Why?

Why did I decide to move to Madrid in August 2019? Why did I leave all my family and friends behind in Canada, while embarking on this adventure? Why did I stay in Madrid despite a global pandemic?

If I'm being honest, I wasn't overly enthusisatic about starting this blog, mostly because I have often felt that my "story" is extremely similar to many people who decide to live abroad. However, after speaking with some of my loved ones, I was reminded that just because my life feels normal now, it does not mean I have a normal story to tell.

I think the first thing I should do is introduce myself properly, so that you can get a good sense of who I am. My name is Cameron, and I am a twenty-five year old Canadian, currently living and working in Madrid, Spain. I was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and I lived there my entire life until August of 2019, when I decided I needed to make a major life change. Well, I actually had decided that I needed to make a life change about six months prior, but we'll get to that.

After graduating from Carleton University in Ottawa, I did what most post-grads do, and I jumped immediatley into working life, something I was not prepared for. I did some contract work for a friend of my mother's for about seven months, and then got a job in sales. While that job was a great opportunity, it was something that I was not ready for whatsoever at that point in my life. I went from a relaxed University schedule to working more than 60 hours per week, and it quickly took a toll on me. 

It was at that job that I decided I needed to do something different with my life. I was tired of living in Ottawa, and dealing with the Canadian winters. I was tired of working 60 hours a week, getting paid barely above minimum wage. I asked myself one day before going to see my therapist, "what do I want in life?". The answer came to me rather quickly - I wanted to live abroad, preferably somewhere warm. 

A girlfriend of one of my best friends was teaching English abroad in Asia at that time, and that is what motivated me to begin researching different places in the world that I could envision myself moving to. When I began my research, I realized that I really wanted to live in Europe, as it's history and traditions have always fascinated me, not to mention the delicious food. However, me wanting to escape the Canadian winters all but eliminated Eastern Europe, so I began looking along the Mediterranean coast. This is when it became very apparent to me just how much I wanted to move to Spain. 

Every list that I checked, every review that I read confirmed the same thing - Spain is an amazing country to move to and teach English. This, as it turns out, is 100% true.

I enrolled with a company called "CIEE", who helps recent college grads obtain Visa's to work and live in Spain. I also paid them a signifcant amount of money, so it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. They helped organize all my appointments, send me the proper documents to fill out, and get me in contact with the appropriate people who could help answer my questions. All in all, they provide a great service, but it is pricey.

After working some part time jobs for a few months, it was finally time to move. I had gotten my Visa taken care of, I bought my flight, my health insurance, and I was ready. I remember a few days before I left, my parents had me and a few family and friends over for dinner. One of my friends dad's asked me "Aren't you nervous?", and I remember saying to him "No. Staying here and doing what I've been doing makes me a lot more nervous than moving to Spain." 

That is truly how I felt. Moving to Spain allowed me to take control of my life, something I felt that I did not have back in Ottawa. It allowed me to pursue a dream of mine, of living and working abroad in a foreign country. It gave me purpose, direction, and a new appreciation for countless things. However, things changed drastically in 2020, after I had been in Madrid for about 6 months. The beginning of a global pandemic brought worry, confusion and fear into all of our lives, and it seemed as though my dream of living in Europe would be very short-lived.

- Cameron Begin