I think when most people are young(er), they dream about moving abroad somewhere or at least traveling the world. I would have never thought that I’d actually do it though. Let me be clear – moving is HARD WORK. I decided to move to Madrid in 2015 because I came to Spain on vacation and fell in love with the laid back lifestyle they had (do these people work? the answer now is yes).

Moving itself is quite challenging because you never realized how much stuff you’ve accumulated throughout the years. Sorting through everything took a lot of time. All in all, it took me about 9 months to plan my move overseas. It’s quite stressful going through all the paperwork for your visa (luckily I’m organized) and wondering about all the unknowns ahead. The worst thing is probably saying goodbye to your family and friends though.  I used Uniplaces to find my cute little flat but I was really lucky to find something right in the center for an amazing price. I also did my TEFL certification through TtMadrid to get all my visa paperwork.

Once I got here, there’s a whole bunch of other paperwork you have to do which was exponentially more difficult because I had to do it in Spanish but it’s been a year and a half now so I’m finally really settled in. Life here isn’t perfect and really different from California but it’s definitely been a good experience. Moving to another country really helps you appreciate all the great things back home (like dryers).