Losing my passport

Last week I was using my passport to try and get bus tickets online so that way we had a way to Madrid.  I was using my passport but couldn't pay since i'm not from the EU (European Union).  I swore I put my passport back in a pocket of my backpack because I thought I would need it the next day to pay for something.  This was on Thursday.  On Friday I was pretty sure I had my passport at school but then when I was shopping that night it wasn't in my purse with the rest of my things.  Earlier that day I had moved stuff from my backpack to my purse for when I would go shopping.  I freaked out a little and had my friend Becca check her house to see if I had left it there and I hadn't.

 That night I searched the house and dumped my backpack and purse out several times to see if it was there and it wasn't.  That next day I wanted to check the school but since it was Saturday I wasn't sure it was going to be open.  Since I was also going to Sevilla I had to wake up at 5:30 am to go to the school before I was going to take the 8:30 am bus.  Of course the school wasn't open so I was going to have to wait until Monday.

  On Sunday me and my host mom searched my whole house and didn't have any luck.  We looked all around the living room where I was sitting where I last remembered having my passport.  We looked under seat cushions, in drawers, and moved furniture-nada.  We looked in the hallway-nada.  We looked in my room in my closet, clothes, dresser drawers, sacks, desk, carry on bag, and night stand-nada.  We dumped my purse and backpack 4 or 5 times and checked every pocket-nada.  We checked in my covers and in my bed/ under neath- nada.  It was officially not in my house.  My host brother looked too and he didn't find anything.  So on Monday I went to school and checked the classroom, asked my teachers, went to the secretary office, and went to the main office-nada.  I went to the police station, checked city hall, and also tourist offices-nada.  On my way home I also checked the streets in case it might have fallen out but it wasn't there either.

So now I have officially lost my passport.  I went to the police station to fill out a report that I had lost my passport.  There was one guy who spoke English so I got pretty lucky and he told me what I needed to do.  They had an American female passport but of course it wasn't mine.  I was so close!  While I was at the police station I met a girl from Germany who had her purse stolen with her id card and bank cards.  Her id card is for the EU and is more important that a passport is to us.  So she had to do the same thing I did.  We ended up having a nice 15 minute talk.

This means now that I have to go the US Embassy in Madrid to get a new passport.  Madrid is 5 hours away from Granada and the Embassy is only open in the mornings which means I have to miss a day of school.  My teachers say it won't count against me since this is something very important and we can only miss a certain number of days.  Thank goodness that they said that.  Though I have my final on Friday so i'm going to have to be studying all day Thursday when i'm not doing my passport stuff.

I have to take a 1:30 am bus from Granada to Madrid because they don't offer anything until 7 am and the Embassy closes at 1 pm so I wouldn't make it there in time.  My appointment is at 9 am so i'll just take a taxi to the Embassy and study until it's my turn to go.  Though it'll be nice because i'll get done faster because I take priority for being an American citizen.  While i'm there i'll have to fill out a couple papers and give them my police report and a copy of my passport.  Good thing I had one of those done earlier in the semester.

I'll also have to get my picture taken and pay a fee since i'm getting a new passport.  It's going to cost 115 euros.  Yikes that's a dent in my bank account! I'm getting an emergency passport since i'll be traveling to Paris on Saturday which means i'll have a temporary passport for 3 months.  Good thing I have a little less than 3 months left because they day after I get home it will expire.  After I get done at the embassy I have a 2 pm bus home which means i'll get back at 7 pm.  It's going to be a long day but worth it so I can still travel around Europe and back home without a problem.