Settling in Spain 4
The 25 things you will ask yourself when living in Spain
Note: Settling in Spain is a series for anyone planning to move to Spain or for those who want to feel more “at home” when visiting. As mentioned in the first post, these are available exclusively to paid subscribers - regular La Comunidad posts remain free.
In September, I’ll celebrate my 10-year Spainniversary.
A lot has happened since that sweltering Saturday night in 2016 when I touched down in Madrid - a city I had never visited before but was about to call home.
The Catalan independence crisis. Three general elections. A global pandemic. Storm Filomena. The La Palma volcano. Heatwaves and wildfires. The Valencia floods. The blackout. A train disaster in Andalusia.
These are just the first things that came to mind. Then there were the shockwaves of Putin's invasion and Trump's tariffs - all playing out against a housing crisis so prolonged and so structural that crisis is no longer the right word. Reality is.
Despite this incessant cycle of macro shocks, my fondness for “home” has grown because of the micro moments of daily life in Spain.
Like its terrible torrefacto coffee, this country is anything but bland. There are very few things about Spain that will make you feel indifferent.
Making the most of life in Spain means balancing the trade-offs.
So I've put together a list of things I still ask myself almost a decade in - 25 questions that you too might find yourself asking when living in Spain.
If you're already here, or thinking about making the move, this is so you know it's not just you. It’s Spain - all of it.
The 25 things you will ask yourself when living in Spain
How did I ever live without the menú del día? (Starter, main course, dessert, coffee, and beer/wine for €10-15)
Long live the menú del día Why am I not much more tanned than when I arrived? (Because if you live like a local, you don't sit out sunbathing at midday. You avoid the very heat that everybody else visits here for.)
Why do I have to pay the landlord’s rent guarantee insurance? (It’s increasingly common in Spain, probably of dubious legality, but in a housing crisis, it’s a landlord’s market.)
Why are Spanish apartments so cold in winter?
How are Spaniards so coherent and civil at 9am on a Sunday morning in the local café bar as they finish up their Saturday night?
