Eleven days

The countdown has officially begun before I take off for Spain!

So in preparation I've spent the last week travelling all throughout Texas saying goodbye to friends and family, which has been wonderful. But now I'm stuck away from home. I was supposed to be headed back to Houston tomorrow to really start packing, but Hurricane Ike has put a stop to that. Oh well, we'll see just how skilled and quick of a packer I am when I finally get back down there haha.

And just a quick not to anyone who may be applying for student/work visas in the future:

An Apostille of the Hague is essentially a notarization of a notarization - confused much? I was.

Basically, if you've had anything notarized, like a background check, the apostille says that the notary you used is legitimate. If you're from Texas you get an apostille from the office of the Texas Secretary of State. If you mail it in it takes around 10 business days, if you take it there yourself it takes about 15 minutes. Don't put it off to until the last minute!

Here's the Web site with the phone number and everything:
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml

Also, be nice to all of the secretaries you have to deal with at all of these offices - they can be your best friends if you're stressed for time!