Why We’re Not Crazy for Moving to Spain

It’s funny. Years ago, Steve and I were on a walk in our Florida neighborhood, chatting about life and what not, and he mentioned the idea of teaching internationally, maybe in Spain. Wouldn’t it be an adventure? Wouldn’t it be fun? And wouldn’t it be great for us to all speak Spanish?

I was ardently and adamantly against it. It was a CRAZY IDEA. Never, I thought. To him, I said, I don’t think so. The idea of completely starting over terrified me. There was no chance that I would uproot my life to move internationally.

We had a good situation in Florida. Good jobs (close enough to bike to), good house, good neighborhood, good friends, good life.

All good.

But all good things must come to an end.

Again, it’s funny — because as good as we felt life was in Florida, somewhere inside of us we knew we needed a change. A difficult change. But one that would make life fuller. Better. When I began to feel unhappy in a job that I had always been incredibly happy in, Steve, unbeknownst to me, starting looking for and applying for jobs at international schools.

We moved to Quito, Ecuador on August 7, 2020.

I never imagined living internationally. And I certainly never imagined loving it as much as I did. Living in Ecuador and enjoying it opened up the idea to live internationally — permanently. But as much as we loved Quito (especially the friends we made there), we knew it wasn’t a long-term situation. We had always thought we’d live a few years in Ecuador, master the Spanish language, and come trotting back to the States to settle down. But as we thought about going back to the States, we couldn’t quite picture it. Healthcare was expensive. Gun violence was scary. Politics were bonkers. People in the States just seemed … mad a lot of the time. And in a hurry. And busy. And obsessed with work. And, dare I say for some of them, ethnocentric.

We began allowing ourselves to think about Spain. So many things were drawing us to Spain: being in the EU, climate, culture, cost of living, the Spanish language, and quality of life. A country that just a few years ago sounded to me like an alien planet was now the place we’d most like to live long-term. Funny.

Keep in mind, we had never been to Spain.

And we didn’t have jobs in Spain.

And we didn’t have connections in Spain.

Crazy.

But allow me explain how it wasn’t crazy for us. It all has to do with the objectives behind all of this.

Objective 1: Become bilingual
We started this by living in Ecuador. We know that the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. We also realized that to “master the Spanish language” takes more than a laughable “few years.” So we will be continuing the journey to bilingualism in Spain.

Objective 2: Be good world citizens
Living in Ecuador and now Spain, we continue trying to be better world citizens. The kids go to an international school and have friends from all over the world.

Objective 3: Give stability for the kids (and us)
We are in Spain for the long haul. We want our kids to grow up feeling like this is home. We want them to go off to college and come home for vacations to be able to see their hometown friends. We want them to feel stability so that Steve and I can feel stability!

Objective 4: Experience safety
One reason we chose Spain is that it is very safe. Not much gun violence, drug use, or suicide. And Valencia is even safer than Madrid and Barcelona.

Objective 5: Enjoy ease of travel in Spain and within the European Union
Well, I’ll say this: living in the European Union is certainly more conducive to traveling within it. And in about two months, we’ll be living in a pueblo directly on the metro line to the city. Within the pueblo, we’ll be able to walk to playgrounds, restaurants, bakeries, groceries, and weekly markets.

Objective 6: Embrace Spanish culture
In Spain, work is secondary to life. Hustle culture doesn’t have much place here, and cramming as many activities into a day isn’t common. In contrast, taking your time at meals and having long conversations over coffee or wine or beer with tapas are common. Resting when you need it without guilt is another bonus.

Objective 7: Live in a beautiful place with a mild climate
We chose Valencia because it is close to the sea and to the mountains, it’s fairly flat (great for running and biking!), and there’s lots of sunshine. We get a Mediterranean sunrise in the morning and mountain sunset in the evening. We get plenty of vitamin d.

Objective 8: Do hard things
This is the worst. But we know it’s so good for us to put ourselves in difficult situations. It forces us to keep learning, and it forces us to stay humble. We were living the comfortable life in Florida. We felt like we had life pretty well figured out. Now we’re starting again at square one.

As I write this, I am sitting at our dining room table in our furnished apartment we’re renting in a suburb outside of Valencia. Steve and I are officially retired. My kids go to a great international school here, and they are finding friends and happiness. We are taking things slow, knowing that it will take time to find our people. We are in the process of buying a house in a pueblo close to the city and on the metro line.

There are so many things we love about Spain, to which I will dedicate a future post. For now, we are finding our rhythm in day-to-day life — doing laundry, going grocery shopping, getting sick, cooking and washing dishes, and taking the kids to playgrounds. The kind of stuff everybody does. The kind of stuff that can feel tedious at times but also the kind of stuff we often look back on with feelings of nostalgia (minus the getting sick part…).

So wherever you are — Spain, or the US, or Ecuador, or Sweden, or Japan, or Australia, or Italy, or France, or the UK — we hope you’re finding joy in the everyday moments. And if you’re looking for a big life change, we’d love for you to be our neighbor in Valencia!

Check back for an upcoming post about how we moved to Spain from a financial perspective. I’ll make Steve write this one. 🙂