I hate moving

When I first arrived in Spain in September, I signed a lease that would last until June and, well, June is here and my lease is up.  I’ve decided to move to a new apartment that is more centrally located rather than renewing this lease, which means that this week I am going to “make the big move” to my new place. 

Right now, I’m in “packing mode” and am sitting in my room looking around me.  I have boxes scattered all over the floor, a large garbage bag full of things I’m going to throw out, open suitcases, and lots and lots of dust (it seems like whenever you move you find dust in places you never thought possible).  I guess to get through it all I just have to keep in mind my nice, new place waiting for me. 

Hopefully, by this time next week I will be all moved into my new place.  I’m going to take the move a little slow because here I do not have a car and thus have to move things by foot and rely on friends with cars.  Continue reading this post…

Me duele la espalda: Packing to go to Spain can be painful!

I have a lot of luggage.

Well, there they are: my two large suitcases, my carry-on, and my two boxes of crap to send to Spain. Just looking at this stuff makes my back start to hurt. I can only imagine what it will be like when I actually get to Spain and have to tote my pile of stuff from the Madrid Airport the whole way to Burgos all by myself.  Continue reading this post…

Electricity in Spain: Making sure your US gadgets will work abroad…

You need to know what type of electricity Spain uses.

Soon I’ll be packing to go to Spain; but, before I can pack, I have to make sure that all my electrical devices – computer, digital camera, MP3 player, etc. – will work with the voltage abroad. In order to be sure that my “gadgets” will work abroad, I did a little research online about the differences between electricity in the USA and electricity in Spain. Here’s what I found out.  Continue reading this post…

Packing to study abroad in Spain…

Packing to study abroad in Spain.

January is fast approaching and it’s time for many college students to leave the USA and begin a semester abroad in Spain.  I should know: I was one of those students who was leaving the country to do a semester abroad last year at this time.  I know firsthand how hard it is to put your entire life in a suitcase for six months and, since many of my readers are college students who are going abroad this year to study in Spain, I thought I would share a few “words from the wise.”  I’ve actually gotten quite a few requests via email for a post on this subject, so here it is.  Continue reading this post…