After finally qualifying, I applied to take the citizenship exam – and received my notice to test on Nov 29, 2025.. I studied like crazy, cancelled all social engagements, hired a tutor.. and finally, took the test..

Failed!! By two questions in the Castellano section. (Yes – that’s correct, I passed the rest of the test, in Spanish – on Colombian culture, history, geography and the constitution – and failed by two stupid grammar questions.. (I kind of think that taking a test in another language on any topic should count as your language test- not whether you can remember the right term for a word with the accent on the second to last syllable.

I found out that I failed a few weeks ago – and it’s been difficult.. I studied some much before – and I felt well-prepared.. I was so ready to be a citizen.. I even had a plan to invite all the living presidents of Colombia – along with Carlos Vives, Maluma, Carol G etc. to the finca for a big backyard cookout.. (Yeah – I know, I know – of course, they wouldn’t actually show up – but I was going to invite them anyway – as fellow Colombians..) But, it’s not to be..

Now my confidence is shaken. I applied to re-test – but you have to take the entire test over again, and now I’m most anxious than ever. It’s not a long test – which means I’ll second guess everything a thousand times because I am a quick test taker.. I was done after 25 minutes but required to sit there almost 2 hours.. so I had to keep myself from going back and changing answers – even on questions I was sure I knew the answer to.. It’s only 90 questions – I’d rather it was 300.

Last time, there was a guy openly cheating – and the proctor was too busy playing in his phone.. It was almost comical, except that it’s not. It’s infuriating! I can only hope that he failed as miserably as I did. Seems pretty disgusting to be cheating on your citizenship exam. I would have happily snitched him out – except that I worried that the proctor would throw me out of the test, and think that I was cheating too. He was in the front row, and his girlfriend or whatever, kept pushing her answer sheet towards him while he craned his neck over to look directly at her answers.. I wanted to punch him in the face.

In the happy days – after my test (but before the exam results), I was happy, busy.. Had a big New Year’s at the farm – cooked a massive Thanksgiving type meal, to celebrate with friends and family.. Then took a trip to Melgar to the waterparks..

I started a new story – this one is set here in Bogota.. It’s about – what else.. a middle-aged American woman who is studying for her citizenship exam – and falls in love with Colombian history, and one former president in particular. (If you guessed Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera, then you might enjoy the story..)

Waiting to hear what my new test date is.. so I can start scheduling my life (work/studying/ everything else.)

In the meantime, writing like mad, practicing my grammar and keeping my fingers crossed.