1,000 miles, 5 days, 4 kids, 3 friends, 2 husbands, and 1 tired Katie... Part 1.

On Wednesday, I began the big journey to Atlanta to visit the Consulate and pick up my visa. Originally, I was going to drive to Atlanta in the wee-hours of Thursday morning and head straight to my 10:45 appointment. Luckily, I have friends that are smarter than me AND live in Atlanta! Jessica, told me to come on down Wednesday instead. What a good friend, especially considering her plate is kind of full right now, oh you know, she and her husband, Bert, are moving in less than 2 weeks, she has a beautiful and silly 2 year old, the most precious 8 WEEK OLD and a 31 year old friend who is more than happy to stay with her whenever she offers! I'll blog about my visit with them on a different post.

I started my journey by heading to the travel clinic and getting my yellow fever vaccine. The school said they reccomended it and my first response was "There is no way that I am spending $150 on a shot." A couple of days later, I got curious about it and googled, yellow fever. Needless to say, the next day I had scheduled an appointment. If you would like to know what it involves click this link.

On the way down, I stopped off in my old stomping grounds, Chattanooga. While I was there I made a trip to my alma mater. Even though I graduated only 8 years ago, it looks like a completely different campus. There are more buildings, new buildings, and the college enrollment is double of what it was when I went there. The narcissist in me, likes to think that this is mainly because of me and my work in the Admissions office. Yes, I was the person who gave the campus tours! ;) And, yes, I can still walk backwards while talking like a rock star. Now, walking forward while talking is a completely different story. However, I am pretty sure that I cannot take credit for the growth of campus, physically or enrollment wise.

I also stopped to see my old sorority house. I couldn't go in but it was still nice to see that she was still there and lookin' goood! This house helped me form some of my most fond memories in college. It is funny how as I look back on college that I cannot imagine not being a part of that group of girls. They were my friends, roommates, and secret keepers. And I love that I am still close with many of them to this day.

I spent many a days at this house and many a Monday nights on this swing (however, I don't know why we never put cute pillows on it like they do now).

On Thursday I barely made it to the consulate in time. I left Jessica's house at 9 am and arrived a little after my 10:45 (mind you without traffic it should take you 30 minutes). Luckily, that is kind of the Brazilian way, but it did make me very happy I didn't try to drive in to Atlanta that morning. After a quick meeting where I dropped off my documents and my money order. I was told to come
back at 3pm. The consulate is located in the Lenox area of town; if you know anything about Atlanta, you know that this area is where the best malls are! So, I spent most of my down-time doing just that. I headed back to the consulate and picked up my visa at 3 but in Brazilian fashion, it was ready at 3:30. haha! But, I've got it and now can get my airplane ticket for my departure date of July 21st!!!