Passport applied for!

Well, Friday we applied for Josie's passport. They kept her birth certificate to send with the passport application. It cost $110 for the passport and $25 processing fee. The passport should come in the mail in 3-4 weeks. Once it comes in we will have to take it to Chicago to apply in person for a student visa for Spain. Unfortunately, Spain requires the visa to be applied for in person. With each step we move forward, the more there seems left to do.

Yesterday Josie and I went to Iowa City to meet with the District Outbound coordinator for Josie's district interview and for more information. So much information and that leads to even more questions. In 2-3 weeks we find out what city in Spain Josie will be assigned to and what school she will attend. Josie will attend the same school for the whole year, but will stay with 2-3 host families and will stay with each family 3-4 months.

We are seriously considering hosting a student while Josie is gone. I think it would be great if we could be a first host family and if we are lucky Josie would still be here when the student arrives and Josie could show him/her around. This may also help me cope with Josie leaving. :(

Josie has started a blog, feel free to check it out at http://walkinginjosiesshoes.blogspot.com.

Sweet 16!

My daughter Josie turned 16 yesterday! YAY!!! She now has her driver's license (she's had a student driving permit since she was 15) AND last Friday she heard from Rotary that she has been accepted by Spain for Foreign Exchange. There's still a lot to be done before she would leave in July, August, or September, but it's exciting to have a country! I've been searching for blogs or any information from anyone that's been a foreign exchange student to Spain and I found one and haven't been able to keep myself from reading it (There's a link to it on my blog homepage).
Josie will apply for her passport this Friday (it's Tuesday, Feb 8) and I'll let you know how that goes. We were going to apply for her passport earlier, but you can apply for an adult Visa once you turn 16, so we thought it better to wait a couple weeks and get her an adult visa instead of a minor one.
This whole process seems a bit overwhelming, but I have no doubt that it will pay off once she gets to Spain. We are told that the whole process will cost about $5,000. And then there's Rotary meetings and trips and traveling expenses and spending money and the list in my mind goes on and on. But it all seems a small price, if you can swing it and we are more than willing to try!