“How would you feel about living in Spain for a while?” I asked my husband, Jonny, one evening following
a fateful dinner with a few of my law school friends. It was there while griping
about job prospects following graduation that my friend realized she knew of
the perfect job for me – spending 8 months in Spain working for a Spanish law
firm. The pay would be low – just enough to make the trip feasible, if that.
However, the experiences such an opportunity would provide for me were exactly
what I had been hoping for all along. My question to Jonny was hardly sincere that
evening, because the possibility that my
dreams could be coming true, so suddenly and so perfectly, seemed illusory at
best.
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| El Parque de Retiro, Madrid, Spain. |
During my sophomore year of high school I jumped immediately
at the first opportunity to travel to another country. My family traveled
often, and by car, allowing me to experience most of the United States.
However, we could never afford to leave the country, and I was itching to
expand my horizons and witness places that had, until that point, been the
equivalent of mythic tales. To be honest, I was not exactly thrilled with the
prospect of my first European adventure taking place in Spain. I decided to
take Spanish in high school because it seemed easier than French – the only
other language offered at that time. I knew nothing of the country, its
culture, its history, its people, or its foods. I asked myself relentlessly,
why couldn't it be London or Paris? What about Germany and Ireland? What about
castles, palaces, iconic landmarks, and beautiful landscapes? Spain seemed
boring to me. I could not have been more wrong. I was instantly enamored with
the beautiful, lively city of Madrid bursting with notable art museums, beautiful
and historic architecture, and unique cuisine. I fell in love with el parque de
retiro and its gardens, row boats, and, of course, castles and palaces. I
discovered the amazing midnight snack that is churros con chocolate, tried
croquettes, and came to love the simple but delicious tortilla española. There was
no doubt about it. I was bitten by the travel bug in a region I had previously given
short shrift to, and it has profoundly shaped my opportunities ever since. I yearned
to see everything I possibly could, and worried about the time that had already
ticked away. From then on, I knew that whatever it was I did with my life, it
would have to be transnational.
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| Toledo, Spain - on a very sunny day! September 2010. |
Upon entering college, I made the decision to take full
advantage of every opportunity available to me to learn about other cultures,
other countries, and other languages. I majored in international studies and
Spanish, with a minor in Japanese. My eyes and the world were opened to me as I
developed an understanding of different peoples, different politics, different
cultures, and unique languages. Then, during my senior year, I studied abroad
in Toledo, Spain, a historic, walled-in city to the south of Madrid, for four
months. While there, I took classes in architecture, economics, and folklore,
lived with a host family, and traveled as much as possible in and out of country.
I was intoxicated by my surroundings, and I lived for each weekend when I would
discover more secret beauties of this amazing, historic, world. I marveled at
the antiquity of the Alhambra in Granada; I was swarmed by shark-like fish
while standing in the Mediterranean in Valencia; I climbed the steps of the Eiffel
Tower, watching it sparkle in the Parisian night; and I became engaged to Jonny
while makings wishes at the Trevi Fountain in Rome. But I had barely scratched
the surface. I recall makings lists of all of the places I wanted to see and
feeling a sense of panic upon realizing there was no way to see all of it in
one lifetime. I needed to get started as soon as possible.
Immediately following graduation from college, I dove into
law school, intent on specializing in international law despite the dismal job
prospects awaiting me on the other side of the bar. In my second year, I joined
Jessup – an incredible international moot court competition I would highly
recommend for any law student. It was
through this group that my friend alerted me to this incredible opportunity –
spending a little under a year living in Madrid while interning for a Spanish
law firm. Jonny was immediately on board. Neither of us knew what we were
getting ourselves into, or how this would ever be feasible. Jonny was still in
school, and I would be making just enough for myself to survive while living
there. I had not used my Spanish-speaking skills in years, and Jonny did not
know any Spanish. To top it all off,
since I was just finishing school, about to take the bar, and since we just had
a wedding, we had very little savings built up. While living in Spain seemed
like an exciting new adventure, it also looked like we would have a long road
of hard, complicated work ahead of us over the next few months. However, as the
paramedic said on our honeymoon, we needed to “just think of it all as an
adventure.”
And so, a couple of days later, I was applying for this
incredible opportunity, and in less than a week, I was confirming my acceptance
for a legal internship in Madrid! It was a dream come true and Jonny and I were
consequently thrilled for the mysterious journey ahead of us.
A few months have passed since we found out we were moving
to Madrid, and with this passage of time has come a myriad of complicated
questions, determinations, and tasks. We had to tell our family and friends of
our impending departure, and face the mixed reactions. Having recently married,
I needed to update my passport. We needed to obtain long-term visas, find
flights, pack for 8 months, deal with my student loans, and save a lot of money
while I studied for the bar. What would we do with our mail? Would my husband
be able to continue school in Madrid? Would
we be able to return for holidays? What about the wedding of our good friends
next spring? In sum, how was this all ever going to work, and what would we
need to sacrifice to make it so? At times, the answers were easily accessible.
Having been to Spain three times before – one week-long high school trip to
Madrid; one semester of college living with host families in Toledo; and one
honeymoon week in Malaga – I had a sense of what to expect, to a degree. However,
as we drudged through obscure checklists, seemingly endless paperwork, and time-consuming
appointments, we faced certain roadblocks that took time and hard work to fully
overcome. Despite the very large realm of the unknown, we carried on with our
preparations, using what resources and help we had available to us, growing
more excited upon the completion of each task.
It came to our attention as we began the frustratingly
confusing visa process and the overwhelming moving plans that there is really
very little accessible, detailed information about how to move abroad,
temporarily, for an internship, with a spouse. There were blogs and guides on
studying abroad and moving permanently, but there was nothing fitting to our
situation comprehensively. With time-consuming research and many mistakes, we have
managed to figure it all out. Our struggles, in combination with my passion for
writing and exploring, have prompted me to share this journey with everyone. I
hope that with my experiences I can help those interested in making similar
moves abroad, managing the overwhelming packing project, and my most favorite
topic of all, exploring all that Madrid, Spain and its surrounding regions has
to offer. Each week, I will share the journey my husband and I have moving and
living in this incredible city through stories, photos, and the wonderful
wisdom hindsight can offer. Whether you are reading for information or for
entertainment, I am excited to begin this adventure with you!
