Yes, FOURTH time, not third. There was an October 20th departure date that came and went...it was too depressing to blog about. Then there was some general confusion about switching countries, in the event that our visas never got approved. It wasn't until we ETAs started requesting our passports back that the VZ government decided to issue our visas (hmmm, note to next year's ETAs, maybe that's the way to get things done). Our visas were approved the day we were supposed to have departed (the 20th) and the ensuing week was spent coordinating schedules and departure dates. My passport arrived in NC when I was up in Boston; my parents called to tell me the good news. All that fuss over a little piece of paper!
Looks like it's just going to be me in Caracas this year, since we lost a couple of ETAs. We're down to six - fond farewells to Jules and Cara who were snagged by Ecuador and Brazil (those lucky countries!) I'm nervous to say the least but the embassy has been great working to help me find housing (yeah I DEFINITELY lost that other house mentioned in the last post). My institution has been really wonderful about e-mailing me these last few days - can't wait to meet everyone!
So it's off to enjoy Halloween and see if I can't convince my friends to hang around and say goodbye ONE MORE TIME! As much as I've hated living in limbo the past 6+ weeks, I can't pretend I wasn't grateful for the extra time at home. Got to see the Wolfpack become bowl-eligible (shout-out to the powers that be for an EXCELLENT game versus FSU last night), got a GREAT trip up to Boston to watch some rowing, and (I'm saying this preemptively) enjoyed an epic Halloween weekend!
