Moving to Spain from the UK - update on my plans and progress

I decided that I would be moving to Spain from the UK in December 2009. At that time I didn’t know where exactly I’d be going, and I didn’t know any Spanish. You can read more details of my decision to move to another country here, and you can read more details on the challenges that has already presented in preparation here.

 

Most of this article is actually part of a post I made on a public forum which I have received a lot of useful advice from.

 

 

I've been able to take a lot of the strain off myself just by making a spreadsheet of documents needed and their renewal/expiry dates and then cross referencing it to a filing system.

 

Literally I've got everything from Passport to Padron listed on there with details of when I'll need to get one/renew my current one.

 

 

I'm exchanging e-mails with several people in Spain who want to learn English. That has been MUCH more beneficial than I thought. I'm learning words which I actually want to use when talking about myself, as opposed to the generic ones taught in the audio series. I am arranging to Skype with some people. As previously mentioned I did Skype with a chap form Columbia a few weeks ago and that quickly descended into talking in 90% English because his English was too good.

 

So I've told these guys that we have to force 30 minutes in only English then 30 minutes in only Spanish.

 

I've used various websites to meet people but the main one I'm getting success with atm is My Language Exchange.

 

 

I was due a holiday with my Dad anyway (It's been over 5 years), but he's surprised me by deciding we're going to Spain. That's a double-boon for me because it's like him saying "I approve of what you're doing" as well as helping me out.

 

So I'm going to Alicante on the 7th of Spain. My main thing will be relaxing with my Dad while there - but it's a great opportunity to embarrass myself with my Spanish and maybe check out one or two other things which will help. Any advice as to what I might what to pre-scout would be appreciated

 

Looking forward to hopping over to Benidorm to check out the theme-park.

 

 

New car plan. I've been convinced, mainly by a forum which I post on, NOT to matriculate my Fiesta. So instead I'm going to sell it first in this country, buy a cheap banger which will probably only last 2-3 months tops, and drive that to Spain, then sell or scrap it and eventually buy a car in Spain.

 

I am aware that Spanish cars are "more expensive", but compared to the 700 euros matriculation it's not so bad and the admin work is much less.

 

 

What I do for Language learning now is I use a program called Anki for 10 minutes in the morning for phrases which I had difficulty with. It's a free flash-card program.

 

Then I listen to audio lessons in the car, in my lunch break I listen to Spanish pod-casts (can't quite understand them yet, I get a lot of functional words such as "muchas cosas" and "es muy buenisimo"... but I can't quite grasp the meat of the conversation... yet.) When I get home I do two more audio lessons - that part is the hour a night I committed to back in Feb.

 

Learning Spanish is taking the vast majority of my effort. I am already confident in my social skills and my professional skills, so I know that long-term success in Spain is dependent almost entirely only on my Spanish.

 

 

I've got rid of about 50% of my stuff. I have a lot of stuff to throw away which I admit I am procrastinating about... I have boxes of silly things like computer wires which are probably worth about £5 all together, but it's all those little things which come in weirdly useful every now and again. I think I'll donate them to a friend .

 

I think things are well on track, like I have a lot of momentum build up. I have three months to go now.