One suitcase, one carry-on and 1200 euros in cash. The task? Leave Toronto, the city where I grew up, with absolutely no plans to return anytime soon, follow through on my decision to live abroad and land on my feet in… Pontevedra?
People thought I was crazy. What did I have to listen to in those last two months? Leave Canada, “the best place in the world in which to live,” as they presumptuously called it, to go someplace they’d never heard of? Leave a “career” to teach English abroad?
And so on… The typical bullshit I was used to hearing from people who had never been anywhere but knew everything anyways. Put it this way: I was fed up with the Canadian mentality and way of life. It’s not like living indoors because of the freezing cold is the best quality of life or anything. It isn’t. At least not for me.
I want to get deeper into my reasons for leaving. Why is it that so many people want to leave their home countries? I believe that people “create” their lives in their home cities, or, more usually, their lives are created by other people and external circumstances. Eventually, their lives become boring, the boredom expands and gets worse. Some people live what is basically the same dumb day every single day, with small variations on the theme. The same (annoying?) people, the same streets, the same dreaded job. What a pathetic substitute for a fulfilling life!
That’s what happened to me in my “home town.” So I left. I didn’t just leave a city. I left behind a boring, meaningless, mind-numbing, spirit-killing routine.
So, where is Pontevedra, anyways?
Pontevedra is in the autonomous community of Galicia, in the northwestern corner of Spain. Galicia is a beautiful, rustic, green, rainy wonderland. It has cool people, great food ingredients and nice architecture. I read about it on the Internet and something about it just drew me towards it. I abandoned my idea of going to “sunny” Spain, booked a ticket to Galicia and left. It’s that simple.
In the end, the psychological toll of thinking about making a big move is more intense than the event itself.The truth is that the evening before my flight out, I was feeling physically and emotionally exhausted. I was doubting myself and my strength. I left anyways, of course. In the end, if you want to skydive, you have to jump.
Since then, I’ve lived in several completely different countries and have traveled to quite a few others. I learned one language fluently and picked up a lot more new skills as well. All I can say is that it’s been interesting!
For anybody interested in doing something similar, I’m going to give you five conclusions and pieces of advice based on my experience:
1. If you want out of your current life, a change of location can definitely help. But only if you make an honest effort to leave behind any negative attitudes or habits from your past. If you carry those with you, you’ll weaken the experience.
2. Don’t think. Do. Overthinking will hold you back.
3. Adapt. Going to countries with different mentalities to what you’re used to can be annoying. If you stay long enough, you will see it and you will know it. The locals are not going to adapt to you. Even when they are wrong and you’re right. I know this. I lived it.
4. Don’t overstay in a place that doesn’t mesh with your soul. Here I want to elaborate. I spent quite some time in Galicia, but eventually I made a decision to go down south to Malaga. I’m not sure why, maybe it was the promise of a lazy life in the sun. That decision turned out to be a bit of a disaster for me. I loved Galicia, the people, the food, almost everything. In Galicia I found mainly friendly, honest, good-natured people. In Malaga, I found a lot of swindlers. The Galicians will not pretend to be your friends, but once they get to know you, they can become true friends.
In Andalucia, on the other hand, I found a lot of backstabbers, people who pretend to be your friends and then abandon you, and a generally annoying society. That’s a generalization, of course, and I’m not going to get into the details, but after 3.5 years of experience with Spain and even more years in the Mediterranean, that’s my conclusion.
Don’t stress out over your destination, but don’t hesitate to move if the spot doesn’t inspire you. I made a wrong move for me and I had to correct it.
5. Have fun with it. Otherwise, what’s the point? If you’re going to indulge in something new, then you have to expect things to go the wrong way at least some of the time. You can still come out a winner. In Malaga, I made a Scandinavian friend who changed the course of my life. In fact, I wouldn’t have gotten into blogging if it hadn’t been for him. So I gained something from the experience.
In conclusion, I want to pose a question to myself: Would I do it again? The answer is definitely: yes! And proof of that is the fact that after quite a few years of living abroad, I have no intention of moving back to my “home town” any time soon. My life is better now.
So, I say, if you’re considering it, do it!