To move to Spain

[SomethingProfound]

Well just that really.

I have just finished Uni, and have luckily managed to get a job straight away good prospects and a great company.

My DP of two years has just taken a job in Spain setting up the kitchen in his friends restaurant, he is an amazing chef and creating his own menu and having complete creative control was simply to good an opportunity to pass up. He has been a head chef for years and has worked so hard and such long hours for so long he really needed a change and new challenge so I was happy for him to go.

The plan was for him to stay in Spain for four months and then come home, however he is now saying that its such a great pace of life why not live there for a few years and experience something new. We are both relatively young (27 and 33) with no real commitments here.

Would it be madness to go and join him? My degree is in hospitality management and have relatives in Spain who also work in my industry so imagine finding work wouldn't be too difficult.

However I'm concerned I would be throwing away a really good opportunity for some fun in the sun. I'm torn between head and heart. Wise women of MN what do you think? is this madness AIBU to give up a good job for a few years in Spain.

Well our situation was a bit different to yours (now I've read your OP properly as not on my phone!!) I graduated with a really good degree but couldn't find a job at all connected to it in the uk and ended up in a call centre, which I hated. When DH was offered the job, just before we got married, I jumped at the chance because i was so unhappy, and we figured we could always come back. As it is, we were meant to stay 2 years and have extended his contract to 4, hopefully longer, and were having our first baby in Seltember!

The problem is I think your job. It is very difficult to get work here at the moment, in the south the unemployment is around 50% for young people, 25% overall. There isn't so much of a benefits system either.

We live in a city with no expats (or none I've come across, not through lack of trying) and its scary not knowing the language, especially for things like midwife visits, but you pick it up. I'm conversational now, and its strange to think how little I spoke on arrival.

The lifestyle is amazing for me though, and its a brilliant place for small children. Private education is really cheap, childcare is really cheap...

Hmm it's a tricky one, I think you should job hunt first and foremost, the rest will fall into place easily. It was easy to get a job for me because only native speakers of english are wanted, but in your field it might be much harder, especially if you don't speak Spanish.

Good luck with your decision!

Umlauf, I also live in a Spanish city where the only British people here teach English

The situation is completely different to where the expats reside. We are living and working in the Spanish society/economy. Teaching English is actually a good career right now (if you can call it a career) because many Spanish people are hoping it will help give them more career choices and they all want to be taught by native speakers

When I meet someone new, they often ask if I am an English teacher and are very curious when I say I am not

Anyway, the OP oviously has their feet on the group, I hope it works out!

I have a Spanish friend who works in Madrid (she was brought up in the UK) who is pretty negative about life in Spain. I was out there earlier this year visiting 2 of our offices there, and was struck by how desperate people were to retain jobs. It has been said before, but it is seriously tough out there. People were terrified of losing jobs - they knew there was nothing else.

Sounds like you are not going to make any snap decisions - I think that is wise. Who knows what your DP's job security is like having only been there a month - he is working for a friend, but if the restaurant doesn't do well, he won't have a job. Use it to have some fun cheap holidays, and see what happens.