Wow, this took me way longer to type up than I thought it would! When I first got to Madrid I was super stressed. My mom came with me and we spent the first five days running up and down the city looking at rooms for rent in shared apartments. It was hot, humid and we were walking everywhere. In hindsight it was a great way to get to know the city but at the time I was too busy melting to really take it all in.

My dad came over with more family and we traveled to a Coruña for a few days and then back to Madrid. The time crunch was starting to get overwhelming (combined with my lack of alone time) but by the grace of God and The Universe we found an apartment the Saturday before I started work. ON SATURDAY! The good news was that I’d be able to move in on Monday. I could have cried from the relief. Room listings were popping up and then disappearing, and each apartment was worse than the last. Honestly, I actually found a good place with nice roommates in a good area and it only took me two weeks. But it felt like eternity.

So then on October 1st I started work, as a Language Assistant for a public high school here in Madrid. After school I went to the Airbnb to meet my family and get my stuff to move it to my apartment! I wasn’t staying the night there until Tuesday night, but I’m so glad I had my parents and Abuela there to help me move all my crap!

Tuesday, October 1st, I said goodbye to my parents and Abuela and headed to work. I’m not going to lie, it was hard and I definitely cried a lot of the way there.

And so this adventure began!

I’ve been here six months and on the whole, I’ve loved it. I love walking everywhere, public transportation, food, and the ability to explore as much as I have. But I’m going to be honest. Like anything else, it’s been an adjustment. For starters, I’d been living alone in a nice sized, modern studio apartment in Nashville. Here I live in a shared apartment nowhere near my old apartment’s standards. So it’s me and three others. Three Spaniards who essentially have zero level of English. It’s been great because my Spanish has definitely improved, but there are way more cultural differences between us than I had expected.

Work has been great, surprisingly so. You guys know I generally don’t like kids. Well, I’m assistant teaching to kids from ages 12 to 22. Weird. But great. I’ve also made friends with the other teaching assistants and some of the teachers. Overall everyone is very welcoming! Unfortunately, the freelancing and copywriting took a really long pause when I moved here. Between wanting to explore, get my bearings and trying to build relationships, I lost focus and that fell to the wayside. I’m only just now starting to get back into that.

I’d say all in all expat life in Madrid has been great. I’ve made several friends from all over the world and am really starting to feel a little settled here. And, I’m coming back to teach again next year!

I’m going to share more information on expat life soon, so let me know if you have any questions!

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