How I am Living in Spain as an English Teacher

Note: Sevilla in English is actually Seville, so both are technically correct. I prefer using Sevilla, mainly since that is the Spanish name, so I choose to use that here.

I don’t think I could have imagined myself living in Spain as I began my second semester as a college senior. I was probably trying to fight off some seasonal depression post-holidays and the UGA Natty win (the second year in a row). The semester before, I felt a sense of panic just thinking about life post-grad and was scrambling to figure out myself, my goals and just generally what I wanted to do in life. It’s a lot of pressure for a 21-year old.

I began to notice that a few girls who had been in my sorority and were a year older than me were all in Spain. All were living in different parts but undeniably living, and not just traveling, in Spain. I Instagram DM’ed all of them, as well as one girl I found from casually stalking someone I used to work with who also went to UGA and was in Spain, asking what they were doing. All responded within the week, happy to share that they were doing a program allowing them to teach English in Spain and that they were thoroughly enjoying it. I asked more questions and then decided to do my own research.

Program background

Two were doing the program I am in now — RVF International — and the others in similar programs. As I was researching, I decided to mentally make a pros and cons list. It went something like this:

RVF International

Pros: Constant support, easy access to connect with other program participants, resources, a hand to walk you through the entirety of the visa process

Cons: Not cheap, two plans but more desirable option is $300 more at $1,700 with payment available in only two installments, process is not guided by you and you therefore have less control, newer program, earlier application deadline

NALCAP

Pros: Free of charge, more hands-on involvement in process as a participant, later program application deadline

Cons: No real guidance in the process so it could be stressful and confusing, dealing directly with Spanish bureaucracy (which is notoriously difficult)

CIEE

Pros: Only in Madrid so able to connect with other program participants right off the bat, very inclusive support (includes everything from pickup from the airport upon arrival and accommodations to insurance and emergency assistance), three different options, two of which have a time period of immersion before the program starts, established program that has been around since 1947, extensive program details on website including videos

Cons: Only in Madrid, basic program option is $2,350, earlier application deadline

CIEE runs their own program and coordinates with the Madrid regional government. They also have other English teaching programs in Asian countries as well as several study abroad programs for various levels. NALCAP stands for North American Language and Culture Assistant Program. It is only available to those in the United States or Canada but there are variations of the program in over 30 countries. It operates from the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain located in Washington, D.C, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education in Spain and regional governments. RVF International also goes through the Ministry and NALCAP, sending a few hundred participants every year.

The program generally runs from October through the end of May, and through June in Madrid. Participants can typically renew for at least another year in the region although beginning this year, first-years placed in Andalucía (so where I was assigned and have lived) are unable to renew for a second year (they are kicking us out). The only exception is the select few who were directly assigned and paid by the Ministry. NALCAP allows participants to renew for up to five years, as of now. It is also very common for people to choose this program and similar ones as a gap year for whatever reason. I have friends that are doing this currently and have enjoyed living abroad for the past year while they prepare for going to some kind of post-grad school.

I eventually decided on RVF because the cost was not so out of reach as CIEE, I liked the idea of paying a company to assist me heavily throughout the process and I wanted a bigger selection to choose from than the Madrid region. The more costly RVF option also included access to a GroupMe with all program participants in my year who had also chosen that option, which I liked for connecting with people once I got my region and city placement. I threw all my chips in and fully submitted everything, including a freshly renewed passport, in early February. No going back.

Getting my placement

First, I received my region placement on May 15. For RVF, we fill out a preference form with region, city and school preferences so we can hopefully get our ideal placement. The regions are organized into three different groups and we rank each group and then choose a region from each. Unfortunately, although my top choices would’ve been Andalucía, Comunidad de Valencia and Madrid, they were all grouped together. So I had to choose one. Upon looking through my aux Facebook group and talking to friends, the RVF form is also very similar to the NALCAP form.

I ultimately ended up choosing Andalucía after research and back and forth, including my mom excitedly helping along and sending me articles she found.

My biggest concern with the Valencian region was that I had heard they have consistent late payments and it is common to get placed in a small town further from a city, compared to other regions. I found this both in the region resources RVF supplied and in my own research.(Update: I have since heard the payment issue has improved a bit in the past year but still something to be aware of) Although Andalucía also had late payments in some parts, the city offerings were more appealing to me since I would have really only chosen the Valencian region for Valencia the city, which I’m sure is a common request.

I became less interested in Madrid mainly because I knew it was one of the most expensive regions in Spain, especially being the capital, and finding housing is notoriously stressful. I also saw myself having trouble practicing Spanish because it is such an international city and being so large, I expected to hear a lot of English. That left me with Andalucía.

Andalucía is considered the cheapest region in Spain, with some of the lowest living costs. While it did mean I was left with a lower stipend at 800 euros, I knew it was relative. I also liked that it was a coastal region, and I could commute to the beach or possibly be placed there. When thinking about specific city preferences, I was mainly between Sevilla, Granada, Córdoba and Cádiz, some of the bigger cities in the region. All seemed to have a lot to offer.

My mom was partial to Sevilla, which she had visited while studying abroad in Málaga and fallen in love with. I ended up going with Sevilla not just because of her personal experience but also because every article and video I came across backed it up. It was a city with lots to do, tapas galore, not too far from the coast and boasting a beautiful river, a young crowd especially due to the university, and stunning architecture. I was hooked.

I tried not to get my hopes up too much because I knew Sevilla was a highly requested city. I had applied in the middle of RVF’s application process, submitting all my materials by early February, so I knew some regions were likely already filling up. I eventually just convinced myself that I would not get it and I had to be happy with whatever city I ended up in. Having an open mind was key. I first got my region placement- Andalucía. So far, so good. It is common to get your first choice region but the city was tougher. Andalucía was also the only region, and still is to my knowledge, that allows participants to fill out a separate preference form for their city and school placement. Here, I emphasized I wanted Sevilla and crossed my fingers.

I received my city placement in early June. I had just finished a workout at the gym and I had seen the email before but refused to open it in the event that it would disappoint me. I took a big breath, telling myself to have an open mind repeatedly, that it probably wasn’t Sevilla, and opened it.

The words flashed on my screen- Sevilla. I was overjoyed. I called my mom immediately and told her the news. I had gotten my school placement as well — a primary school in a small town outside of Sevilla — but could barely focus on that because I was just so happy I had gotten my first choice everything.

The Visa process (prepare yourself)

I won’t go into the super nitty gritty but I began the visa process by requesting a criminal background check in May. The background check was $50 to complete and I completed it in under 20 minutes at a local shipping/post office business. It came electronically almost immediately after and I then uploaded it to RVF’s dropbox. While the background check is valid for up to 5 months, it’s getting it stamped with an apostille that can take 6-11 weeks, depending on your specific consulate that serves your state. The apostille is essentially an internationally recognized stamp that allows legal documents to be valid in another country. This is typically the longest part of the visa process and why RVF told us to get our background check ASAP.

Sending the materials for the apostille was a true headache. We needed to mail the background check, a separate document we filled out and printed, a money order of $20, and a paid, self-addressed envelope to ourselves so we could receive it back in the mail. Nothing was done electronically of course, because why would they make it that easy :)).

I mostly struggled with explaining my situation to the unimpressed post office worker and asking for things like a money order, which I had never filled out before in my life. Thankfully, I was able to successfully submit my documents and leave the post office without wanting to cry.

While I was waiting on my apostille, I completed the medical certificate, per RVF’s instructions. The medical certificate is a document stating you are in good health, signed by someone with an MD. It is part of what you will send to your corresponding Spanish Consulate to apply for the visa. I only had issues with this because my primary care office was slow in filling this out, and I had to ask for it to be redone after the first time. The speed at which this is done really just relies on the efficiency and willingness of your specific office.

Receiving the apostille back in the mail and then getting your actual visa are usually the steps that can cause the most delay and thus, panic, because you get your visa in your passport and can therefore not travel internationally without it. It caused some people to push back travel plans on account of not receiving their visa.

Depending on your consulate, some require visas to be picked up in-person while others mail it back to you. Luckily, my timeline was not impacted too much and I was able to receive everything in time. I got my apostilled background check returned in the mail a few weeks later. Then, I started on the final part of the process- getting my visa. The hardest part was really just compiling the plethora of documents required and making sure everything was filled out correctly. Small things such as dates needed to be in the Spanish format for example (date first, then month) and I ended up redoing and reprinting an entire document because it needed to be in black ink and capital letters. It felt like a never-ending headache that I just wanted to end.

Miami Consulate

Finally, I triple-checked that I had all my documents, including my passport, and sent it to my corresponding Spanish consulate. For my state, it was the Miami consulate. While waiting for my visa to be ready, RVF emailed us that the Miami consulate had changed their guidelines and was now requiring visa pickup in-person. Cue the groans. While I love going to Miami, especially since I have a friend there, I was not anticipating paying to fly there for a mere 48 hours. I finally received word that my visa was ready in late August and quickly checked with my friend that I could crash at her place for two nights and booked my flight for early September.

I spent a lovely basically 24 hours in Miami, eating some good food and enjoying drinks, then getting my visa. The pickup process was fairly simple once you walked in, I only had issues actually getting there. I walked there, since it was only a half-hour walk from where my friend lived, only to see a sign on the door that they had moved to a different building nearby. It was nearing the opening time for visa pickup and I had heard from others to get there early because there might be a line, so in a state of franticness, I called an Uber to the new address. On my way there in the Uber, I double-checked that the address I had gone to before was the right one.

It was not! I am just a dummy who can’t read and put it in wrong on my Google Maps. Now in a big state of panic, I asked the driver to reroute when I retyped the destination in, which happened to be in the opposite direction of where we were going. It turns out, the actual building was on the street I had been on, I had just gone to the wrong building. So you can imagine the Uber driver’s confusion when he dropped me off where he had picked me up. Oops.

While waiting for my visa, my family and I had booked my flight to Spain (one way babyyyy, mostly because we had no idea what I would be doing come summer, but still) with travel insurance in the event that my visa, and thus, passport, wouldn’t be ready and we would need to move it. But thankfully, that did not happen and I was on my flight a mere 11 days later.

Getting there

We mainly looked at Google Flights and Skyscanner for the best deals on getting to Sevilla. Unfortunately, since both the Charleston airport and Sevilla airport are not big, I had to take 3 flights in total. I chose a route that was all through Delta, in the event that something happened so it would be easier to rectify the situation, and booked directly on their website. I flew first to Atlanta, then to Paris overnight, and finally on a quick flight to Sevilla. I checked one bag (huge big girl) which ended up originally being about 20 lbs overweight (oops), so I opted to take out a lot of my stuff to get the weight down instead of paying. I do actually regret this now (but more on that in a later post), and also had a backpack and roller carry-on both stuffed to the brim.

I bought an Apple AirTag for my checked suitcase in the event that something happened and it got lost, but I did see people in the program GroupMe saying that they had used it before and freaked out seeing their luggage far away, and in reality the AirTag just hadn’t updated. So, I took the location status with a grain of salt.

Overall, I had a fairly uneventful trip to Sevilla, which is always a good thing for traveling. My baggage and I made it to Spain all in one piece and I collapsed on my AirBnb bed as soon as I arrived.

Pin it: