I thought I wanted the American dream. Moving to a small city in Spain changed my mind.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kevin Schreck, a 33-year-old from North Carolina who moved to Spain in 2018. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I was pursuing a master's in Spanish when I met my husband, who was also working on his master's. He's from Valencia, so when we finished our programs, I thought, "He's lived here for a couple of years, why don't I go ahead and try Spain?"

I applied to a Spanish program that places native English speakers in public schools as classroom language assistants. I got really lucky and was assigned to a school in Valencia.

At first, my plan was to live there for a couple of years, improve my Spanish, and then return to the US to become a language teacher. I imagined having the typical American dream, you know, a house with a big yard and all that. But I fell in love with Spain.

I have so many fond memories of my first year in Valencia. I was this guy from Wilmington, North Carolina, learning about a new culture, trying new foods, meeting a ton of people, and going out with my husband and his friends.

I know I'm lucky, and not everyone has that experience. It's easy to get disillusioned when you're in a new country and don't have a community. But having my husband with me allowed me to immerse myself. It gave me an advantage, an easier way in, and that's something I really appreciate now.

Moving abroad was pretty easy. The teaching program provided me with a student visa, so I didn't have to figure everything out on my own or work with lawyers.

I was earning €1,000 ($1,146) a month through the program. It wasn't an amazing salary, but it was fairly typical and enough to live on. At the time, my partner and I rented an apartment in a decent area for €700 ($802) a month, which we split, so I could cover my rent and bills and still save a little.

It took me three months to receive my first payment. I was a recent college graduate relying on my savings, so that period was really stressful. But in the end, it all worked out.

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I stayed in the program for a couple of years, which also made it easier to renew my visa. Afterward, I was able to apply for permanent residency, and now I'm working on my citizenship.

There's a lot to love about Valencia. It's usually sunny, and it isn't a huge city. With just under a million people, it feels much less overwhelming than Barcelona or Madrid — especially for someone like me who comes from the rural South.