Is It Lonely Moving to Spain Alone?

Moving abroad is exciting and fun and probably one of the best things you’ll ever do, but it can also feel really weird at the beginning. One minute you’re at home surrounded by friends, family and everything familiar, and the next you’re in Spain trying to work out where to buy shampoo, how to say what you need in a pharmacy, and whether you’re accidentally using the wrong milk in your coffee.

There are definitely moments where you think, “what am I doing?” and I think that’s completely normal.

The thing is, moving abroad alone doesn’t mean you’ll be lonely forever. It just means you have to put yourself out there a bit more than you might be used to.

One of the best things I did was go to language exchanges. Honestly, this is where I met my best friends. I originally went to practice Spanish, but it ended up becoming such a big part of my life here. Everyone is there for the same reason really. They want to meet people, practise languages, have a drink, chat, and make connections.

And who knows, you might even find a bit of romance there too. Wink wink.

I still think language exchanges are one of the easiest ways to meet people when you first move to Spain because nobody expects you to be perfect. Your Spanish can be terrible, your English explanations can be messy, and it doesn’t matter. Everyone is learning something.

Bumble BFF is also genuinely useful. I know it feels a bit strange at first using an app to make friends, but loads of people are in exactly the same position. They’ve just moved somewhere new, they don’t know many people yet, and they’re looking for someone to go for coffee with, explore with, or just message when they feel a bit lost.

Not every person you meet will become your best friend, but that’s fine. It still gets you out of the house and talking to people.

Facebook groups helped me too. I joined local groups and actually met another British person through one of them, and we’re still friends now. Sometimes Facebook feels a bit old school, but for moving abroad it’s honestly so useful. People post about meetups, rooms, jobs, events, language exchanges, and sometimes just say they’re new and looking to meet people.

Flatmates can also make a massive difference. A lot of the time, especially if you’re sharing a flat, your flatmates might be Erasmus students, international students, language assistants, or people who have also moved to Spain from somewhere else. That can be really comforting because you’re all going through a similar thing.

And if you’re lucky enough to live with Spanish people, even better. It’s such a good way to practice the language naturally and learn about the culture properly. You pick up words, phrases, habits, and little everyday things you’d never learn from an app.

For my first few months, I actually stayed with my au pair family, and I loved it. Living with a Spanish family can be such a good experience because you’re not just visiting Spain, you’re actually inside a normal Spanish home. You hear the language every day, you learn how meals work, how family life works, how people really speak to each other. It can make the whole move feel less scary because you have people around you straight away.

But honestly, the biggest advice I’d give anyone moving to Spain alone is this: be brave.

The magical thing about moving abroad is that nobody knows you.

Literally nobody.

That might sound scary at first, but it’s actually the most freeing thing ever. You can become the version of yourself you always wanted to be. You can be more confident. You can say yes to more things. You can start dressing differently if you’ve always wanted to dress differently. You can try new hobbies, speak to strangers, embarrass yourself, go to events alone, dance badly, mess up your Spanish, and nobody cares.

No one has an old version of you in their head.

You’re not “the quiet one” or “the awkward one” or “the person who never does that sort of thing.” You’re just you, in a new place, getting to decide who you want to be.

And yes, sometimes you will feel lonely. You might have evenings where you miss home. You might scroll through Instagram and feel like everyone else has a group already. You might go to an event and feel awkward for the first ten minutes.

But then someone starts talking to you. Or you meet one person who introduces you to another person. Or you go to the same language exchange a few weeks in a row and suddenly people recognise you. Slowly, without even realising it, you start building a life.

Moving to Spain alone can be lonely at times, but it can also be the best thing you ever do for your confidence.

You learn how to start again. You learn how to talk to people. You learn how to enjoy your own company. You learn that embarrassment really isn’t the end of the world.

And then one day, Spain stops feeling like this scary new place and starts feeling like home.