So as you all now if you have been reading my blog, I moved to Spain when I was 11. Being born in the Netherlands, a small,cold,rainy country. Moving to Spain, a big,warm and completly different country was very strange. It took quite a while for me to adjust fully to the spanish lifstyle and I would often find myself cursing the spanish for their relaxed nature, something I was not used to at all as all dutch people tend to rush and worry about everything wanting to get it all done quickly but also perfectly. Spanish people are all about, if not today, we will do it tommorow or the day after etc. Having to go to a spanish school where nobody understood me and I didn't understand anybody was pretty hard. The only good thing was that I learned Spanish pretty fast as I had no other choice then to learn spanish. But just as every other thing in life you get used to the changes thrown at you one way or another. I must admit, my sister and my dog (Yup, I said dog) where like my rocks in this period of time. I wasn't the most social person at that time so making new friends was quite hard. Sooner than I expected I made a very good friend though. her name was Gabbi, and she was from Cornwall, England. She had moved to Spain a year before me so allready spoke quite a lot of spanish, or at least I thought she did. We got along great from the start and she introduced me to more people, mostly foreigners but I didn't really care, as long as I didn't have to spend my breaks alone. The spanish kids as I had found out where only really interested the first day or two after that they returned to theit lifes and I had to figure everything out myself. They weren't mean or anything, they just didn't really pay me much attention. The construction on our house was in full swing aswell at this point so there was allways noise around me, which honestly stressed me out quite a lot. But slowly my life started making sense to me again, I always liked being alone and confided in my diary (I was 11 okay?) to talk about my struggles not wanting other people to know and mess with my life more pretending to help me. It's not that i'm antisocial, quite the contrary really, but I am just as happy at a party as I can be alone reading a book or watching tv. Another thing I did a lot when I just moved to Spain, read. I have always been a bookworm, and still am all tough I lack the time to read as much as I would like. In the Netherlands I would go to a library and rent a book, read it and return it. Now in Spain I didn't have that posibility, so I reread all the books I allready had and started reading the once I got as present, both dutch books as the simple little kids spanish books I got to this way learn faster and in a more entertaining way.Now many years later I have fully adjusted to life in Spain and alltough I still think about my old life in the Netherlands I don't dwell on the past, I don't know where the future will take me, no one can know for sure. But the one thing I do know is, that where ever I end up, thanks to moving at an early age, I am certain I will be able to adjust to the lifestyle and atmosphere that country/city is used to that being Spain, the Netherlands or any other country. I am up for the challenges and curfballs life throws at me and I will face them with determination.
So for anybody out there who is going to move some place new, or just did, if things aren't easy, don't give up. Yes life is hard sometimes, especially for people like us who have to leave everything we know behind for something strange and scary. But every cloud has it's silver lining, so so does yours. And remember, if at first you don't succeed, don't give up! Nothing good in life ever comes easy.
If you have any questions, or just want to talk, let me know, and I will be here.
have a nice day/ night wherever you beautiful people are in the world.
XxSimonee
Here are some pictures of my house in Spain:
