You read that correctly: I am moving to Spain! Don’t worry, it isn’t permanent, but I am trying out expat life for a while!
Let me catch you up. I’ve been to Spain four times in my life, most recently visiting Barcelona and Granada in 2016. Sometime in 2017 I became obsessed with going back, and eventually came to the conclusion that I just had to live there. We all need to live in Europe at some point or another, am I right?
Once I’d made that decision, I had to figure out how I’d get there. I didn’t work for an international company at the time, so going via work wasn’t going to happen. I looked briefly for jobs in Barcelona, Madrid and La Coruna but didn’t find anything. All the Google and Pinterest searches I did said the same thing: you either need to have a way to support yourself financially and apply for a Visa or teach English. So teach English it was!
WOAH, there are several programs through which you can teach English abroad. After sorting through the options, I applied to the North American Language and Culture Assistants program through the Spanish government. The application opened in January and I turned mine in a week later. One week after that, I heard back saying that one of the portions of my application needed to be corrected. Once I fixed it, I was all clear to wait. Oh yeah. I knew my application was all set mid-February but had to wait until May/June to hear back. No fixed dates, just that vague detail. It was excruciating.
As you guys know, lots was happening during this time. Finally, on May 23 I heard back. I had been accepted to the program and was being placed in my region of choice: Madrid!
SO. MUCH. EXCITEMENT.
Picture this: me riding my bike along a busy road pumping my arms in the air, sort of dancing and shouting. One lady actually asked if I was okay! I kept shouting, “I got in! I got in! I got in to Madrid!”
The excitement settled down once I realized I had no idea what next steps were. That was all the information I had: I got in somewhere in the region of Madrid. More waiting to find out which city, school, etc. That news came, which meant I could finally apply for my Visa. To make a long story short, I spent about three weeks gathering together the required documents for my Visa appointment. I went, turned it all in and had to wait. It was out of my hands at that point.
Three weeks later, my passport and Visa came back in the mail, and it was approved! This time I was in my pjs, ripping the envelope open at our mailbox – yes, in the street – jumping up and down shouting. My Visa was the last step, making it 100% official. I’m moving to Madrid!
For now I’m still in the states, working on my copywriting and blog, getting ready to leave. TO MADRID! I still can’t believe it sometimes. Obviously there’s way more to come and I hope to eventually be more detailed when it comes to this whole process, but I felt a life update was in order. So there you have it! I can’t wait to share tons more once I get settled in there!
Update: if you want to read more about how it went, you can start with this post or this section of my blog!