Guys, five years ago today I stepped off the plane in Madrid. Five years! Five years I’ve been eating here, drinking here, living here. I can hardly believe it. If you had told me then that I’d still be here, I wouldn’t have believed you. I planned on doing my one-year internship, “perfecting” my Spanish, and heading home in 2010. Little did I know …
Long story short: I met Mario, fell in luuuuurve, and stayed. Things that have changed since then:
- I no longer live in Salamanca. This fact still upsets me sometimes. Take me back!
- I’m married. I wear my ring on my right finger, like Spaniards, while Mario wears his on his left, like Americans. Weirdo.
- We have a decent apartment. (That one in Salamanca was, as my mother-in-law described it, a “porquería.”)
- I know a lot more Spanish, and a whole lot more about Spain.
To celebrate my five year Spainiversary, I thought I’d clue you in on some of my favorite posts from the past years:
About Study Abroad
College Study Abroad: If I Could Do It All Over Again
About Learning Spanish
Advanced Spanish … Where Do I Go from Here?
But I’m a Girl! … and Other Spanish Language Mishaps
Rookie Mistakes: Reflexive Spanish Verbs and Me
The Language We Speak “So, do you guys talk in English or Spanish?” Oh, what a complicated question.
Bilingual Inside Jokes About having a bilingual relationship
About Mario and Me
Madrid Bound The one where I announced we were moving to Madrid
So Here’s the Deal About moving for love
Two Years Ago Anniversary post
About Weddings In Spain
Boda a la Española: La Prueba Menu Testing
How to Plan a Wedding in Spain … or Not Planning a wedding in another country can be hard!
Sí, Quiero—The Spanish Version of “I Do” Our wedding day (includes a video)
Spanish Weddings vs. American Weddings How the ceremonies differ
Spanish Weddings vs. American Weddings—The Reception How the receptions differ
About Food In Spain
Foods Spain Taught Me to Love Believe me, there are a ton of these!
De Tapas Por Zamora—Where to Eat in Zamora, Spain
Surprise: Spain’s Most Popular Food Isn’t Paella Or why you’ll totally look like a guiri if you order paella off one of those menus with all the pictures
No, Gracias—Spanish Foods I Dislike Surprisingly, there are some!
Teaching In Spain
Teaching English in Spain’s Bilingual Schools
10 Differences Between Spanish and American High Schools
Teaching in an Instituto (High School) vs. A Colegio (Elementary School)
About Spain In General
Your Spain Experience—Interview With Sarah
Your Spain Experience—Interview With Erin
Watch out for the controversy on these two posts (you may want to skip the comments), but I found Erin’s and Sarah’s experiences to very interesting and indicative of how race is viewed in Spain.
My Most-Viewed Posts
Have you ever wondered what my most-viewed posts are? Wonder no longer.
How to Dress Like a Spaniard To be honest, this kind of irks me, because I wrote this way tongue-in-cheek, and now people get offended. Oops!
Whatsapp—Why Spain’s Over the SMS
How to Improve Your (Already Pretty Good) Spanish
My Top 10 Myths About Spain See how those lists get you a lot of views?!
Kaley...& Más 
Happy Spaniversary! Mine is this weekend already…and my SpanAmerican wedding (in the US!) next year! We have to start finding ways to be cooler and stop having the same lives ;)
Haha! Thank you!
I love that Mario wears his on his left! So does Esteban! But he says its more comfortable! I also love all of your wedding posts =) Your blog has come such a long way and its so enjoyable to read, keep em comin!
Felicidades!!!! I’m glad to have found your blog all those years ago; you’ve given me a great insight into Spanish culture and always spell out the real deal…plus I’ve picked up an interest in lentejas and Zamora! Looking forward to visiting your adopted pueblo in a few weeks!
I am so glad you’re visiting!!
Congratulations on your five-year Spainiversary! These posts give such a diverse reflection on your experience here. You should feel proud of everything you’ve accomplished with your blog and in your personal life during your journey in Spain.
…Feliz Españaversary!!…It’s so weird how these things work: I found your blog my senior year of high school (wow, I’m OLD!!), and you (in part) inspired me to study abroad in Spain!!..
It’s been fun seeing how you’ve progressed and the various exciting things that’s happened in your life!!…
Plus, I’d like to thank you, be
Felicidades on your 5 year Spaniversary! My 4 year is next month… how is that possible?!
Great post! I liked looking back through older posts I hadn’t seen before or didn’t remember.
Congrats on 5 years in Spain! It’s amazing how our lives can take way different journeys than we originally intended! Great wrap up, Kaley! :)
many blog posts….i think that i may have commented on some of them some time ago when i discovered this blog.
some of those blog posts listed above are the reason why i used to love this blog…i still like it even if in the last time i see it routine-ish, or not so interesting or surprising as it truly was, at least it is my opinion.
i am going to echar un vistazo a algunos to see my own comments, and in case that some of my past comments look silly i shall ask you respectfully to remove them.
answering the question..well some of those posts are so great that you should ponerlos de nuevo, but before doing it i beg you to remove any silly past comment of mine, haha
So you first insult me (lightly) by saying that my blog posts have become, in your words, “routine.” Then you ask that I go through old entries and delete your comments, thus creating hours of work for me … Um, no thank you. Mario thinks I should block you from commenting, and I have always said I didn’t believe in doing that, unless you were to comment with hate speech of any sort or just irrelevant insults. Since you have not done that (yet), I haven’t blocked you from commenting. Nonetheless, if my blog isn’t interesting to you anymore, please feel free to take it out of your bookmarks or reader or unsubscribe from it in all forms. I would not mind. I cannot see why you would either, as you (and the rest of the Spaniards that comment on this blog save one or two), seem only to comment when you disagree with something or dislike something. It’s interesting to me that, when I talk about how much I love Spain, people say very little, but when I criticize it, then all y’all come out of the woodwork to talk about how wrong I am.
what…i’ve never insulted you..i’ve just said that in the last time i find your blog not so great as it used to be, but that is my humble opinion….i am always honest and say what i feel…..i just don’t understand why you see it as an attack, for i have always appreciated your blog, and still it is one of my 3 or 4 favourite ones.
hate speech? i have not insulted yet? i don’t know what you are talking about.
i think that you are confused….i love when people criticise Spain, and if you do it that means that you already know the country…why should i say how wrong you are? well if i think that you may be wrong about a certain thing, then i say “my opinion is….”…but i never slag you off nor do i comment only to disagree.
by the way, my comment about removing past comments did have sarcasm and it was posted in a nice manner, as admitting and recognising that i may have posted some silly things in the past, so i ask you to remove them in a sarcasm manner…but you again take it badly and angryly.
i am confused.