The Early Bird Does Get the Worm

September 16th

We did it!

Waking up at 5:00 had paid off as we made it to the police station by 5:30 and were numbers 6-9 in line.  The police station didn't open until 9:00, but we put our names on the unofficial list and did homework under the glow of the streetlights.  The waiting actually went pretty fast and when the doors opened at 8:30 to start the official number distribution, I helped get everyone into a line.  

The unofficial list that we had, was started by the first person who arrived in the morning.  We had made sure that everyone had put their name on the list so that we were all committed to it.  Once the police came out to distribute numbers, everyone had sprinted to try and cut and receive an earlier number.  My friend and I grabbed the list and while telling everyone to calm down, we started to read out the names on the list.  I delegated this list reading responsibility to an older woman that no one had the heart to mess with.  Our system actual worked, and we assembled ourselves into a somewhat civil line.  

Once I was actually in the police station at about 9:15, the whole process took less than 20 minutes.  We went straight to the information desk to receive our processed papers.  We were then told to go to a bank and pay for the form and come back to do the subsequent steps.  We were given a number to come straight back inside.  We ran over to the bank and no one was in line.  We paid and were heading back to the police station in less than 5 minutes.  In the final line, we were fingerprinted, given our receipt and told to come back in one month.  Thankfully, we won't have to wait in the outside line for our third visit, just come straight in.  

I was really excited and relieved that we were able to finish so quickly.  Granted we had waited a total of four hours, but the fact that the paperwork process took no time at all was well worth it.  The day before, we had talked to people who had spent 8 hours to complete this second step.  We even made it back to our 10:00 class on time.

I had learned something from the bureaucratic visa hell that I had endured from March to June earlier this year.  Think positive, be patient, and go with the flow.

After class, I caught back up on my sleep with a siesta and then met up with my monitore group to go to a great tetería (tea bar) in the Albaycín that had a panoramic view of the Alhambra.