Missed Metros & Other Mishaps of Living Abroad

You decided to teach English in Spain. Your signature is on the dotted line. The decision is made; there is no turning back now. To save up travel funds, you wash plates in the world’s greasiest restaurant. To obtain a visa, you fill out paperwork and then fill it out again when you realize you’ve done it all wrong (probably because you didn't follow CIEE’s visa guide). You’re excited for what’s to come but nervous, too.

Maybe mostly nervous.

For perhaps the first time, you will travel across the Atlantic to live in another country. You know some Spanish, but Duolingo can only get you so far. How does health insurance work there? Will you find an apartment? Will you make friends?

In this post, I’ll share humorous anecdotes inspired by my friends’ and my travel mishaps with the throughline that while things may go wrong, they would’ve always gone wrong, even if you had stayed home. No matter what catastrophes arise, you can overcome any misstep and make it out the other end stronger than when you arrived.

 

You Board the Wrong Metro

It’s the second week of teaching English in Madrid. The metro to work is a modest forty minutes. (Think of the poor auxes who commute an hour plus to their schools!) Today, however, those forty minutes feel extra excruciating because you overslept and are running late.

In the station, bustling commuters stream toward escalators, a musician with more willpower or caffeine than you jams out on the guitar, volunteers in vests shove clipboards into your face and demand a signature.

Which line do you take again? The blue line or the sky blue line? You jog your sleep-addled brain while jogging to the train platform. The metro pulls up with a whoosh of warm air. The doors part, and you squeeze in between two kids scrolling TikTok – without headphones, of course.

 

The next train is never far off in Madrid's metro system.

 

After a few stops, a spidey-sense kicks in. The speakers announce the station. A pit forms deep in your stomach.

The metro is headed in the wrong direction.

Even before you made such a foolish mistake, you were already running late. You text your Bilingual Coordinator: “Good morning! I’m sorry, but I boarded the wrong metro by accident. I’ll be a little late to class today. And just so you know, I’m not a slacker. Usually, I show up on time, work my hardest, and avoid stupid mistakes. I hope my credibility isn’t shot. It’s only been one week. You have more time to form judgements – positive judgements, accurate judgements. I promise, this is not who I am. One misstep does not define me. It shouldn’t. It can’t. It won’t. Do you believe me?”

When you arrive at the school, you apologize profusely and offer to work an extra hour to make up for the fifteen minutes you missed.

The teacher thinks that’s a great idea.

 

Your Phone is Stolen

Like most European capitals, Madrid is known for having its fair share of pickpockets. During your first months here, you’ll be constantly on the lookout, clutching your valuables close. However, as you become comfortable with the city, you’ll drop your guard until next thing you know, the iPhone you set down on the table at Tiki Taco is nowhere in sight.

What do you do now? You can’t Google anything. To make matters worse, you can’t even read this post for advice. Poor sap!

At home, you access WhatsApp on your laptop and tell everyone what happened. Maybe your family has an old phone hidden away somewhere – but shipping a phone overseas costs hundreds of dollars. Not a great solution.

 

Without a cell phone, you might opt for a landline.

 

For the time being, you live your life without a phone. You know your route to work by now, but it’s odd navigating the city without the security of a cell phone in your pocket. On the metro, you read or journal or stare into space. To meet up with friends, you plan in advance and hope they don’t stand you up. Would they really be a friend if they did?

You decide to buy a new phone – an Android. It’s cheap. Just over 100€. You can breathe a sigh of relief because you have a phone again. Those few days without one were tough, but you managed, as you always seem to do.

 

While on a Day Trip, You Forget where the Bus Station is

To be fair, you are traveling with four other people. One of you should know how to map to the bus station. Why didn’t anybody think to drop a pin when you first arrived?

You scan the tickets again: Salamanca, Estación de Autobuses. You type the address into Google Maps. The directions point you to the empty parking lot that you’re currently standing in. So helpful.

Aha! One of your travel buddies recognizes the station on the satellite map, and it’s only a … twenty-minute walk away. The bus leaves in fifteen minutes. You can make that, right?

You and your group break into a brisk walk. You contemplate hailing a cab, but none drive past. Time ticks away. You make a wrong turn. Oh, this is all so stressful!

Miraculously, the bus doesn’t leave without you. You tumble onboard with a frantic glee that is completely at odds with the sleepy passengers already on the bus. Finally Madrid-bound, you laugh about your frantic rush through the streets. Over time, it’s a story you tell again and again.

 

When a sudden strong storm strikes, you might realize you forgot your umbrella at home and take refuge in a doorway.

 

You Say the Wrong Word for Something at the Grocery Store

You thought you asked where the lemons were. Lemon in Spanish – limón – is not hard to pronounce. You said it clearly: lee-mohn. Yet somehow you end up standing at a shelf of canned fish, smiling blankly as the Mercadona employee hands you tuna and talks in rapid-fire Spanish that your ears aren’t yet attuned to deciphering. When he stops speaking, you realize he’s waiting for a response, so you nod emphatically and say, “Gracias!” in the most confident tone you’re capable of mustering.

To hell with the garlic confit you planned to make tonight! Tuna salad sandwiches have a wonderful tangy taste that reminds you of the summer camp lunch where fourteen kids – including yourself – suffered food poisoning. Ah, memories.

Still at Mercadona, you bury your shame and walk toward the register with the tuna can held high. You didn’t make a mistake. You merely changed plans. And after the bustle of a busy week, you’re looking forward to a simple meal.

In the kitchen, you chop the celery and onion, mix in the mayo, and then reach for the tuna can. Bad Bunny sings from the shop speakers on the street below. With the extra time you saved not scrounging together a gnocchi garlic confit, you can curl up on the couch and watch the next episode of La casa de papel. You realize that the lesson of today (and this whole post) is that missteps do not spell the end of everything. Rather, missteps while living abroad will naturally happen, and when they do, you take a beat, gather your strength, and forge ahead, putting your best foot forward.

And that’s when you discover you don’t own a can opener.