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Learning How to Drive in Spain (Part 1 – The Basics)
In the first installment of this series, Dani shares what she's learned thus far about the process of procuring a driver's license in Spain to help you select the right driving school (autoescuela) for you.
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What’s the Difference Between a Spanish Coach and a Spanish Teacher?
Dear Kim, We love that you’ve decided to learn Spanish (or further your study of Spanish) and integrate into life in Spain! We talk about language-learning a lot here on the blog and so you might already be familiar with some common options like apps, books, and tutors. However, did you know there’s another, less common but incredibly powerful way to learn Spanish? It’s working with a Spanish Coach, who offers a unique blend of teaching and life coaching. We’ll be honest, we weren’t super familiar with language coaching ourselves until recently, but when we connected with Jaime Valencia, the director of ABLA Academy, we were immediately intrigued! Coach Jaime…
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Traveling with a little one under 6 months
Dear Jim, Before our little one hits the six month mark we will have traveled together by car, train, tram, and plane (plus a short ferry ride). For me, living far away from my family, having this flexibility to move around has meant a lot because it means we can connect more easily with loved ones. Even within Finland, being willing to test out traveling options has been really beneficial for our ability to have tiny adventures around people and events that are important to us. Traveling with such a small person can feel daunting, especially if the day-to-day tasks are already feeling like a lot. At the same time,…
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How I maintain my Spanish without living in a Spanish speaking country
Dear Emily, Learning a language is hard but maintaining that language, especially when living in a country that doesn’t speak the language, may be even harder. I have lived outside of Spain for over five years, however, I am using Spanish more than ever now that I have a little one in my life, trying to ensure that their language learning journey starts sooner than my own. I have to admit that even though it is something that I have wanted to do, talking to a child in my non-native language means I have to work hard to keep it as up-to-date as I can (with the investment I am…
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Embracing Your Empowered Expat Woman
Guest writer Camilla Quintana walks you through the steps she uses with her clients to help them feel more empowered and in control of their path and story. With her thoughtful insights, you too can embrace your empowered expat woman.
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Learning Spanish through storytelling: the shortcut to fluency
Dear Rafa, Today on the blog we are sharing with you a blog post from Marta Fernández, a native Spanish teacher and coach. After experiencing the cultural and linguistic barriers for over a decade as an expat in Bristol, UK, she returned to Madrid with the mission of helping expat women to communicate, integrate and feel connected in Spain. She provides language and cultural teaching and coaching to minimize the effects of the cultural shock and facilitate a smooth transition to Spain. You can find more about Marta on her website: https://spanishflowschool.com/ Or her Instagram: @marta.spanish.teacher And with that, we hope you enjoy this article about language learning, we know we…
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How To Survive Your First Year Living Abroad
Moving abroad is a journey filled with excitement and challenges. Guest writer John Harvey knows that the thrill of a beginning often goes hand-in-hand with the overwhelming task of settling into a new environment. Check out his eight tips for not only surviving, but thriving, during your first year abroad.
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Relocating to Madrid: A Specialist’s Insights into Apartment-Hunting
Today we welcome to the blog guest writer, Eliana. She is a reputable relocation specialist with tons of experience helping auxiliares find housing in Madrid. In this post, she walks you through what you should know about the apartment-hunting process, a few districts of the city you should consider, why you might want to work with a relocation specialist, and more.
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How to: Host Long-term Visitors
Hosting friends or family that come to visit for an extended amount of time can be trickier than short-term visitors. In this post, we share our top tips for setting clear expectations and boundaries to allow for both guest(s) and host(s) to enjoy the time together while balancing their other responsibilities and everyday lives.
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Confessions: Feeling Imposter Syndrome at Work (While Living Abroad)
The feeling of imposter syndrome is by no means unique to the experience of living abroad. However, being outside your home country context can lead to questioning yourself and your abilities to fit into the country and company culture even further when abroad. In this post, Claudia shares about her personal struggles with imposter syndrome while living in Finland.
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The Complete Guide to Ambiguous Expat Grief
The word ‘grief’ tends to make us think about the deep sadness that comes from a loved one dying. However, this is not the only kind of grief that exists. In this post, we take a deep dive into "ambiguous expat grief," a wide-ranging, confusing sense of loss that expats / immigrants experience.
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How to Get a Student Visa to Study in Spain
Today we are pleased to welcome to the blog guest writer, Ciaran O Toole. Ciaran is from SegurCaixa Adeslas, where he is part of the English speaking team and works with clients who are looking for health insurance as part of their visa application or renewal. He is from Ireland and originally came to Spain to study Business and Spanish. He has lived in Madrid for 3 years and has been working in insurance for 2 years. Ciaran knows the headache of moving to Spain and his job is to help you! For that reason, we knew he was the right person to help answer some of the questions you…
