Going CRAZY!!

As you can probably guess, I'm still waiting... and I'm going absolutely insane! 

On the outside, I'm fairly calm, but inside & when I'm alone, I am freaking the hell out.  Here's my update:

So, I called the FBI on Tuesday.  I wanted to check the status of my background check since it has been 7 plus weeks since I sent it.  The website, at the time, said it would take 6 weeks.  Anyway... After a 15 minute hold time, the woman got on the line to say, "Your application is in progress."  Pause... I said, "Is that it?  Is that all you can tell me?"  To which she replied, "Yes, it could be up to 10 (TEN!) weeks from the time of receipt before it is completed."  Guess what that means?!  August 18th!!!!  Are you kidding me?! 

THEN, this morning, I called the State Department of Authentications to check on the status of their authenticating my health certificate.  I'm honestly not sure if I was talking to a human or a very intelligent machine.  The beginning of the "conversation" started with something to the effect of, "This is an automated answering service for the office of authentications...."  A machine, right?  This bitch of a machine could answer questions so quickly & had a reply ready so fast that I thought it was someone I was actually talking to.  Now, I've read a bunch of blogs about people in the same boat that I am right now... They all say to "mention that you are a part of the program" and that it might speed it up.  So, I asked the machine, "Will it help if I say that I a part of the languages assistants program in Spain?"  To which she quickly replied, "Will it help if I tell you that a man's house burned down & he's trying to figure out what he needs to do next in order to survive?"  My jaw dropped.  This machine... I wanted to kill it.  I simply fought the machine back with, "I don't need any attitude, I am simply very lost as this is my first time dealing with anything like this & I have no idea what to do."  "I thought I was helping you," is what the machine said.  I hung up.  Victorious against that damn machine.  Or not.  I think the machine kicked my ass. 

So... as of right now, I am sitting in a position where I am going to have to fly to DC in order to get my background check authenticated.  I simply do not have time to wait for the US postal service.  It sucks.  Awfully.  I am crossing my fingers & hoping like crazy that the health certificate & background check will be in my possesion by the beginning of August.  Then, I can fly to DC, get my background check authenticated, and then fly to Chicago for my first visa interview.  FIRST visa interview.  After that interview, I must wait another 4 or 5 weeks for them to process my Visa.  Keeping track?  That's mid-September.  I need to be in Spain by late September.  I guess, technically, I don't have to be there until October 3rd.  However, I still need to find a place to live, go to orientation, and get acquainted with the city & my obligations prior to all of this... This is going to be an adventure.  An adventure that I am going to loathe at the beginning.

Damn, I'm frustrated.  I'm trying hard to keep a calm head, but this is difficult.  On top of all this, I can't get any response from my school in Andalucia.  I want to talk to someone before I go over there & there is simply nothing... NO ONE is replying... NO ONE has any good news for me... Will I get to Spain?  Will this blog even be worth it?  I suppose we'll see...