Adjusting to Life in Spain: My First Spanish Christmas

Adjusting to Life in Spain: My First Spanish Christmas

In Spain, Christmas dinner is on the 24th and in N. America Christmas dinner is on the 25th, but since my Spanish boyfriend and I were hosting for family both days, we just made the holiday international!

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Los Escobazos Festival in Jarandilla de la Vera

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Los Escobazos Festival in Jarandilla de la Vera

My Spanish boyfriend took me into the lion’s den of the Spanish experience: Los Escobazos, a local annual festival in a small town in which people “playfully” swat you with burning brooms. What the hell was I getting myself into?? 

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Weekend Trip to Jarandilla de la Vera (Fall)

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Weekend Trip to Jarandilla de la Vera (Fall)

Back to Jarandilla de la Vera for the weekend! This time we witness Emperor Carlos V parade through the town, explore Granadilla, a preserved medieval “ghost village,” and relax in a mineral pool at Balneario Baños de Montemayor.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Weekend Trip to Jarandilla de la Vera (Summer)

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Weekend Trip to Jarandilla de la Vera (Summer)

Jarandilla de la Vera is a small town in Cáceres province, Extremadura, Spain with a population of 2,845, making it a perfect weekend getaway for two! With hiking, biking and swimming in natural rivers in the day to sipping vermouth at outdoor terraces at night, here’s my story.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: 6 Weird Spanish Foods I've Eaten

Adjusting to Life in Spain: 6 Weird Spanish Foods I've Eaten

When I lived in the U.S., you couldn’t get me to eat a tuna salad sandwich if it had too much mayonnaise. Ugh! But since living in Spain for the last year, I’ve learned to expand my palate to include these six “weird” Spanish foods.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: 16 Things I Learned From Living in Spain

Adjusting to Life in Spain: 16 Things I Learned From Living in Spain

Now that I’ve lived in Madrid for one year (whaaaat?!?), I thought I’d look back and see how I’ve changed. From bathing suits to a higher voice, from drinking fountains to no dryers, from front page of the Financial Times to being on national TV (!!), here’s what I learned from living in Spain.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: A Day Trip to Alcalá de Henares

Adjusting to Life in Spain: A Day Trip to Alcalá de Henares

Time for another day trip from Madrid! Just 35 km (22 miles) away, Alcalá de Henares is best known as the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quijote—and it even has a street that traces the path of an ancient Roman trade route linking Caesaraugusta to the city of Complutum.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Tapas Crawl on Calle Cava Baja

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Tapas Crawl on Calle Cava Baja

Calle de la Cava Baja is one of Madrid’s most iconic streets, famous for its concentration of traditional and lively tabernas. With 50 bars within 300 meters, this is the place to go on a “tapeo” or tapas crawl (like bar hopping, but there’s always food too). Naturally, I had to try this for myself. 

Adjusting to Life in Spain: A Day Trip to Ávila

Adjusting to Life in Spain: A Day Trip to Ávila

Itching to explore more of Spain, I took a day trip to Ávila, about 90 minutes outside of Madrid. From yemas de Santa Teresa, to walking the 2.5-km medieval wall, to finding the basement-slash-cave St. Theresa museum, here is my experience.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: “Llevar” – Adventures in Spanish Vocabulary

Adjusting to Life in Spain: “Llevar” – Adventures in Spanish Vocabulary

It seems that whenever I ask a Spaniard “What’s the word for…?” there’s a 50% chance that the answer is llevar. So I started investigating Spanish verb definitions… and disappeared into a rabbit hole of Spanish and English meanings for a single word.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Medieval Town Buitrago del Lozoya

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Medieval Town Buitrago del Lozoya

My feet were itching to travel again, so this weekend I decided to head out to a little town called Buitrago del Lozoya. The draw? Small town, medieval ruins, surrounded by nature. I was looking forward to a quiet, relaxed weekend getaway…but there were a few obstacles to overcome first.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Authentic Spanish Slang

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Authentic Spanish Slang

In my quest to become a true Spaniard (in heart, if not in government documentation), I have not only been learning the language (grammar, syntax)—I’ve been learning how to speak like a Spaniard. And that means learning Spanish street slang.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Differences Between Spanish and American Culture

Adjusting to Life in Spain: Differences Between Spanish and American Culture

From storing eggs to making out, from direct communication to yellow lines on the road, here are some of the differences between Spain and the USA that I’ve been either enjoying or trying to understand.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: How the Fuck Do You Order Wine?

Adjusting to Life in Spain: How the Fuck Do You Order Wine?

In the U.S. you usually ask for a glass of wine by the grape, and in Spain you order it by the region. But if you don’t know the regions, how the hell do you order wine in Spain that isn’t just taking a stab in the dark?! Let me take you through my learning process.

Adjusting to Life in Spain: How Am I Practicing Being Spanish?

Adjusting to Life in Spain: How Am I Practicing Being Spanish?

I’ve written about all the ways I’m practicing the Spanish language in order to achieve my goal of becoming fluent. But I’m also practicing another language: the social language of Spaniards. So here are a few ways that I’m learning to be Spanish.