I’m Living My Own House Hunters Episode
A tiny moment that reminded me how far I’ve come.
When the kids were small, Will and I used to tuck them in around 8:00 P.M., and then we’d often settle down to watch TV together for an hour or two. Surrounded by the day’s leftover toys scattered about our living room, sometimes, it was Succession, Inventing Anna, or some other drama, but very often, it was HGTV’s House Hunters International.
This particular version of House Hunters scratched that itch to learn more about life abroad. I think there was also an underlying curiosity about how people could make that move. Was it work? Family? Retirement? Most of the couples featured on the show are young – some with kids and some without.
I watched the show with fascination, dreaming about the day I could do what they’d done as I sat in my living room in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
A few weeks ago, Will and I were in the city center doing a little shopping, when he looked at me and said, “Do you want to go to the square?”
It’s our terminology for Valencia’s Plaza del Ayuntamiento – the historic area full of buildings that remind us of ornate wedding cakes and is always bustling with tourists and locals.
To me, the square is magical, and I never tire of it.
Teenage Jen would be in awe of Mom Jen, who is very much living out her Adult Study Abroad Era.
Teenage Jen desperately wanted to travel to France with her French class the summer following junior year, but the money wasn’t there.
I knew better than to even ask, but I yearned to see the Eiffel Tower in person, speak the French I’d been pining to learn since I was 10, and taste the buttery, flaky croissants France was renowned for.
I didn’t have the words for it then, but what I longed for was a life that felt bigger than the one I had in rural Kentucky.
This Jen? This Adult Study Abroad Jen?
She can go to the square anytime she wants.
“Yes,” I said to Will. Of course.
The moments are coming fewer and farther between now that life in Spain is becoming more “normal,” but sometimes, I still look around and think, “We’re living out what we used to watch other people do on TV.”
I write here about building a life abroad—slowly, imperfectly, and with a lot of trial and error.
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Want to keep reading? Here are a few more stories from life in Spain:
I used to obsessively watch HHI and always say it was my dream to be on it. And funny enough, my husband and I actually were! When we moved to Prague in 2019 we ended up filming an episode and it really did feel like a dream come true.
Ps: thank you for recommending my Substack. That’s so sweet of you!