read it. 

I don't really know how to blog but here goes:

Earlier today I got an e-mail confirming my acceptance to AFS-Spain. Naturally I was totally calm, cool, and collected :P. 

I decided to start blogging now, because it is becoming painfully clear that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, and I figured I should before I head off to Spain. 

I'm planning on posting weekly(ish) for the duration of my wait for departure, as well as during my experience abroad.

I guess that's it for now,

Adios!