As many have all said wisely, it really helps coping with the distance when you have daily reminders in your life like a Spanish spouse, Spanish classes, family who live in Spain, and, of course, TV and internet do wonders to keep you connected.

For 10 years I PINED to live in Madrid. One of my nightly rituals included setting the computer to record 4-6 hours of audio of either RadiOle or one of the talk radio stations in Spain. Then when I'd wake up the next morning I'd burn that onto a re-writable CD and take it to work, playing it nearly 6 hours later. So with the 6 hour time difference, it was almost like listening to it live, hearing the hourly "Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeeep! Son las nueve de la mañana..." and I was listening to it at 9am at my work desk in Ohio - and that was because we weren't allowed to use the internet for anything other than work-related purposes so that was my way around it. People would come in my office, tilt their head at the audio coming from my speakers, and ask, "Are you listening to internet streaming audio?" and I'd pull out the CD and show them. Ha! Beat the system.

I learned to "Live Spain" everyday - it was the only way I could survive. I won't say I was obsessed but I was THERE in my mind. I'd print out English versions of a Spanish newspaper and take it to work, reading it on my lunch hour. Some evenings I'd make an Ohio-version of Paella (although I realize you're not supposed to eat paella for dinner - it's a lunchtime food) with real Spanish wine and a can of anchovy-stuffed green olives and watch a Spanish movie or TVEi when my "Latino" cable TV package offered it for those two years - until they removed it for lack of popularity and I hence canceled that part of my cable package. I'd leave TVEi on behind all weekend long as I worked on MadridMan.com at home, frequently turning my head to see what they were talking about. Sunday mornings over breakfast were so pleasant as TVEi showed video-documentaries about the different parts of Galicia. Man, that was beautiful.

So to keep your head in Spain while the rest of your body is somewhere else, you only have to turn to the internet or TVEi (if you can get it). In fact, right now I'm surprised to see they're broadcasting online Los Desayunos de TVE (from 9-11am weekdays).

Saludos, MadridMan - in Madrid, Spain - and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.