Hoping to move but got a few barriers to cross first...

My friend and I have been thinking about moving away from the UK for a while, it will be me, my 3 and half year old son and my friend Karin. The problem is we are both in our 2nd year at university but we are desperate to get away from the UK. We already know the area we want to move to...la linea, gibraltar etc and were wondering if anyone knew of any good universities within the area? Karin drives and has been for a while and im taking lessons and plan on passing before we move so driving wouldnt be a problem.

I am studying podiatry which may be the hardest one to find but Karin is doing a computer course. Can anyone help us with universities that may do the courses we are in the middle of completing? I was considering doing the erasmus programme so that I will still get funding from my university and saas etc so that I dont need to work on top of university as my son is already a full time job as it is.

Any help will be appreciated!!

Thanks

Emma

Erasmus funding can be quite competitive to secure. it could be worth applying for, and securing, that first - otherwise you'll have tuition fees to pay as well as living expenses.

Either way, you'll presumably have to return to the UK after one year to complete your degree. Whilst having a degree is very far from guaranteeing employment these days, your chances without one will be yet more impaired.

Good luck!

If you were wanting to move to la linea, it must be pretty bad where you currently are in the UK?  La Linea is the biggest s***hole in Spain.

I have to agree on that.

I spent a few days there over christmas.

cockroaches in the lifts and as i was stood on the balcony i saw the police shooting at someone running down the street.

the people that i stayed with have now left and gone to ailcadesa because they caught someone trying to break into the house and confronted them which turned into a fight and bricks through their windows for the next week.

can anyone suggest any other nice areas near la linea then? by near i mean like a 10 or 20 min drive maximum?? the reason we chose la linea is that we know 2 people who live there so it wouldnt be as scary as moving to a place we knew no one in!! Also it is right on the borders to gibraltar where we were planning on looking for work but we have also decided to learn spanish so that we dont have the language barrier reducing our chances of getting jobs so that isnt as much of an issue.

Thank you to everyone for their honest responses so far :-) the last thing we want to do is move somewhere and realise we hate it so better to keep our options open!!

emma

La Linea is quite expensive for what you get.
Its ideal for people that work in gibraltar but cant drive.

If you can drive then most people or people i know work in Gib live in Alcaidea or Manilva.
Suprisingly you can get an apartment in Sotogrande for less than 800euros a month now compared to the 2000euros i was paying in 2007.

Manilva is family freindly and encompasses duquesa which is perfect for family and english that have just landed.

Little britain.
 

If you go to a spanish area straight away it can be a bit scary and hard when you cant communicate at all.

we dont plan on moving for another year at least (although id rather we packed our bags and moved tomorrow but circumstances prevent that from happening) so both karin and i are doing a night class to learn to speak spanish and we know 2 people who speak pretty decent spanish who already live there and have done for a good year or two s know the place pretty well but we are still open to other possibilities. we want a cheap enough place to live that is family orientated and not too far from la linea or gib and near good (preferably free) schools that cameron wouldnt drown in!! By the time we move he will be 4 or 5 or possibly 6 depending on circumstances.

Come here and look round of you have a year

come a lot.

go from algecierous right up to marbell and check all the areas out and you can see for yourself.

maybe even stay in each area for a few nights in a hotel.

but make sure you use your year to have as much money in your savings account as possible before you move because it gets expensive and you always need more.

dont really have huge amounts of time as both full time university but we do plan on coming through for a weekend in august and if uni allows us a weekend in october (that one is doubtful) then hoping for a week or 2 in january over the christmas holidays and hopefully if our friend andrew allows it between 4-6 weeks in the summer so will get plenty time to look around when we are over and just got back a week ago from spending the week with andrew!! it was great!! I felt so happy!! I know for a fact it wasnt the summer holiday feeling it was a feeling of being at home :-)

nobody wants to put you off at all

do it

go for it

but the main thing as always is money.

if you have enough money nothing else matters but the problem is people think its cheap to live in spain.

sure it can be cheap if you eat bread and water and live in a shack.

but just make sure you have a lot of savings to last you twice as long as you think you will need.

if you think you can live for 800 a month double or treble it.

if you think you will get a job in 6 months double it or treble it.

be prepared and have lots and lots of money saved up to make it all easier.

sure you will struggle with some things and it will make it more fun overcoming challenges but people turn up with no job and not a lot of money and wonder why life is so hard.

prepare for everything and then prepare even more.

if you can get a job before you come here do.

if you think it will be easier to get a job when you are here thats not quite right because you are pouring 1000+ euros a month of your savings into rent and living so it can get desperate.

im really looking forward to it and i appreciate all the honest advice and its good to talk to people who are not being all negative all the time and putting the idea down like my family!!

Karin and I are planning on saving every penny we dont spend on bills and spain over the next 2 years so that we have big bank balances when we come to spain and it would be better to come over with a job offer under our belts too especially seeing as it isnt just karin and i suppoeting ourselves we got cameron to worry about too and his education

your family are probably just trying to protect you and it does come aross as negative.

same as we are trying to make sure you understand that its not all cigaretes for 1.50 a pack and cheap gib petrol.

if we show you the negatives and worst case of needing 3 times more in savings than you expected it will make it a lot easier for you.

so some things sound negative but its purely from experiences.

you know all the positives.

going to the beach bar after work and sitting by the med instead of sitting in traffic for 2 hours commuting from london.

sun 300 days a year and waking up fresh and ready for work every day instead of poking your toe out of bed to see how cold it is.

there are more positives than negatives but its the negatives that can cause probelms like lack of finance.

Emma:

I fully echo Bigwilly's last post. 

It is wrong to tell someone what they want to hear.  And the posters here are telling you how it is. 

Give the idea a lot of thought, Emma, and then some.  As BW has jsut said, finances can be a big problem.

It is understandable that your family would be worried about you.

Good wishes

Patricia