Moving to Spain in 2017
apartment hunting.
The last weekend of April we went to Alicante trying to find an apartment. Comparing the housing situation in Hamburg, we knew we could easily save money and find a great place to start renting only a few days after. In Spain it is very common to buy houses and apartments, while we are still…
birthday.
My birthday is on April 24th and this year was the first time I spent it in Spain. I’ve already had birthdays away from my family but this year was different. The days beforehand were superstressful and we could not make any plans at all. While in Germany it is considered bad luck to celebrate…
home.
Hamburg, meine Perle. Hamburg is considered to be the most beautiful city in the world. You can ask everyone born here and also many people living here agree. It’s Germanys second-largest city after Berlin, close to the sea and influenced by the river Elbe. Famous for the red-light district and its party areas, lots of…
vida nueva.
I landed at 00:32 am. Late, as always on this flight. But this time there were technical problems so we all happily waited inside the airplane at the airport until everything was fixed. Goodbye Hamburg and hello Benidorm! The view from our apartment is amazing, we look down at the skyline of Benidorm, one of…
guadalest.
Nature in all its beauty. Guadalest is not far from Benidorm and was one of the first places I went to visit here. The official number of inhabitants is only 220 but Guadalest is visited by more than 2 million tourists each year. When you get there, parking lots are waiting for you already but…
style.
People in Spain have a different style they said. Maybe you need to buy new clothes I thought… Before moving to Spain my image of Spanish people was influenced by my boyfriend and Spanish friends I made in the last years. And it’s true! They dress nicely, men use dress pants or dress shoes, women…
bureaucracy.
Germany is known to be very correct. Lots of offices, lots of paperwork, slowly working officers… and in the end you need another paper to confirm you have received this paper. So I was expecting something less complicated in Spain. Oh well. Everyone has a number here. While I was used to signing contracts and…
waiting.
Sometimes you know something big is going to happen. Something life changing. Or you just hope it will. I feel like I’ve spent the last months waiting. Waiting for the final job confirmation with my boyfriend, waiting for my last day at work, waiting for flights that were always delayed, waiting for my apartment to…
first month.
Yes, I’ve decided to move to another country. Inside of Europe. With my boyfriend, that is a native and already has a job there. That knows the language, obviously. That has family living close by. To a touristic area where you can easily find Germans. Where the landlord puts all information in Spanish and English.…
work.
I’ve been working for four weeks already. Alicante has been treating me well. My usual working hours are from 8-16h and we could leave early in one of the last four weeks. I work 40h a week and in Spain it’s normal to have the lunch break included. Except that it‘s not a lunch break…
summer vibes.
Benidorm is “city and beaches“. The city slogan is definitely true. The city center is filled with boutiques, souvenir shops and many restaurants. You can find everything here, from tapas places to foreign restaurants, waffles, ice cream, pizza, lots of cocktail places and of course many people. The city gets even more crowded around 8pm,…
moros y cristianos.
Spain loves its festivals and celebrations. And even with knowing that, my expectations were exceeded by far. After having experienced Moros y Cristianos I know how weird some of my questions might have sounded. I was expecting a spectacle in one place, comparable to Oktoberfest in Munich or just a big fair. But this was…
serra gelada.
Serra Gelada is a Nature Park in the Province of Alicante that is located between Benidorm, Altea and l‘Alfas del Pi. We can see it from our balcony and I wanted to get to know more about it for a while. So last weekend we went on a spontaneous hiking trip that started in Albir.…
polop de la marina.
Polop is a small town close to Benidorm and after having past it for lots of times I finally turned right and entered the old town. The full name is Polop de la Marina and the town has left its best days behind. It used to be the residence of the Barony of Polop and…
music inspires life!
Music inspires life! The slogan of Los 40 has been one of my favorites for a while. Los 40 is originally only a radio station from Spain. By now, it equals the Billboard list and every Saturday they release the Top 40 Songs voted by their audience. Many Latin American countries have their own stations…
welcome to everyday life.
It‘s been a while. Because life has caught up! The summer schedule has ended and I am not spending much time at home. During the week I started a Gym in my neighborhood, because the one in Alicante was only for the summer. And it was too exhausting carrying all my stuff the whole day…
traditions and christmas smells.
#goinghomeforchristmas While Spain has its obvious advantages like the weather, it cannot keep up with German Christmas traditions. People went crazy on Black Friday, small Christmas markets have opened in Benidorm and Alicante and the streets are filled with Christmas lights. But following the Spanish tradition, Christmas simply equals family time and the most important…
madrid in december.
We finally went on a weekend travel! The annual family trip is using the national holidays in December when the whole country is traveling. Imagine a crowded city – and then add some more. The city center was closed for cars, police tried to handle the masses and usually it felt like leaving a soccer…
reyes magos in elda.
After celebrating Christmas in Germany and New Years‘ Eve here, I was really looking forward to January 6th. The Three Wise Men are the most important fiesta in Spain and bring gifts. The children send their letters to their favorite King and wait impatiently for the gifts early morning on Jan 6th. The night before…
annaespaña 