So, the thing that sucks about making the transition from total parental dependence to financial independence is that it takes work. That may sound obvious to you, but for me the transition was some distant minor problem I would face in my future and nothing worth worrying about now. Well now I’m here, doing my best to take the advantages my parents have given me to work hard, progress and start down the path to financial independence. Don’t get me wrong I’m certainly not independent yet but this blog is about what I'm doing this summer to prepare for the inevitable.

I decided that this summer I would go down to Spain and work in a hotel there. Thats where I am right now: in a four star hotel on the beach in Spain. Sounds amazing doesn't it? Well, its not exactly as it sounds. My goals for this summer are to improve my Spanish, gain work experience and hopefully save some money...Oh! And get an amazing tan of course! So now its been four days since my first day and this is what has happened.

Where I live

As I turned the key in the door to my apartment that the hotel was providing for me I could barely handle the anticipation. I have always been lucky enough to live in nice, clean places and was nervous to see where I would be for the next two months. Nothing. I mean nothing I could have imagined would have prepared me for this place. In the room the was a cot, two chairs, a tiny sink, a small fridge which was jammed between the bed and the sink and a closet with a toilet in it. That was it. Seriously. No table, no shower, no stove and only a tiny mirror!

Obviously, someone who wants to learn independence doesn't want to start screaming, storm out and refuse to live in the place that was just presented to me. I wouldn't want to appear like a diva and so I simply said okay and asked “where can I shower?” The reply was no more comforting then the smell in the room “shower you in laundry around corner” Right. I can handle that. It just means that every time I want to wash myself I need to go and ask the superintendent for the key. Thats normal. “Gosh I miss my condo” I said to myself as I feel asleep that night after getting used to the drone of the fridge next to my head. Luckily, I was moved to an apartment with a shower later but instead of the sound of the fridge, I was greeted by a multitude of cockroaches in the morning. I thought it was a fair trade.

Where I work

Every day I bike to work in the morning heat. Its a really nice bike ride along the boulevard that runs parallel to the beach. Its fun to bike to work and watch the tourists exercising in the morning and they always stare back at me in confusion because Im in a suit. The hotel Sunway Playa Golf where I work is really beautiful and right on the beach. I work in the reception and so I get to look out at the sea all day long (it makes me thirsty). Because its high season right now my colleagues don’t really have time to “train” me and so the first few days have been insane. All day long guests come and ask me for something (in Spanish) and then I have to do it (without having learnt how yet) and thats how I learn. One thing after another I have to observe and do and basically train myself (in Spanish).

By the end of the day my brain is killing me from speaking Spanish, German, French and Russian all day and doing things I don’t know how to do. But I find hope in the fact that tomorrow will be easier and I will do better and frankly, that feels great. I somehow find it empowering to start working at the bottom and not letting colleagues now that my parents have shares in the hotel. I enjoy doing this because it makes the preparation for my transition more real. Every day for me right now feels like an episode from an upper middle class version of “The Simple Life” and its easy to get discouraged.

I suppose it would be appropriate for me to write a post-blog disclaimer to clarify for the sake of potential responses to this blog. I am in no way complaining about what I have or don’t have I simply exploring it for the sake that it might interest others. I feel very lucky to be working in Spain, learning Spanish and killing cockroaches.