Sober in Spain – tips, practicalities, and deep thoughts on sobriety

It’s been three years since I quit drinking. Three years, three and a half months. One thousand, one hundred and seventy-four days of sobriety. At the time I

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Top 7 reasons you should NEVER move to Spain – watch out!

Any country has pros and cons. I recently saw an article called “Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Never Move to Spain”. It was over on a blog

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Finding Happiness Abroad – the struggle to “feel at home”

Americans love moving. One of my first big life dreams, back when I was 11 or 12, was to move. All I wanted, at that age, was to

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American Refugees – the US exodus to Spain continues

American Refugees. “They’re not coming in dribs and drabs, they’re coming in waves.” That’s a line I heard recently on a podcast. It was a real estate podcast,

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Cultural Differences between Spain and the United States – 4 more things I’ve noticed

Living abroad is an eye-opening experience. A guy like myself — coming from a place in the US that’s not very cosmopolitan, not incredibly exciting, and not super

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My immigrant life – two decades in Madrid and Barcelona

My first proper winter coat was black, with fraying bits of thread hanging off the sleeves. It was a loan from my friend Elsa, who for some reason

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Coffee, protein, fascism, and laundry – a day in the life, samsara edition

Hey hey! It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these “day in the life” posts. But the news this week sucks, and I’m not feeling any particular

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Do the Spanish hate expats? Are Americans welcome?

Recently, on a walk through Poblenou, I spotted some graffiti on a metal door. Someone had taken a marker and scrawled, in all caps: EXPATS GO HOMO INMIGRANTES

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Is Spain overrated? Living abroad in the age of Instagram

This morning I woke up to an email from Spanish Social Security. The email was meant to notify me about a further notification, which I could download on

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Continentalis – Spanish bureaucracy made easy (Aux to self-employment deal!)

Frustrated with Spanish bureaucracy? I know. We all are. At times, it seems like the “funcionarios” are only in it to make our lives more difficult. Luckily, some

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