NYC to Madrid

We’ve been in Europe about a month now and it’s been a whirlwind… First, a week in Saint Tropez (which was AMAZING and something I hope to do next year as well). Then, a week of intensive Spanish classes (4 hours a day!). After that my friend Laurel came to visit, and in between I’ve been pushing myself to be as social as possible and say “yes” to everything in order to meet people over here. I’ve joined nearly 15 different groups between Facebook expat groups and meet-up groups, and thankfully have been set up on several “friend dates” by those who have friends here. I even went to a language exchange with my new Italian friend (though didn’t understand much).

We spent this past week in the Canary Islands, where Angel is from and I’m establishing residency, working through the steps to make me legal. I obtained my residency without a hitch, which gave us hope the rest of the process would be simple. We couldn’t have been more wrong… We went to the court house three days after my residency was granted with all the proper paperwork, as stated on the website. However after about 5 minutes they informed us I was missing half of what I needed. Why? The rules changed and they never updated the website… And on top of that, it’s August – when all of Europe pretty much shuts down – so we can’t get the proper documents we need. Meaning my visa will be pushed off to October… However, the silver lining is now we “have” to come back to the Canaries in October 🙂

Do we miss NYC? We miss our friends, and the organization the city seems to have. And I miss people being on time, and stores being open between 2:00 – 5:00pm as opposed to closing for siestas. And I miss eating dinner at 8PM instead of 10PM (some restaurants don’t even open until 9:30!). But we don’t miss the rent prices. Or the subways. Or the constant stress the city puts on you. And I love that glasses of wine here are 3 Euros, and that we can buy flights to Copenhagen for $32, and it’s common practice to jet off to Paris or London or anywhere else in Europe for just a weekend. So while we miss New York, we’re so happy to be here.

Tomorrow we head up north to Ciudad de Rodrigo for a few days in the country, and then to Galicia.