Ending Quietly (Plus a Tomato Fight)
Reflecting on My Spanish Adventure
Saturday I flew back from Spain after living and working in Valencia for the last 35 days. A Spanish Adventure finished.
The last week was much quieter. Besides a massive tomato fight, but hold that thought.
The August Remote Year Trip had an option to add on a fifth week. I added it soon after I signed up back in March, but over half of the group didn’t and left on the prior Saturday. Hence the much more solo last week, which I actually felt was good.
If this trip was a bit of an experiment living abroad, the range of sociableness that shook out over the month provided a lot of information. A very full first several weeks as people gather a lot of excitement and energy trying to check all the local boxes. Then the last week and a half slows down as people settle in, wander about, or move on.
But that last week. For me, that last week felt the most similar to how I mostly operate and live my life at home. It felt more sustainable and familiar - yet had differences that helped give me a new perspective on my current routines and habits that I’m still percolating on.
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The one big activity I did this week was La Tomatina - a festival where we got into a giant, messy, tomato fight just for fun. And it was super messy and quite a bit of fun. And it was a nice, bright, tomato-smelling, slightly bruising ending to my Spanish Adventure.
Reflecting on my Spanish Adventure
In an earlier post, talked about what I wanted my experience to be and feel like. And now, I’m reflecting on what happened.
Highlights:
- Community: The community of people to socialize and share food with was a lot of fun. Almost every day someone would drop a note on WhatsApp inviting people to grab dinner, have a beverage on the rooftop, or meet up to explore. And my Spanish was functional enough to mostly read the menus and order in Spanish, so I call that a win.
- Valencia: I liked it. One of my favorite things was riding my bike along the many bike paths. Several times to the beach or along the river park. The city was a good size to explore but not loud and overwhelming.
- Living: Choosing a more residential month felt nice. Many people traveled to nearby places and I did end up going to Ibiza for 48 hours to see two DJ shows and do a 6-hour boat cruise and snorkeling along the coast of the island. But I liked getting comfortable with familiar bike paths, finding a good grocery store, and having a lunch spot that I went to multiple times. It felt homey to sink into a bit of a routine - morning yoga, popping into the cowork space in the afternoon to work a bit, and just exploring the city with a very unhurried pace.
- Working: I knew that August would be a quiet month for me work-wise. And I just let it. And held that alternate pace of productivity with a light touch. I did give attention to various projects and ended up doing about 35 hours of work over the month. And did very little pretend work - like circling an email inbox or rearranging words as busy work. I’ve realized that the practice of abandoning pretend work is harder and more complex than you might initially think. It’s easy to feel judged about taking a true break - either from idle comments from others about it or the internal pressure to be productive. And also, the summer lull has been a pattern for me for years. And each year I lean more and more into letting the lull be and trusting that the work - and my energy around it- will pick back up. And in the last week, it started too.
Lowlights:
- Honestly, any low points are more reality points than missed or unmet expectations. I felt that I had pretty good expectations about how much Spanish I would or wouldn’t speak, how much work I would or wouldn’t get done, and how the group dynamics would shake out with half the group working full-time East Coast hours, the variety of personalities, and the fact that people would pop in and out of Valencia to see other parts of Spain or Europe.
- The one note I didn’t research and maybe didn’t expect was that there wouldn’t be much snorkeling in Valencia. There just wasn't much to see. There was more in Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza.
Money:
Spending a month abroad while also paying rent back home does cost money. Here is a bit of a breakdown of what I spent. One helpful note for cash flow was that the bigger expenses have been spread over the past six months.
Remote Year Program: $4,113
This included all my housing for 35 days, the coworking space, the community leaders (Marina - who was most hands-on and was lovely and great - and Julio), two full-day trips, and a couple of other activities.
Flight: $1,575
Scuba Diving: $172
Ibiza Trip: $745
Other Adventures & Activities: $1,200
Food (beyond my monthly average at home): $450
Devin Boarding/Doggie Care Costs: $600
Credit Card Travel Rewards -$950
Total $7,905
Last Thoughts:
I’m glad I decided to spend a month living in Spain and I really enjoyed my experience there. Every adventure like this gives me insights and ideas for future ones - whether they are more local to home or further afield.
If you’re curious, check out the past post about my trip:
