🎉 Welcome to my Spanish blog!

If you start a project on Leap Day, does it actually exist? Asking for a friend...

Feb 29, 2024

A picture is worth 1,000 words…

…but it doesn’t include the whole story. Sharing photos and videos from my life in Spain on Instagram and Facebook is better than nothing, but there’s much more to say. Furthermore, not everyone is on social media (good for them!) and I don’t want my people to risk getting sucked into a social media time warp just to stay in touch.

So here we are in your email inbox. Thank you. It’s a privilege I don’t take lightly.

I imagine you have questions and I have answers, so let’s dive in:

Q: What is Americana en España?

A: It’s an email newsletter, written by yours truly, Rachel Drummond, a lifelong Oregonian living in Madrid, Spain - two years this month!

Q: Are you going to brag about “expat life”?

A: You’ll read about how much I love living in Spain - and how it infuriates me. But I promise you this: you’ll never hear me talk about “expat life” - a label which to me implies “white, privileged person living abroad.” While that description fits me in many ways, I intend to write nuanced, not “neener-neener” content. You can expect cultural and personal musings, rants and raves, and travel and food reviews. And if any of this inspires you to visit, we both win!

Q: Are you going to flood my inbox?

A: I’m aiming to write to you once a week. This is a new project, so we’ll see how it goes. Please know I’m very much in favor of inbox independence; if you aren’t interested in receiving these, please unsubscribe. No harm, no foul.

A free subscription will always be available. Paid subscriptions are also an option. Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, I deeply appreciate your time and interest.

Q: Don’t you have a blog somewhere?

A: You remembered! I have a blog, but it’s currently set up for yoga teaching (which is on pause for now - more on this later). Since living in Spain is an entirely different topic from yoga, I’m trying out the Substack email space.

Q: Will you write to us in English or Spanish?

A: English for now, but I’ll sprinkle in words you probably know. I’ll also write proper nouns in Spanish (with English translations in parentheses) to honor their origin. Your brain can handle it, I promise.

Q: What’s the photo at the top of the email?

A: The photo is of my favorite statue in Madrid, called Julia: a 12-meter statue that currently resides in Plaza de Colón. She was created by Catalan artist, Jaume Plensa, who has similar pieces installed worldwide. She was supposed to be uninstalled last December, but today I learned her residency has been extended for another 1-3 years, yay!