Should we Stay or Go to Spain? What Would You Do?

Hello Meltingpot Community,

Would you crowdsource your decision to go abroad next year? Well, that’s about where we are right now, trying to decide if we should carry on with our plans to move to Spain for academic year 2020-2021. I’m not saying we’re actually going to plan our lives based on the opinions of strangers, but boy do we need help making this decision because the way I see it, there is no right or wrong answer.

I’m calling this post an open forum to share your suggestions and/or advice.

As a reminder, here’s the situation.

We Should Go to Spain

I have always wanted to live abroad as an adult and share that experience with my children.

I applied for a sabbatical to spend next year in Spain so I could continue my research on the Black experience in Spain. I just got word in March that the sabbatical was granted. Yay!

In addition to my research, we want to give our children the chance to live in the country where their paternal relatives all live. My children are just as much Spanish as they are Black American, yet they’ve never lived in Spain. Yes, we’ve visited, but our longest trip has been for six weeks. In addition to being immersed in their own culture (and language), we want them to deepen their relationships with their grandparents and multiple cousins. Not to be morbid, but we don’t know how long abuelo and abuela will be kicking it. Also, kids 2 & 3 would be attending Spanish schools.

El esposo misses his parents and his country as we’ve lived in the United States for the last 20+ years. He is desperate to reconnect with his roots.

I am not eligible for another sabbatical for seven more years.

Kid 2 only has two more years of high school. If we don’t go this upcoming year, we give up the chance to have him enjoy the immersive experience of attending school because we would not take him out of school for his senior year.

We Should NOT Go to Spain

The GotDamb Corona Virus has thrown the entire world into chaos.

To be honest, I don’t have any real reasons not to go to Spain except fear. But it’s real fear. Fear that the virus will peak again while we’re in Spain (which all indicators say it will). Fear that someone in my family will get sick in Spain. Fear that somehow, something horrible will happen that could have been prevented if I’d kept my butt at home in my safe little bubble. (But is that really safe?) Fear that somehow my children will suffer. Fear that a global economic collapse will somehow put us in some kind of danger that we’d be able to handle better from Philadelphia. Fear of all the things, okay?

What Would You Do?

I’d love to hear from my fearless travelers as well as my super worriers. I want to hear what you would do if you were me. Like I said, I’m not going to take your advice and run with it, I just want to hear how other people would handle the situation. Yes, the Corona Virus is unprecedented in scope for our lifetime, but maybe you’ve made a similar decision during another critical period. Maybe you can see things in a more dispassionate way because it’s not your life we’re playing with. Maybe you live in Spain and you can tell me something I don’t already know about how things are unfolding over there. Maybe you have some thoughts about Americans landing in Spain (even though el esposo and the kids are/will be Spanish citizens) while they’re trying to recover from a crisis. I want to hear it all.

At the end of the day, we honestly can’t make any real decisions at this moment even if we wanted to as there aren’t even any flights to be had to Spain. Borders are closed. We could all be on lockdown for 18 months according to some predictions. So, in some ways, think of this as helping me gather intel for the decision we’re going to have to make sooner or later.

I appreciate you and thank you Meltingpot Community for any thoughts and/or ideas you have to offer.

Be Well.