So Now I Live in Spain

by Chloe Lovatt (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

A leap into the unknown Spain

Despite it being something I have been aware of for the past 6 months, I've been to talks, meetings, signed countless forms, downloaded language apps, booked flights and finally packed my bags, the fact that I was living in another country for a year did not fully hit me until 3 hours after I had landed in Spain. I was in the airbnb and had just put my phone on charge when I was paralysed. Shit. This isn't just a holiday. I need to find a flat. Not just that but do it in another language, one that I haven't spoken for about 2 years. Holy fuck. To be honest Murcia hadn't been my first choice for my year abroad, but apparently it hadn't been anyone else's either. But with the chance to live in another country, and being paid €250 a month by the EU to do so - it wasn't the worst turn of events. Two glasses of wine later and my nerves had calmed a bit. I was able to enjoy the fact I was sitting outside on a September afternoon in 30ºC heat. This is a piece of piss. I only need to pass the year, and it's nowhere near as demanding as an English uni course (so I’d heard). But then things got a bit harder again. Finding a flat wasn't as easy as everyone made out. After countless flat viewings in dodgy areas, meetings with housing agencies, and an hour long viewing with a chatty landlord that ended in my mum thinking I had been kidnapped, I finally found somewhere to live. Not before my airbnb stay had run out and I had to stay 3 nights in a hostel sleeping next to a large Spanish man who was dressed only in his Y fronts. Then there was the organisation of the University itself. People say Spain runs on its own timetable. And that is very much true. On the day of my language test one woman had told me to go to the campus that was a 20 minute tram-ride away. I did so at 9:00am only to find that the other campus had no idea why I was there and told me I had to go back to town to take the test. I ended up doing it eventually, just three hours later than I originally planned. The uni feels somewhat like Hogwarts, in that you can turn up to a class and find the tutor, or even the whole class, has disappeared. The only comfort is that no one else seems to know what is going on, so at least we are all in the dark together. The city itself is, there is no other way of saying it, authentically Spanish. Despite the two Starbucks and a Burger King, there are very few global chains here. There are Spanish chains, but nothing immediately recognisable to an Angle like myself. There is a church on every street (sorry Calle), and hundreds of squares with bars spilling out onto the streets. I also arrived when there was a festival on. This means that everyday there was some sort of parade or marching band, culminating in a huge parade with dancers, horses and floats. The closest thing we have to that at home is Pride. There was also a lot of eating and drinking. People staying out till early hours of the morning over some tapas, while their kids continued to play like it was a midsummer morning. It's a very different way of life here. I can't say I'm used to it yet. But at least I have a bit of a tan and it's nearly October, while you're probably wearing a coat. So take that I guess.