distance schmistance

For the last year or so I have been enamored by this word: distance. A dear friend's quote under her Facebook profile picture (when that was the layout way back when) was "laughter is the closest distance between to people." I do not think of distance in terms of meters or miles or feet but instead in something else. Perhaps I measure distance by effort. Or willingness. Or ability to demonstrate love.
   For the last week or so, I have been struggling with the idea of how exactly to put these feelings into words. I do not want to have a depressing post, but I also want to express something that's really been heavy on my heart, especially these last two weeks. I spoke on the phone with an ATT representative who gave me some really great news. She told me that any incoming text messages are included in my unlimited text plan. THAT MEANS YOU CAN TEXT ME FOR FREE (to my US number). I have 50 texts to send back all month for a measly $10. But if you have something you want to say or tell me and you're afraid you'll forget, you can shoot me a text right then and there!


Other ways to get in touch with me include:
-Both of my email accounts come directly to my Spain phone. Though, it seems that stephaniebrown.ua@gmail.com is more reliable. My phone buzzes when an email comes in like it does for a text or anything. I do my best to reply within that same day and am usually pretty good about providing you with an actual response as if we had just had a phone conversation.
-If I am at home, I am on skype. You can quickly download skype and create an account at www.skype.com. Even if you do not have a webcam, Skype chat is more efficient that FB chat and with less potential people chatting with you that you do not want to be chatting with. To set up a specific time to skype, just email me and we will coordinate. My skype name is stephanieebr.
-If I am at home, I am also usually on Facebook chat. FB is also on my phone so if you write on my wall, I receive it immediately. I am trying my hardest to weed out stupid messages from groups, etc and pay close attention to my messages inbox, so if you send me a message there, I will get it and reply like with email.
-My Spain phone has a Twitter application so if you @reply to me, I will get it immediately.
-You CAN call me, like normal, if you ever need ANYTHING, just like any other day.
-You can download one of the following and text with me for free back and forth from my Spain phone. The apps are called: WhatsApp and LiveProfile. If you download these apps, I will tell you my number/pin so that you can search and find me.

Maybe this list seems excessive. It demonstrates that I am not really necessarily thousands of miles away. The biggest barrier between me and you is the time difference. 9 hours for California, 7 hours for Central time zone and 6 hours for the Eastern time zone (starting when you guys turn your clocks back, until then it's one hour less since we turned our clocks back last week). I post these ways for us to communicate because I am frustrated with feeling like I am making efforts to remain close with the people that I care about and love so dearly and I don't quite feel like I am being met half way. I am not even sure who subscribes to this blog so I hope that no one feels targeted by what I am about to say. That is not the point of this post. The point was to make some clarifications and to continue to post about my everyday life here. Clearly, things that are heavy on my heart (and this is) are part of my life here. These last few weeks have been incredibly, incredibly stressful. I know I haven't blogged or posted about these things, but they are things I would LOVE to be telling my friends.
      Just a few words of encouragement from an email or a funny story from Tuscaloosa does quite a bit to alleviate that stress. I opened a bank account on Friday. After a lengthy battle with the laborious and ridiculous process for filing for temporary residence (necessary to prevent me being kicked out of the country when my visa expires in 60 days and also necessary for getting paid by the government, who is my employer), I finally got the paperwork started on the process. Though this is still quite an ordeal and there is no estimate of when I will have the identity card and number, I have done all I can do at this point and that feels really great. One of my trips in November is planned but the other one still needs to be planned. I got my LSAT score back and am now knee deep in applications. I am hard-pressed to decide which is more stressful. In case you have some odd notion that I am just frolicking around Spain, carefree and living easy. Between the madness of work, Spanish classes at night, law school every second I can force myself to work on it, and the other 123 I am always juggling, I've got a bunch going on (by choice, I should add). It's not that I don't understand that you guys aren't crazy busy too, because I know that. I know that things are happening with you and stressing you out and that things are crazy in your life too. That's why I feel this hole, totally clueless and uniformed and not for lack of trying. I'm not angry or trying to bore you with complaints, I'm just a little hurt.
Not that I am not doing well here or not making friends. They're just not y'all.
 I still need y'all is what I am trying to say.
I cannot put into words how much I have enjoyed sending novels back and forth with friends. Some of the conversations I've had on Skype these last few weeks have been some of my favorite conversations I've had in years of friendship.
Just because I am in Europe does not mean I am far away.