Let me just say this upfront. The first three months as an auxiliar will chew you up, spit you out, hand you a café con leche, and then ask why you’re crying in public again.
People don’t talk about it enough, but those first three months are probably the hardest part of the entire experience. Harder than teaching. Harder than adapting to the schools.
It’s the settling in that gets you. Finding an apartment in a new city. Figuring out where to buy towels. Waiting on your first paycheck like it’s a long-lost lover. Navigating paperwork you can barely pronounce. Running to appointments. Rescheduling those appointments. Realizing you made the wrong appointment. The classics.
And if it’s your first year, all of that feels like trying to build a life with the instructions written in invisible ink. But here’s the plot twist… Your second year isn’t exactly a walk in the park either. I went into Year Two feeling smug. I thought, “Please. I’ve done this before. I know the drill.” Spain said, “Aw, that’s cute,” and proceeded to throw curveballs at me as I’d personally offended the entire bureaucracy.
Appointments got canceled. Then rescheduled. Then canceled again. My visa expired last December, so I’ve been floating in that fun little bureaucratic limbo where your TIE is expired but also “in process,” and you’re praying no one asks you too many questions.
Basically, it was chaos. Not dramatic, TV-show chaos. Real-life, slightly embarrassing, public-tears chaos.
And that’s the point I want to land on: Give yourself grace in those first three months. Seriously. Carve it into stone. Tattoo it. Stitch it on a tote bag. You just moved continents. Your nervous system is doing CrossFit right now. Do not judge your entire experience based on the first three months alone; if anything, they don’t count!
You’re not going to have everything figured out right away. Nobody does. Even the people who look put together are secretly Googling “Is my TIE still valid if I want to breathe today?” at 2 a.m.
My first year abroad was… chaotic in the cutest, most humbling way. I lost weight without even trying, which sounds great until you realize none of your clothes fit and you’re walking around looking like a child playing dress-up. Then I managed to rack up a phone bill big enough to make an abuela clutch her pearls, all because I didn’t know international calling was basically highway robbery.
I tried ordering new bank cards, and of course, they got lost in the mail as they went on their own little European vacation. I also signed up for a €15 monthly plan with Orange, but somehow every bill came out to almost €25. By month three, I was like, “Yeah, let’s go ahead and cancel that before they take my entire livelihood.”
And don’t even get me started on the winter months. I didn’t know portable heaters were basically little money-eating monsters. I think December-February, the electric bill came in, and my roommates and I had to cough up an extra €80 each just to cover the damage. I learned real fast that layering up is the true European winter lifestyle.
Looking back, it was messy and expensive and confusing… but honestly, that’s how you learn. Every mistake turned into a story, and every story made me a little tougher and a lot more prepared.
In my second year, I felt like I lived inside every clinic in the Comunidad Valenciana. I had appointments for everything… doctors, dentist, gynecology, you name it. And of course, most of them fell on workdays. My school wasn’t thrilled about it, even though every single one was excused with a note. And the funny part? Half of those appointments ended up getting rescheduled anyway.
Then came the prórroga drama. I was convinced I submitted it wrong and immediately spiraled into the classic “Oh great, I’m getting deported” meltdown. Turns out I hadn’t submitted anything at all. At least that meant I could redo it correctly.
After that, I needed a regreso, but I had to apply through Valencia since I was technically still padroned there. The timing was ridiculous. I was picking up the document in person on a Friday, literally the day before flying out of the Schengen zone. Meanwhile, I had my new padrón appointment in Alicante scheduled for that Thursday. The universe has jokes.
Thankfully, my school and coordinator were super understanding and let me miss the day to go handle it. And now that I’m officially registered in Alicante, I can finally do all of this online with my digital certificate like a normal human.
But honestly, it’s wild how the “little things” pile up. Every tiny detail somehow becomes a mini saga. Life abroad really comes with its own set of plot twists.
But looking back? Everything worked out. It always does. Spain has this funny way of testing your patience and then rewarding you once you stop fighting the process.
So if you’re in those early months, whether it’s your first year or your second, remember this:
You’re doing better than you think. You’re adjusting more than you realize. And things will eventually fall into place… if you let them.
And one day, you’ll look back on all of this and wonder why you ever stressed so hard.
(Then Spain will make you do another appointment just to keep you humble.)
Love always,
American Girl Meets World
