Ok,
So we all love Spain on this board including myself. I have never been the same since going there for four months in 2000. My question is this: Will this longing to go back to Spain and live ever go away? I told myself i want to live in Spain long enough until I am tired of living there. Right now, i'm broke. I just graduated in December with a degree in Spanish and Portuguese. But i feel that if i don't just pack it up and go now i will never go. I would love to hear from people who left it all and moved there and hear about your experience. Dime, por favor. Or maybe you are like me and want to go back to live.

Thanks

Brien

Hi Brien! What is it about Spain? I don't think anyone can really identify the infectiousness it has on most people. It is truly elusive.

On the topic of going back to live. Really, a lot has been said about this here on the message board, but the younger you are and the sooner you do it the better. As the years pass you get into job/career, relationships, your parents get older and all this "stuff" makes it harder to leave behind what you've accumulated/grown/acheived back home. If you're in your early-to-mid 20s (as YOU are) and only been working at a "real job" for a year or two or three I'd say NOW is the time. Believe me/us, once you reach your 30s, maybe have a family and a career with some promise, it's next to impossible to put it all behind you and start over at square one in Spain with few opportunities and hopes of making a living there.

In short, if you DON'T live in Spain now and you've never spent any significant time there, chances are you'll pine away with great hope, anticipation, and regret for the rest of your life. It's these 3 things which fuel MadridMan.com and isn't something that's likely to leave me anytime soon... UNTIL and UNLESS I actually do move to Spain. And then, who knows, maybe my perspective will change totally and maybe I'll realize I was wrong all along. I seriously doubt this now, but it's impossible to say for sure from where I sit today, at my desk in my office, in middle-America.

I say good luck to you and all who want to return to/live in Spain. And for those of you who know you won't ever realize this dream I say, "May the passion for Spain forever burn in your heart, mind, and soul."
And "Reality is rarely as rosey as we paint it in our dreams." (you can quote me on that original saying) Answer: I dearly hope NOT.

Wow, Brien, that MM is a WISE man! He's right. Also, have you read the posts from missmadrid98? She's in Spain now, having an incredible experience. If you haven't, do a search. So much of what she writes about mirrors the experiences I had there.

My parents sent me on a trip to Spain as a graduation present when I got out of college. I spent 3 weeks there with my sister, who was studying in Madrid. I promised at the airport that I would be back in a few months - I loved it so much. A year and a half later I did go back, planning to hang out there, teaching English, for a few months. I left everything here, and people would shake their heads and think I had lost it. It was just incredibly wonderful. So the few months dragged out, I got a real job I loved, I got married, had kids, and ended up staying 13 years. Now I'm in the States again, complaining to anyone who can bear it how bad life is in the States, and how good it is in Spain. As you can imagine, I then get asked, Why don't you go back? And MM is so right - it's hard to put everything behind you and start all over again. My family needs me here (that's why I came back), and they are the most important. I think of another international move, now that I finally got my house furnished the way I like it, and groan. Life gets so much more complicated as you get older, and moving abroad is no piece of cake when you have dependents to take care of, pets, a house to sell, the whole family's accumulated stuff, ever-more-complicated financial considerations... So, yes, MM is right, if you really want to do it, do it now when you're young. The worst that can happen is you run out of money and you'll need to come home. But you've got your whole life ahead of you to recover from that, and if you don't have dependents, you'll be OK. And you CAN live cheaply in Spain - I did it.

Do I still long to go back to Spain? You bet. But I've resigned myself to visits. It would be much too foolish of me to leave my job in the US now. So I live for my vacations. Luckily, because I teach, I have a good amount of time off in the summer, and luckily I have friends and family I can stay with there. But not everyone is that lucky. Retirement in Spain is another possibility, but that's sooooo far off, I haven't given it serious thought.

Go for it!

I totally agree with Madridman, especially about a person's age and where you are in life. I am 36, in a dead-end job (that pays too well to leave - the "golden handcuffs" as we call it here) and would love a change from a nice, safe, yet uninspiring part of Canada. Yet it is difficult to do because, although I am still unmarried (totally single actually), my neice and nephew are young and a joy to watch grow up and my parents are getting older. It weighs on my mind that I should be around for them yet, deep down, I want to make a big change. I just wish I would have done it in my 20's haha! Seriously, do it now. I also believe that the younger you are when you experience new things, the bigger the impact it has on you while you grow as a person, and you carry that with you for a lifetime. As an older adult you are more set in your ways and can be less reluctant to accept new things and personal change (not all people though). BTW I have never been to Spain (I was supposed to go in May and my plane ticket arrangements did not come through - aarrgghh!!) but, man, this website has convinced me that I was born to visit there, perhaps for a VERY long time! So, go for it! Good Luck...

If it helps at all, Brien, back in 1986 I was thinking exactly as you are now. My sister and brother in law were working in Jordan and loving it. My wife's brother was in Hong Kong, via Cordoba and several other places and we were in England getting itchy feet at the ages of 30 and 28. An interview in London came up for work in Marbella and I went along out of curiosity.

No kids, but leaving a new house with big mortgage and two good money earning jobs was the gamble we had to make. No contest! One month later my wife was trying to rent the house while I was starting work on the Costa del Sol, a place I'd never been to before. She joined me a few weeks later and we've never looked back. Sold the house 3 years later, effectively pulling up our roots with good Old Blighty, as we knew we were here for the duration.

15 years on, we earn a lot less money now and no time to have ever thought about kids, as we work bloody hard Monday to Friday, but hell's bells, we don't half enjoy ourselves! I often think about that day in 1986 and wonder what would have happened if we'd said no......

I want to go live there too, Brien, and I know what everyone else is talking about when they say that the longer you wait, the harder it gets!!!
I'm 26 years old, the daughter of Spanish parents, with a Spanish passport, and since the age of 16, have dreampt of moving to Spain!!!! My initial desire to move there stemmed from my very first love (who now lives in Vigo, married, with a daughter), but since then has grown into a love for Spain and everything Spanish. For many, it may seem as though I have it made, but it's been hard to let go of my roots here in Toronto. Until recently, I was in a serious 5-year relationship with someone who wouldn't even consider moving to Spain, so I just gave up trying to convince him. Now that I'm single, I also have close friends, family, and a secure (though unsatisfying) job to think about. It's hard to just get up and go when you also like the city you live in and the life you lead! Now, here I am, going back to Spain in less than a month, for 5 weeks vacation, on my own. I have been planning this trip since January and the main reason why I am going is to think of myself for a change, and the direction my life's been going in. I wasn't thinking of moving to Spain - that dream had been lost in my heart for a while. Just last month, though, one of my best friends returned from a backpacking trip through Europe and started RAVING about Madrid - she gave me a complete lecture about why I should go live there, and why I should do it ASAP! Anyway, to make a long(er) story short, she (and this message board :D) awoke in me the dream I thought was lost forever, and while I'm not moving over there right away, I AM planning on being there by August 2002 at the latest! Now, my solo trip has taken on a whole new meaning!
I have told a few of my close friends about my plans, and with some, it has been hard to swallow - I have a very special man in my life who doesn't want me to go and thinks that I'm being a little selfish, but I KNOW that if I don't go NOW, I will never go. It's time I thought of following MY OWN dreams, however selfish that may sound to some...
So, my point is, DO IT NOW!!! Make the plans, do some research on the 'net, read some books on living in Spain, and GO FOR IT!!!

SusiLaGallega

[ 06-21-2001: Message edited by: SusiLaGallega ]

Here's another testimony for you Brien, DO IT NOW!!!!
I was 23 when I went to Madrid for 4 months in '89...when I came home, the longing to go back took hold immediately! I sought out all things Spanish, planted myself on a bar stool at the best Spanish place in town, and tried to relive my experience!LUckily, I made Spanish friends and eventually my Spanish husband (he was a bartender at the restaurant ...
Anyway, the younger you do it-the better, even though his whole family is in Spain, we still can't decide if it will be a good move for us (we're thinking of going for a year)...our dear friends, my parents getting older, good paying jobs-those are tough things to leave behind when you get older.
It's alot easier to fly by the seat of your pants at 23 then it is at 33! So don't hestitate! GO and love every single difficult, happy, exciting minute of it!!!!

Brien,

You've heard some good advice. Always remember, as Americans, you come from a hearty stock that probably migrated here themselves. To take the initiative, and guide your own life wouldn't be new to you, or your family... it's already in your blood.

But above all, listen carefully to those who offer words of advice that say you should put a plan together, and make it work. Arriving in Spain without a plan, or any money, could sour you against the whole experience before it was over.

Anyway, that's my advice. Listen and be cautious.

Wolf (Who looks both ways at least twice, before crossing a busy street, even when the green walk sign is on.)

Wow you guys are great! So much great advice, i'm overwhelmed! I am 23 now and always ready to travel. I think you all understand this desire more than most. It's like, i don't want to be a tourist, you want to be immersed in the culture. Something my parents do not understand that if i don't use my spanish i lose it. It's not the same to be speaking spanish at the workplace as to be in a place where spanish is spoken. Madridman, i just picked up on the fact that you don't live in Madrid...i thought you did. Diana, i would love to hear your thoughts on why life in the U.S. is bad...This is a great forum...my friends do not understand my desire to go back to Spain. Alright, starting today, i plan on leaving by early 2002. I have some money saved already!
Thanks everyone

There's a line from a song by Mary Gauthier that comes to mind as I read this good advice:

"Sometimes you just have to do what you got to do and hope that the people you love can catch up with you"

The song tells the true story of the singer, who as a teenager stole the family car and moved to New Orleans. I was reminded of this song also when a friend of my wife's left a bad life situation and moved across the country to Las Vegas to start over. It takes alot to leave even a bad situation, and it makes it that much harder when your situation is comfortable or even good.

On another message board, someone was thinking of a change and asked:

¿Qué va a pasar si me tiro al barro ahora y sale mal? (What will happen if I jump in the mud now and it turns out bad?)

And someone answered:

Mejor embarrarte que quedarte en la orilla mirando.
Siempre.
Te lo digo por experiencia propia.

(It's better to cover yourself with med that stay on the side watching. Always. I can tell you from my own experience)

Someone else contributed this line from a Joaquin Sabina song:

y Sabina decia que \'...no hay nada peor que acordarse de lo que nunca jamas sucedio...\'

(and Sabina said "there's nothing worse than remembering what never happened")

So go for it! If you need more inspiration, read "Oh the places you'll go" by Dr. Suess.