Our New Home
It's official! We've rented an apartment and are now living in Salamanca, Spain.
We came to Spain uncertain of where we were going to be. Our amazing friends in Madrid let us stay with them while we figured it out. During that time, we explored the cities we thought we'd like to move to. Our hearts were pretty set on the north of Spain - mostly Cantabria and the Asturias. We visited Santander, Gijón, and Oviedo. In the end, we chose Santander and we were certain that was where we were going to live.
After visiting the north, we headed back to Madrid to wait to hear on our visas. It took longer than expected, so during that time we decided to visit some nearby cities. They were supposed to be just for fun - especially since we'd already decided on Santander!
We went to Toledo and Segovia - which we loved. We came back to Madrid and then just decided to wait. That's when I remembered my brother had studied abroad in Salamanca and told us we should visit and that it's an amazing city. So we booked a few days just to visit. It was the festival time in early September so there was a lot going on, but at the same time, the city had a sort of coziness to it. It's a university city, so there are libraries, book shops, and cafes everywhere. There are so many great restaurants, and the city is incredibly walkable (you can basically get to everything within a 25 minute walk).
It was during this trip that we found out we were staying in Spain. We were sitting in a church just admiring the architecture when our lawyer messaged us. It was such a special moment and then something just told us - we needed to be here, in Salamanca. At least to start.
We decided to sleep on it for a few days but we still felt the pull to Salamanca. We took a chance and booked a place for two weeks to see what we could find. We said goodbye to our friends and off we went!
Amazingly, within two weeks, our daughter was enrolled in school and we found an apartment (literally at the LAST minute).
And here we are! We've been in the apartment for two weeks and it's been a whirlwind of finding furniture and kitchen stuff, trying to find Spanish classes, walking one mile each way to school - but thankfully not uphill and in the snow :)
We love it here. I am still feeling homesick and miss my family very much, but I know we made the right decision. It's tough not being fluent in the language and the customs are different (still getting used to the 9 pm dinners). But I'm so glad we've finally found a place to start our chapter here in Spain.
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