Back-to-School Season, But Make It Spanish 🇪🇸

Last summer, we arrived in Valencia just two weeks before school would begin in early September. That, in and of itself, was a culture shock. Coming from Tennessee, school starts in late July or early August. We were starting an entire month after everyone else we knew.

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I’ve always liked school. And I like school supplies. The smell of new crayons or fresh pencils evokes very specific memories, and there was absolutely nothing like buying a new Trapper Keeper. (I’m revealing my age here.) I know exactly how — and when — to buy them for my kids, usually with a mix of Walmart, Target, and Amazon purchases. With class lists in hand, we wander up and down the designated aisles of school supplies, filling our cart up one package of markers and loose-leaf paper at a time.

No one sleeps the night before school starts — too much anticipation, too many nerves, and the constant fear of oversleeping.

The next morning is full of excitement, taking first-day-of-school photos in the front yard, and getting out the door early to make it to school on time.

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When you’re brand new to a country, you don’t know how to do anything. Going to the grocery store is a tremendous ordeal. Now imagine you have just two weeks to find every school supply your kids need to start school. You’re jet lagged. You don’t know the public transit system yet. You’re still figuring out where the light switches are in your new apartment.

Will and I had no idea where to shop for supplies. But we were familiar with one store that would have everything: El Corte Inglés. It has floors and floors of merchandise — everything from kitchenware to designer clothing to cosmetics. It is what Sears used to be to the U.S. They also have a fully stocked papelería (stationery/bookstore)..

El Corte, as we usually refer to it in our house, is not the cheapest place to buy anything. The nicest? Absolutely. The most cost-effective? Not even close. So going in, we knew we were going to spend quite a bit more than we wanted to.

Unfortunately, after dropping a small fortune at El Corte, we still didn’t have everything we needed. So we were off to the next store: Abacus. Abacus reminds me a bit of a college bookstore, carrying folders, pens, paintbrushes, a small selection of books, water bottles, and more. It is, friends, also not cheap. But they had what we were missing, so we finished our shopping with a flourish, hoping we’d gotten everything the kids would need for their first day at a new school in a new country.

You know that’s not how this story ends, right?

A week into school, we had more supplies to buy, specific to each teacher’s preferences. Off to Abacus we went — helped by an employee who spoke a bit of English.

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A few weeks into school, we met another parent who lives near us, who tipped us off on where she buys school supplies: Carrefour.

Carrefour is what I like to think of as the European equivalent of Walmart or Target. They’re relatively inexpensive, they have everything, and you can do the grocery shopping after you’re done spending all your money on everything else. I don’t know why I hadn’t heard of Carrefour before, but I hadn’t, and it hadn’t occurred to me to look for something like it.

It was a revelation.

This year, I already have supply lists, and I am fully prepared for the shopping. I’m not hindered by jet lag or lack of knowledge. Instead, I’m fully armed with where to go, what to buy, and how not to overpay.

One thing I still haven’t mastered? Ordering the right P.E. uniform sizes. Last year, we measured our kids, using the directions the school provided, and we ordered them six sizes too small! It’s all part of the learning process — and despite the frustrations, it’s kind of fun, learning to adult all over again.

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