Greetings everyone.

I am a new member to this forum. and am seeking help with a dilemma I currently face. As a 17 year old living in the state of Texas, I want to leave this country and start life elsewhere. Even though I love my country, I?d like to experience what the world, most importantly Spain, has to offer.

Because I took four consecutive years of Spanish in High School I consider my self semi fluent in the language. However, because Spanish is such a beautiful language I can never truly understand it?s intricacies as a non-native speaker. Anyways- the language barrier will be trivial for I think I can quickly pick up the language via immersion.

So I come here to ask what is life like in Spain. Is it much more laid back than the United States. I want to live a fruitful, full life full of culture and vibrant. In the US where the ?live to work? mentality reigns people often forget the important things in life; love, laughter, and happiness. For example, I?d much rather enjoy a scintillating conversation or great food than worry about not being able to pay the atrocious cost for health insurance. Spain seems to offer a more laid-back, open minded vibe.

Is Spain a country of accepting and open minded people? How do they treat Americans who are open minded?( I am from Texas but that doesn?t mean that I am an ignorant redneck Sarah Palin/bush loving fool).  Likewise, should I complete my 4 year university in the States before moving to Spain? When I move I will be relatively young (19-22), so at that age what kind of jobs are available in Spain? Lastly, how are las chicas in Spain :D?

Thanks for the help, and i?d love to hear you experience as an expat living in Spain.

financial spain on it nees and jobs not easy two come by here , Spain got the biggest number people out work for EU . financial if you win the lotto come and njoy it here , spain nothing like the Deep South , used to live in FL usa , you like here , Sarah Palin/bush loving fool WHO ? OMG . the language barrier you fine with you been so near Mexico but you understand it here . Spain a country of accepting and open minded people yes it is , more open then Usa

jurdy

shanflash - 23 May 2010 01:53 PM

Greetings everyone.

I am a new member to this forum. and am seeking help with a dilemma I currently face. As a 17 year old living in the state of Texas, I want to leave this country and start life elsewhere. Even though I love my country, I?d like to experience what the world, most importantly Spain, has to offer.

Nothing wrong with wanting to move from your home country and experience other cultures, its to be encouraged, the best time to visit and explore would be before/after family/career becomes an issue.

So I come here to ask what is life like in Spain. Is it much more laid back than the United States. I want to live a fruitful, full life full of culture and vibrant.

I have no idea what the life style is like stateside apart from Modern Family, Greys Anatomy etc on TV, having said that from what the media portrays the States have culture in bucket loads.

Spanish is many things to many peeps, some live in Spain and love the same culture celebrations year after year, others find once they’ve experienced it they get bored.

Spanish fiesta’s don’t change with time, you can go the the local Paella fiesta every yr it’ll be the same food, same people, same music as last yr, the yr before and even 50 yrs before.

Valencia has some amazing fiesta’s, but once you’ve seen the huge paper statues being burn’t, thats it, they’ll always be the same.

Spain is very popular but can be boring the longer you live there.

The excitement soon leaves and the holiday experience becomes lost in the usual fight to work and pay bills.

In the US where the ?live to work? mentality reigns people often forget the important things in life; love, laughter, and happiness. For example, I?d much rather enjoy a scintillating conversation or great food than worry about not being able to pay the atrocious cost for health insurance. Spain seems to offer a more laid-back, open minded vibe.

I was surprised by the amount of time Spaniards spend in work, what I experienced was there in work, but not actually doin much work, their not rushed in the same way I was in the UK.

I would arrive with everyone else at 7.30 AM in the local bar/coffee shop, we’d all have coffee together, churros, some would have a brandy with their coffee.then we’d go to the office at around 8am, start doin work, by 10am we’d leave to have breakfast and then as we all worked in clients home around the area would set off at 11AM to do the engineering work.At 1.30pm it was lunch time until 4.30pm, we usually meet in small groups around the areas we worked, lunch would be a typical menu set 3 course which always included a bottle of cheap wine, we all used to mix with Lemonade.Then it was back to work at 4.30pm until 8pm.All the engineers who lived in Malaga would meet up for a beer and a moan until around 10pm, by which time we all left for home and our evening with the kids, the evening meal etc, normally 11pm was the same as 7pm in the UK, by which I mean family programmes would be on TV, most of the time though you’d either be walking with the family before eating or go out to a bar after eating, all with the children.

I was always amazed how goin to bed at 2am was normal and being up by 7am, the timetable is much later than the UK, normally by 11pm most people are goin to bed or its the time adults spend and tv is not for children, at 11pm in Spain children programmes are still on and its normal to see and hear children playing outside, something never done in the UK.

The engineers sometimes worked till 10-11pm, once I was still on a job at 1am, the client was very grateful and bought us a meal in the bar near the home and was still open and serving great food.

The job I had was with a Spanish company and everyone was in work a long time, but unlike the UK weekends are not for work, its the time they use to recover and enjoy life.The attitude was very much work hard in the week and party hard on the weekends.

Street culture, conversation,meeting people is a large part of Spanish life, one my OH still finds hard back in the UK, especially on a summer night, she finds the idea of peeps having BBQ’s in their homes and not being out walking, socialising weird.

It happened most weekends that we would meet friends in the street, go to a bar and sit drinking, eating well into the early hours without any plans too, just spur of the moment actions, its very difficult to walk 100 meters in less than 3 hrs in most Spanish towns that your living in.

Is Spain a country of accepting and open minded people?

That is hard to answer, gays are everywhere, people accept them and don’t seem too mind, other skin colours, thats a different matter, but its getting better with time, although Spanish people have a funny attitude to skin colour, its usually mentioned that someone is negro rather than say Asian or African, its not usually used in malice, usually used to mock, such as the Spanish Basketball team being photographed in the Chinese Olympics making slant eyed jesters with their fingers pulling the corners of their eyes or Formula F1 having people in the crowd with black faces and mocking Lewis Hamilton.

Generally though most outsiders who visit Spain are not finding much to complain about.Living their can be different, I’ve had clients refuse to deal with me and one office girl in our office told me to stop speaking English to the boss, he wanted to practice and was stood next to us, she still had the balls to tell me that I should speak Spanish here.

Most Spaniards have a poor opinion of people who don’t speak the language of Spain and most I know openly agree that they don’t like people moving to their country, I agree with them.

Spaniards are friendly and welcoming to strangers and don’t give problems, even to foreigners who don’t integrate.

In general the stereo typical Spaniard is true, but experience varies.

Thanks for the insightful advice into Spain’s people and culture. Still, I don’t know what I should do for money if I decide to make it my permanent residency.

How is the job situation for foreigners currently? What is their average salary and what are some of the more popular job listings that are available to younger people? Also, is a 4 year US education from one of the nation’s top public universities valued or even recognized? Lastly, what kind of skills should I develop before moving there?

At this current time, my Spanish is intermediate; I can hold conversations, talk about politics, or use it to accomplish necessary daily tasks, however I may have grammatical errors and my vocabulary is somewhat basic. Improvement will come with time and for this reason the language barrier doesn’t seem like much of an issue to me. Are native English (American) speakers in high demand for jobs, and if so what kind of jobs can they land?

Thanks.

shanflash - 24 May 2010 12:30 AM

How is the job situation for foreigners currently?

Depends on regions, luck and experience.

Spain generally is in bad shape and the Euro is likely too fail in my opinion.Unemployment has always been bad in Spain and always will be, many expats find work within the expat community and that provides instability to employees.

Your best chance would be to gain employment in the States that had offices in Spain and transfer, thats what I did in the UK or gain a career that allows you to work from home anyway in the world with an Internet connection, most long term employed in Spain tend to be home IT based.

What is their average salary and what are some of the more popular job listings that are available to younger people?

Salary is low in Spain compared to the UK, I dropped around 1,000 Euros a month in Spain, which is why I returned to the UK, I don’t mind working long hours and overtime if its paid, spending all day in work with a beach feet away and still unable to pay bills wasn’t much fun or stress free.

Also, is a 4 year US education from one of the nation’s top public schools be valued or even recognized? Lastly, what kind of skills should I develop before moving there?

Nearly all school leaves with average grades in Spain go to Uni, which means there is a lot of competition for careers jobs.My brother in law did Structual Engineering, he is 29 and has never worked in that industry, he works on a production line of a glass recycling factory, a job that requires no qualifications, in fact a lot of unskilled jobs were not being filled, which led the govt to seek South American labour, which they now regret.

Are native English (American) speakers in high demand for jobs, and if so what kind of jobs can they land?

Thanks.

There are a lot of call centre sales type jobs that ask for English speakers and other languages, another popular one was real estate, both paid on performance and both now rare due to the EU financial crisis.

Bar work is a possibility, although as their is a crisis and everybody around europe and the world looks at Spain it has fierce competition with really poor conditions, employment law in Spain is horrendous, employers don’t care as the legal system is so slow and expensive, any law suit threats will be laughed at.

Its not a good time to move the Spain, but since your young with no ties its not as bad as others, just be sure to have money behind you and don’t expect too much, Spain is a great place, but it owes you nothing and to be successful requires all the stresses and strains found all over the world, mainly money and getting it.

Once you’ve arrived the hard work will start, but you’ll need to be in Spain at the right time to get anywhere, without trying its impossible to predict your outcome, but also realise that to live you need to work and its unlikely that even if you find a job it will be good enough to support you for ever, Spaniards will always employ a Spaniard first, unless the job is so poor that Spaniards don’t want it or pays too little to support themselves.

Spaniards are great people, but if 10 apply for a job and one is a foreigner, you’ll be at the back of the queue.

Nepotism rules in Spain, it makes it much harder, my boss was the brother in law of the boss of Andalucia and other regional managers in Andalucia were related too him, even the engineers I worked with had cousins/friends in our dept.I found out that my job had been advertised for 2 yrs with no applicants because the office had a reputation locally, when I was there some Polish guys arrived, they could not speak Spanish and I had to interprite for them, they returned to Poland after a month.how bad must a place be that they employ people that cannot speak the language.

I found out the hard way.

First job I’ve ever had that during a meeting the boss throw the telephone at someone, it resulted in several stitches,almost a fight , three days of striking and the boss attending stress treatment.

Thanks for the input. I was reading some job listings and they say English native speakers can earn anywhere from 50000 to 150K a year in a sales position. Is that possible, or is it just exaggerated? That may be something I would like to pursue.

It is normal that Spaniards would give jobs to their fellow countrymen over foreigners, as we do the same in the US. However, if I am self employed is it tough to run your business from home? Currently I do web design and average 500-1000 USD for 10 hours of work, and this work can be done anywhere worldwide. Are there alot of clients in need of websites in Spain and is the Web Design industry untapped?

shanflash - 24 May 2010 01:21 AM

Thanks for the input. I was reading some job listings and they say English native speakers can earn anywhere from 50000 to 150K a year in a sales position. Is that possible, or is it just exaggerated? That may be something I would like to pursue.

Its possible, if you sell enough, its possible to walk around the planet without the need to purchase food, water or use transport, but its highly unlikely.

However, if I am self employed is it tough to run your business from home?

You’ll face the same challenges as the US, although its expensive compared to the UK regards tax, you’ll need to pay 250 euros to have health cover every month, even if you don’t make any money, compared to the UK 250 Euros covers the whole yr.

So many Brits feel that is harsh.

Currently I do web design and average 500-1000 USD for 10 hours of work, and this work can be done anywhere worldwide. Are there alot of clients in need of websites in Spain and is the Web Design industry untapped?

I’d say web design in Spain is as good as anywhere, if not better.

My Mother in law is in her 60’s and takes a free class on IT run by the local council for old peeps, the internet was slower to catch on in Spain, now there are a lot of technology parks springing up with new companies and companies from around the world, Southern Spain has a lot of on line gambling firms who run there servers etc from Spain.

I’m afraid if your looking for an untapped market place you’ll be disappointed, Spain has people from all over the world living and working, with many more looking to live and work there.If it hasn’t been tried in Spain, its probably because it hasn’t been invented yet.

As a web professional I’ll pipe up here to let you know that indeed, if you’re coming from the US there’s certainly some experience and a level of professionalism that has yet to be attained in Spain. When I arrived in 2004 the country was still in 1998 in Internet years. That said it’s come a LONG way, which lots of fast broadband adoption and tons of wireless 3G/4G competition creating a healthy mobile market place. You can make some good money if you have the right connections, but it’ll take you a year or two to break into the market. It’s not easy. Plus you’ll probably start out at the bottom, doing websites for bars and events for next to nothing. 😊

If you’re serious about and committed to doing web work in Spain, send me a PM.

The Expatriator is that bar website done yet i keep asking you about , only going pay you 5 dollors Ha ha ha

sorry sir, just one more day I promise.

:D

Hello. I’m Spanish, and I’m living in UK for a few months. I can help you if you want.

shanflash - 24 May 2010 01:21 AM

Thanks for the input. I was reading some job listings and they say English native speakers can earn anywhere from 50000 to 150K a year in a sales position. Is that possible, or is it just exaggerated? That may be something I would like to pursue.

It is normal that Spaniards would give jobs to their fellow countrymen over foreigners, as we do the same in the US. However, if I am self employed is it tough to run your business from home? Currently I do web design and average 500-1000 USD for 10 hours of work, and this work can be done anywhere worldwide. Are there alot of clients in need of websites in Spain and is the Web Design industry untapped?

Shanflash,

You’ve got a LOT of big ideas, and that’s a good thing. However, you are going to need to do some very serious research into moving to Spain. Being Americans, we have it rough here. Even if you go to an American (or in my case, Canadian) university, you are going to have to get your degree legally recognized by the government. I graduated with a double major, a very good GPA, and from a very good university. HOWEVER, in the eyes of the government right now, I haven’t been to university. I am nervously awaiting the review panel’s decision. They look at a similar program at a university in Spain, and decide whether or not you’ve met the requirements to have a Spanish style degree. Many people are told that they must go back to university to take more classes before their degrees can be recognized.

Planning to drive? You’re (er, we’re) going to have to drop at least 1,000Eur at a driving school since you can’t legalize an American licence here.

Have you checked out the amount of money you have to have in an account to even apply for a visa? Start saving.

If you have a LOT of patience, speak good Spanish, and are willing to fight one he** of an uphill battle, go for it. Unemployment for our age group in Spain is currently something like 40%. Things are not good. And the native English speakers from the EU will (nearly) always be hired before you will, simply because it’s easier to hire an EU citizen than go through the paperwork process of hiring an American.

And just one thing: after having lived in various other countries, I have learned that the world is. not. all. that. different. You may not have the same exact problems here as you had in Texas, but you’re going to find others. Racism? You betcha. Different? Sure. But it’s there. Stress? Those who I know that work in the private sector work just as hard as people do at home. You don’t have to worry about paying for health insurance because they take it right out of your paycheck. My Spanish fiancee paid 600EUR last month in taxes towards his “free” health insurance. If you want a laid back, open minded vibe go to Oregon, Washington, or Vermont to try out a “new” culture. Life is good here, but it’s not all happy fluffy kittens. Especially if you’re not a retiree like so many expats. You’ve really got to fight to get by. The Spanish have their families to fall back on, but you and I haven’t got that luxury.

Best of luck.