GUIRI DIARIES: Arriving in Spain with Kendall and Will

This podcast follows the journey of language assistants who move to Spain in search of adventure, cultural immersion, and professional growth. Through candid conversations, they recount what it’s really like to arrive in a new country—navigating the excitement of fresh beginnings alongside the challenges of unfamiliar systems, language barriers, and moments of culture shock.
Each episode dives into their personal experiences: from the chaos of Spanish bureaucracy and the struggle to find housing, to humorous misunderstandings in the classroom and daily life. Along the way, they uncover unexpected surprises—like the warmth of local communities, the slower pace of life, and the joy of integrating into a different culture.
Beyond the difficulties, the podcast highlights the many rewards of living abroad: building resilience, forming meaningful connections, and gaining a new perspective on both Spain and their own identities. Honest, relatable, and often funny, this series offers an inside look at what it truly means to step outside your comfort zone and create a life in a foreign country.

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hola a todos y todas welcome to geary diaries the podcast where a bunch of language assistants in 00:00:01

spain will talk about surviving and thriving abroad we're your hosts will and kendall and 00:00:32

today we're diving into that moment we all remember stepping off the plane looking around 00:00:38

and going what have i done we will be talking about our first impressions and arrival chaos 00:00:43

so tell me will tell me your arrival story what was your first what the heck moment so 00:00:49

bad move on my part I land in Spain without any cellular data and so I cannot do anything on the 00:00:53

metro so I get the airport wi-fi take a bunch of screenshots of the maps and let the city take me 00:01:03

where it does and it all worked out but it was very silly yeah wow I would recommend to anyone 00:01:09

coming here go ahead and just download the map of Madrid the whole map of Madrid on wi-fi before 00:01:18

you leave your home country make sure it also includes the school that you work at so if you're 00:01:24

working outside of the center make sure your map of Madrid includes the school I had no problem 00:01:30

actually leaving the airport but once I got to my apartment my uber driver dropped me off on the 00:01:35

opposite side of a huge traffic circle from where my apartment was so he had said something to me 00:01:41

before i got out of the car in spanish and i just said okay and then when i got out i realized 00:01:46

i needed to drag my two 50 pound suitcases pretty far so yeah and that first week is just a blur of 00:01:53

paperwork lots of google translate lots of looking around not really knowing where you are 00:02:02

and uh it's gonna be hot too how long did it take to get your tie i don't even remember what i do 00:02:08

remember is showing up to my application appointment or what i thought was my application 00:02:19

appointment and finding out i had booked the wrong type of appointment so that is how i learned the 00:02:23

spanish word recoger the hard way i had accidentally booked an appointment to collect my tie instead of 00:02:28

to apply for one so thankfully the the person administering my appointment gave me some grace 00:02:34

and allowed me to apply but that was that was a bad move on my part all right when you're just 00:02:41

arriving we got some quick survival tips number one make your tia appointment as far in advance 00:02:50

as possible uh it's a crap shoot getting on that website and finding one that is going to 00:02:57

fit within your visa time so I would say if you can do it on July or August that would be wonderful 00:03:05

that will help you out massively and you'll be able to go travel through Europe and Africa way 00:03:11

easier so I would say go do that quickly yeah and then maybe you can also avoid commuting two hours 00:03:16

one way to your appointment because you just have to take what you can get um speaking of i would 00:03:23

say just prepare to be tired your brain's going to be working overtime to learn all of your new 00:03:29

surroundings your neighborhood your commute your co-workers the spanish school system 00:03:35

the you know the language barrier or the language difference if you're not a native 00:03:40

spanish speaker so just prepare to be tired and know that it's normal 00:03:46

and lastly study your route to school and and go go 20 minutes or 30 minutes early on that first 00:03:50

day because plaza de castilla which is the bus station is incredibly packed and has like three 00:03:58

underground floors and so you're gonna go up from the metro and you're gonna see all these niveles 00:04:06

you're gonna be like where do i go um and so you're gonna leave the metro station still 00:04:11

underground and just go up one escalator but it is it is a tough one yeah i i got i got lost in 00:04:18

the bus station on my first wet day and then after waiting in line for the bus i discovered you can't 00:04:28

use your credit card to pay for the bus which of course was my mistake i should have thought of 00:04:35

that but i didn't and then the atm was down in the bus station so go early go prepared bring 00:04:39

cash go early go early yeah so and then we just also want to say go have a wonderful beautiful 00:04:48

time this city is incredible uh it's it'll it'll welcome you with open arms it people want to talk 00:04:56

here people want to relax here just like go take it for all it is it's going to be beautiful it's 00:05:04

going to be hard it's going to be great it's it's it's going to be wonderful yeah enjoy your time 00:05:09

enjoy your time it's an amazing experience so thank you all for hanging out with us 00:05:14

on this first episode and I hope you guys have an absolutely wonderful experience like we did 00:05:18

thank you hasta luego 00:05:26

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