In good news,

[3rdragon]

I actually heard back from the Spanish Consulate today. I was beginning to wonder about them. You see, on their website, they tell you to call between the hours of 9am and noon, Monday-Friday to make an appointment to apply for a visa. I was going to call them on Tuesday, only I missed the before noon part until I checked the website again Tuesday afternoon. So I called them on Wednesday morning and got though to the Bilingual Answering Machine of Doom, which told me that if I wished to make an appointment, I should e-mail them at such-and-such an address. After a wrong try (do you know how much 'dot' sounds like 'at' and vice versa if you say them both quickly with a Spanish accent?), I managed to e-mail the consulate. So for the past two days I've been waiting to hear back from them. This afternoon I finally got a form letter in response, misspelling my last name, telling me a great many things I already know, and the fact that if I'm e-mailing to make an appointment, I should include:
Full name, telephone number and the purpose of travel.
My date of departure to Spain,
Permanent residence address,
College address in USA, because I am a student.
Nacionality,
Permission to return to USA, -(Alien Residence Card (Green-Card) or residence visa valid in USA (except B-1, B-2).

And a link to the website. The one that says to call them between 9 and 12 Mon-Fri if you want to make an appointment. I e-mailed them back with this new set of information, and hopefully this time it'll get me through the outer shell of bureaucracy into the even more complex and dizzying layers inside. Hopefully. Don't hold your breath, though.


Maybe I'll e-mail s-m b now. She'll be a nice antidote for Slowness in Answering E-mails.