I left my job in tech and moved to Spain. Being alone in a foreign country is hard, but it's changed me for the better.

Business Insider

2 days ago

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Parrie Hartley, 30, who moved from Austin to Barcelona in February 2025. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm from a really small town outside of Houston, where there are not a lot of employment opportunities. I've always been a city girl at heart, so in 2020, after a brief stint living in Australia, I moved to Austin and started working in software sales.
Austin's tech scene is booming. Many, like big corporations, like Amazon, Tesla, and Meta, have opened offices there, bringing with them a lot of jobs. Moving there definitely built my career and made me a lot of money.
Living in the city was awesome, too. It's a great place for young people, with an amazing culture, food, and music scene. There are a lot of events, and I definitely made some really great friends there.
In May 2024, the startup company I was working for started making layoffs. By then, I had already started thinking about leaving Austin. I had been in the city for five years and was itching for a change.
Everything in my life was perfect on paper, but I still missed adventure. I've always been very curious about the world, and I really do think I'm the best version of myself when traveling.
At the time, I was 29 and single. I had no husband, job, children, or pets. My parents were healthy, so I didn't really have anything tying me down. I decided, "Why don't I move abroad?"
A student visa was my ticket to Spain
I had been working in sales, so I had built up quite a bit in savings. But once I decided to move, I sold everything — furniture, clothes, anything that I could get money from.
In Austin, I lived alone in a 1,100-square-foot apartment on the East Side, downtown, and paid $1,800 monthly on rent. To save money, I moved back to my hometown and started picking up some shifts at a local boutique.
I considered a lot of different places to move abroad. I had already lived in Australia, so I checked that off the list. I'd also been to Asia, which I enjoyed, but I felt that living there might have been too much of a culture shock. So, I began researching visa options for Europe.
One option was a student visa, which I discovered could be obtained by enrolling in a language school. The visa was available in Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
As a Texan, I didn't feel a strong need to learn Portuguese or Italian. I had also visited Spain when I was 22, during a backpacking trip with friends to Barcelona, and had a great time. I figured that if I moved there, I could learn Spanish and be close to the other European countries I wanted to visit.
It took about four weeks to organize all of my paperwork for the visa. I had to obtain an FBI background check, get a medical clearance from a doctor, show proof of health insurance, and submit my bank statements to show that I had sufficient funds in my account.
In the end, everything came together, and my visa was approved just three days before my flight to Spain in February.
I got lucky finding housing
I attend a Spanish language school called Expanish in Spain. I have classes five days a week, four hours a day. The course lasts 40 weeks, with eight weeks of holiday included. I paid $6,800 in total.
I live in a neighborhood pretty close to the Church of La Sagrada Família , which is not only the most famous building in Barcelona, but possibly in all of Spain. Since I'm in such a central area, there are a lot of tourists and markets around, but the area itself is still fairly quiet.
My building is between three major metro stations. Figuring out the metro was initially a challenge for me as an American, but it turned out to be super easy. I feel safe walking there day or night because the area has low crime.
I got really lucky finding an apartment through a rental website called Idealista. They matched me with a couple, and I'm paying €600 ($686) for my room. I pay €10 ($11) a month for WiFi, plus water and electricity, which adds another €40 ($46) a month.
The apartment is around 753 square feet and came fully furnished, which was great. We have air conditioning, but unfortunately, it doesn't reach my room, which is rough in the summer.
It's easy to make friends in Barcelona
Meeting people in Barcelona is easy, and the people are very warm and welcoming. The city is filled with people from all over the world. Most are away from their families, here for a year or two, so eventually, you end up creating your own little family.
Often, making friends is as simple as going out and striking up a conversation — if you hear someone speaking English, you just start talking.
I've met plenty of people through my language school, though it tends to be a revolving door since it's a temporary program, and most students are only around for three or four months. Outside of school, I've built friendships through Bumble BFF. I also joined a volleyball league when I first got here, and I play regularly.
I haven't ventured onto the dating apps just yet. I'm 30, and I do want to build toward a relationship, but I feel like I need to get my life a bit more together first.
That said, I'm definitely having fun meeting people. I've met guys from Brazil, the Netherlands, and Colombia — it's been a really fun mix. Honestly, it feels a bit like being a kid in a candy store.
Moving here was the right choice for my future
Most of my time here has been really positive. I spend a lot of time at the beach, and I'm walking up to 20,000 steps a day. You can really see the difference in my face. I've also been traveling.
In July, I visited Menorca, one of the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. My round-trip flight was only €40 ($45.72). I just packed a backpack with bikinis and went. This month, I'm also heading to Mallorca because I scored free tickets to the Love Island UK finale.
Right now, I earn money tutoring both kids and adults in English during after-school hours. I'm also helping my cousin, a lawyer in Texas, with some administrative work.
My current visa is valid for one year and will expire in early February 2026. I'd love to stay longer, so I'm exploring the option of applying for a digital nomad visa. It's available in several European countries and essentially allows you to live and work remotely, as long as you meet certain income requirements and have health insurance.
As for moving back to the US, I don't plan on it, at least not if I don't have to.
Of course, there are cultural challenges that come with living abroad, especially in a place where you don't know the language or the people.
I also miss my family, and get a little sad when I miss family events or big moments in their lives and can't be there in person. But I've come to realize that life keeps moving — both for them and for me.
My motto is: you choose your hard. For me, marriage and raising a child right now would be difficult. For someone else, it might be moving overseas alone without knowing the language. But that's the kind of hard I'd gladly choose any day.