Hi, my name is Ava and just a few months after graduating from university, I moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, with an overflowing backpack and a single suitcase. For years, I had thought about moving post-grad to a foreign Spanish-speaking country to practice my language skills and explore new cultures, so when I met my boyfriend from Mexico a year before graduating, it was like the universe was pointing my path down south.

Overview of Adjusting to My Life in Mexico:

• Living in an Airbnb with roommates
• Learning how to use buses, navigating the city (it is huge btw)
• Attending conversation clubs to practice my Spanish
• Creating healthy weekly routines and outings in nature
• Lots of quality time with my boyfriend and his family

In some ways, my move was simple. I had landed a remote international internship and, for the first time in my life, didn’t have school tying me to a particular place. I had a wide-open schedule, was eager for change, and wanted to live close to my boyfriend. But there were challenges, too, like realizing the difficulty of speaking Spanish on the streets (people don’t talk like the textbooks teach), navigating using buses, buying a bike, and converting dollars to pesos.

In many ways, my move was marked by trial and error. I got on the wrong bus, misheard the prices of fruits and overpaid, bought the cheapest bike I could find, and weeks later tried to patch tire holes. It was a near-constant effort to have the grace to be gentle with myself.

During my first six months, I lived in a four-bedroom shared Airbnb in a residential part of the city. I loved the people I met. I hated that many came and went quickly. I grew to adore the market just a block away, tents popping up each Thursday morning, shading rows of produce, makeup, thrift clothing, and spices. I grew accustomed to the train that roared by several times a day. I lived one block off the tracks.

My Spanish improved, especially by practicing with my boyfriend’s family. Over the months, I immersed myself more and more in many aspects of Mexican culture, from eating street food (though challenging as I am not a meat eater) to watching soccer games and attending family weddings and dinners. I started eating meals later, and I picked up some street slang. Regularly, I frequented the Via Recreativa– a weekly gathering of pedestrians and bikers along many of the city’s streets that are closed off on Sundays. I started learning the layout of the city and my place within it.

I got a gym membership, found a local coffee shop, and did a weekly jog around my neighborhood. I volunteered once a week at my boyfriend’s university in an attempt to meet people. It wasn’t easy. Hiding behind broken Spanish and self-consciousness, I had to remind myself often to be brave and to befriend those around me.

My boyfriend and I planned weekend hikes to waterfalls and up mountains, or we’d cook dinners and work side by side. We danced at his cousin’s weddings (the first catholic weddings I’d ever attended) and explored the city’s markets. I came to him when I felt lonely, thrilled, or anything in between, and it made me feel welcome in Guadalajara even when I thought I had everything still to learn.

One way in which I was glad I put myself out there was by attending a conversation club. Hosted at a bar each Wednesday, a group of internationals and locals alike met to practice speaking an hour in Spanish followed by an hour in English. It was a great way to get more confident speaking a new language, and I met many incredible people from around Mexico and the world. I recommend finding a group like this for anyone moving internationally (meetup.com is a great place to look for events like this).

For anyone interested in visiting or moving to Guadalajara, here are some highlights and challenges from my first six months.

Highlights:

• I love the markets, and unlike farmers’ markets in the US, buying foods straight from markets here is cheaper
• People are friendly and kind toward internationals who make an effort to speak Spanish
• Living here while earning US wages is very, very affordable
• Mexican Spanish is much slower and easier to understand than in other Spanish-speaking countries (as far as I’ve heard)
• Incredible weather and climate

Challenges:

• Due to the strong presence of catholic culture, it can be more challenging to find roommates as most people in their 20s continue to live at home with their families
• While public transportation covers the whole city, buses are sometimes not on time or are crazy full
• It isn’t always safe to bike in the city, though some streets have great bike lanes
• Without a car, it is hard to access hikes or all the gorgeous natural spots outside of the city, but if you can get there, you will be amazed by incredible areas to hike, swim, mountain bike and climb, all within an hour of the city
• The more laidback sense of time takes some adjusting to

Story authored by Ava Adoline Eucker, a freelance writer and avid traveler from Portland, Oregon. With a background in journalism, she loves connecting with people and sharing their stories, especially when they overlap with her passions for sustainability, land stewardship, and being in nature. Ava loves backpacking, swimming in the ocean, and making time to read and have soulful chats. On her website, Rewilding Child, she shares stories of her adventures, poetry, features, and meditations on living a full, beautiful life.

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