This is the time of year when dreams of moving to a sunnier climate strike. The rain and the cold are setting in and it is only going to get worse. Could you relocate to somewhere warmer? Maybe you’re a student looking to spend a year studying abroad or a retiree ready to enjoy your free time outdoors instead of by the fire. Or maybe you are a professional with the good luck to relocate to Spain for work. Many of us have had wonderful holidays in Spain, and it isn’t too far away. But what would it be like to live there?
You’ll have many obvious new things to get used to, such as driving on the other side of the road and speaking a new language. (And maybe realizing that you need to learn Catalan or Basque as well as Spanish, depending on where you go.) The heat might feel like too much of a good thing in the summer. Bureaucracy never makes sense anywhere, and this is one of the hardest things about living in a new country. No matter where you go, it is going to be frustrating.
One big adjustment is the pace of the day. Sure, you could make a big roast dinner and eat it at 5:00 pm. No one will stop you, although you might not feel inclined to roast anything once you are there! It might feel very strange at first, but if you follow the lead of the locals on when to do things, you’ll soon see the wisdom of it.
Smaller shops and many offices close for a two-hour break to avoid the heat at 2:00 pm. Large chain stores are less likely to do this. Spain is under pressure to adjust their working hours, which often go past 6:00 pm to make up for the long lunch break. People aren’t usually sleeping as the whole siesta image suggests, but in some places workers and school children go home for lunch and the travel back and forth takes up time. This is why dinner is so much later than in Ireland. People are only getting back to work at 4:00 pm. They might finish at 7:00 pm, so dinner at 9:00 pm is normal.
Spain has some significant regional differences. It’s a patchwork of former independent kingdoms, and each had their own language and culture. Bullfighting, for example, is really more of an Andalusian thing. Spanish Basques might feel closer to French Basques than to people in other parts of Spain. Different regions will have different traditional dishes. If you’re considering a move to Spain, it is important to research the different regions and see which one appeals most to you.
Contact Spratt Personal Shipping for an estimate for door to door shipping to your new home.
The post Following the Sun to Spain? appeared first on Spratt Personal Shipping.
