Good news, y’all! The days may be getting shorter (not as short as Poland, but still shorter), but now I have a job, a bank account, and various friends with beach houses about an hour from Murcia.

Getting a bank account
The bank account I actually got today, after a few weeks of procrastinating because the people at Santander wouldn’t even look at me without my tarjeta nacional. I went to BBVA instead and I was done in 20 minutes. All they needed was my U.S. passport! Honestly, I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about opening an account at almost every bank in Spain. One of my Brazilian friends went to Santander and opened an account with just her passport, but when I went, the receptionist literally would not even look up from the page she was highlighting as she told me I needed my Spanish ID card. (Have I mentioned that Spaniards can be a bit rude sometimes?)
Anyway, BBVA offers a youth/student account with no fees if you are under 30. They also have all sorts of fancy online banking features which actually makes me a bit paranoid (Big Google is watching us, and all) but hey, Welcome to the Future, I guess.
Getting a job
But more importantly, I will now have cash to deposit into said bank account! I’ve started giving a couple private English lessons here and there, but I also got a job with VIP KID, the premiere website for teaching English from your bedroom, in your pijamas. I think I will write a whole post about the whole she-bang (interview, mock lessons, nervous sweats, etc) because it is quite a process. It’s not a crazy amount of money, but then again, things are not particularly expensive in Murcia. (Although I did just find out from Ashleigh that auxiliares make 700€ a month and work about 16 hours a week, which made my jaw drop.)

Getting a beach holiday
And finally, I went to the beach last weekend! My friends (the ones who hosted the Halloween potluck) have a house down in Cabo Roig and generously took me with them. The weather is starting to turn into winter, which down here means it will probably just be warm during the day, in the sun, instead of hot all the time (and unbearably so during the day, in the sun). Saturday was a bit of a mixed bag, as it started to rain when we got to the beach, abating about an hour later but not quite warm enough to go swimming. On Sunday we forewent our swimsuits, only for it to be perfect beach weather. Nature is fickle, my friends. But southern Spain is still quite beautiful.


Congratulations on your accomplishments.
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Honestly feels like years since I’ve seen the sun, even though I know I saw it not that long ago. Long winters kill my motivation! Hoping to get over to Madrid to get some of that blue sky happy sometime in the next couple of months. Sounds like you’re settling in! 🙂
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I can’t even imagine. Poland was bad, but Ireland is probably worse!
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yay! 🙂 yay for accomplishments, life updates, and beautiful photos
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Oh wow, the beach holiday photos are so beautiful! It looks like sucha nice place to relax and think about things ❤
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It was wonderful and relaxing. Plus there was a beach bar playing Amy Winehouse and canción nueva ❤
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This looks so lovely! 🙂 glad things are working out, too!
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Oh this reminds me of getting a bank account opened in France! First, you needed a rental contract. But no one would rent to you if you didn’t have a bank account.
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Hahaha yeah, one thing I read said you need your ID card to get a housing contract, but you also need your housing contract to apply for an ID card! Wtf!
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😀 Good luck to you! 😉
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Luckily my landlady did not ask for a Spanish ID; I think she’s rented to enough students to know that it’s impossible 😂
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There’s always a loophole! In France there were so many stories going around in foreigners’ circles about the different kinds of problems people had had. I remember one bank asked for electricity bills from the past year. When I said I hadn’t lived there that long, they said, ok bring a friend’s bills!!!! It was to prove that you are a good citizen, or something. And the bank lady would inhale a puff of her cigarette and then smash it against a worn out, old plastic Marlboro ashtray. Classy.
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In Spain I think it’s mostly just misinformation… I feel like there really are no rules and people just decide on a whim what they will allow!
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Congrats on all the accomplishments! And that beach sounds so good right about now. Currently freezing in the east coast of the US.
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It’s quite cold here now too! It’s about 1˚C in the early morning and 14 during the day.
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