12 Things I Learned In Spain After Living Abroad For 1 Year
Hint: It's not all $2 sangria and patatas bravas
In September of 2024, I vowed not to take on any new projects until I finished my next book. Which means I put this newsletter on hold for some months (SORRY!!). The good news: I actually finished my book! I now have a 74,000-word work of literary fiction that I am currently querying to literary agents.
I can now resume my newsletter, which, according to the publishing industry, will help me build up my audience and make me look more attractive to potential literary agents. So thank you for reading. :)
Since my last newsletter, I have moved from the south of Spain, Valencia, to the north, Santander. My new city and the autonomous community it sits in, Cantabria, has a landscape and climate more like Ireland — a lot of green, cows, and a decent amount of rain and gray. To make up for the occasional gloom in Winter and Spring, the small seaside city boasts some of the most beautiful and pristine beaches I’ve ever seen. I’ll be discussing the differences between living in the north and the south in the next edition of this newsletter.
And now, an extra-long newsletter to make up for lost time. I’ve been in Spain for a little over a year now! So I’ll leave you with the 12 things I’ve learning living here over the past year:
Just because you live in a Spanish-speaking country, this doesn’t mean you’ll automatically become fluent in Spanish. Learning a new language takes time, patience, dedication, and structure. Being in a Spanish-speaking environment helps you progress a lot, but you still must set time aside for studying and classes.
A rain-free winter weekend where I was able to climb in Ramales de la Victoria There will be a lot of everyday moments where you feel totally out of your comfort zone. Even simple things like going to the pharmacy can feel disorienting when living abroad. Aside from language differences, there are a ton of cultural differences that you won’t understand right away.
Expect to make mistakes, and know in some cases, there is no way to prepare for them. So much to say about all of the mistakes I’ve made, from issues with paying my taxes, registering where I live with the government, to sounding stupid in Spanish. It’s tempting to ruminate on all of it, but the mistake keep coming — it’s better to try to make a lesson out of it and move on.
Phone providers in the United States suck. To keep my U.S. phone number, I have to keep paying for the lowest monthly plan, even if I don’t use my phone. There’s no option to simply pause your service, which means I now pay for two phone services.
Life abroad is hard but balanced by moments like this, a hike in Santoña, Cantabria Your life does not automatically become better when living in a different country. We see living abroad glamorized on social media constantly. Yes, there are many incredible and exciting things about living in a different country, but there are a lot of challenging, frustrating, and boring things too.
A lot of your day-to-day life is the same. I go to the grocery store, clean the house, do laundry, work out, and pay taxes in Spain just like I did in the United States. Sure, the grocery stores are different here, and doing taxes in Spain is way worse than in the United States, but it’s all pretty similar.
Yes, U.S. culture prioritizes work and progress - and I don’t see this as a completely bad thing. One reason I wanted to move to Spain is to force myself to slow down a little and not prioritize work as much as I previously did. Ironically, I find working as a self-employed freelancer much more challenging here, and I spend more time trying to run my business and manage my finances. While U.S. work-life balance can be toxic, I do sometimes miss the hustle and bustle, and how advancing your career is valued more — this, of course, exists in Spain, but we certainly prioritize this in American culture.
You’ll miss the silliest things living abroad. I miss Whole Foods, a wide variety of flavored sparkling water, Cocokind skincare, and Sweetgreens.
You’ll ask “Is it worth it?” seemingly every day. I know it is worth it. I know I’ll look back and be grateful I lived abroad in Spain. But wow, is it a constant daily challenge.
I enjoy not having a car. For most of my life in the United States, I owned a car to be able to drive to work and school. Living in Spain means I have access to great public transportation, meaning I don’t need a car. I do like to rent a car every so often to go climbing and on longer weekend trips, but I can get a pretty good deal during the tourist off-season.
Getting free olives with wine is one thing I truly love in Spain There’s no perfect place in the world. Spain is an incredibly beautiful country with a diversity of landscapes, ranging from world-class beaches to snowy mountains to sprawling green hillsides. I love the natural beauty of this country and the feeling of safety I have living here. Regardless, I would say culturally, the country is not a great fit for me. I struggle with making the effort to stay up late to go out to social things, thus hindering my ability to make friends. Eating as a vegetarian here, especially in the north of Spain, is not the most enjoyable experience. No matter how polite I am, and no matter how much better my Spanish becomes, customer service is generally unpleasant here.
Writing a book is easier than learning a language. I finished writing my third book! And now I can confidently say that the time-consuming project of writing a book is still easier than learning a language. Book #3 took me about 1.5 years to finish, and I am on year 2.5 of learning Spanish, and certainly not fluent. To be fair, writing is a skill that comes more easily to me; learning a second language is not (I was not introduced to learning languages at a young age, making this skill much more challenging as an adult).
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to subscribe for the next newsletter about living in the north vs. the south of Spain. I promise the next one won’t take 7 months to reach your inbox. :)