Think you’re integrated in Spain? Take the test

There are many faces of an integrated Brit in Spain – how and where do you fit in?

Just because you wake up late, go to bed late and like to take long lunches doesn’t necessarily mean that you are fully integrated into the Spanish way of life (and it may mean you simply enjoy the good things in life a little too much).

Nor does speaking Spanish, eating nothing but jamon and olives, and insisting on using that thumb-and-pinky extended hand signal when enquiring whether anybody wants a drink make you a full-blown Spaniard – although it sure will make you appear like one to many…

No, to be truly integrated into life in Spain as a British expat takes time, patience, compromise and large helpings of passion and desire. Despite the country’s famously warm welcome, you have to really want to fit in, in order to fit in.

Granted, Brits do not have to really integrate all that much to live a full and fruitful life in Spain – the Costa del Sol is the perfect location for Brits abroad who simply want to enjoy a great climate and a good standard of living while being surrounded by all the comforts of home.

But studies have proven time and time again that the more integrated the immigrant, the more exposed the expat is to foreign cultures, then the more they enjoy their time in a different country, which in turn usually leads to healthier, wealthier and happier lives.

With this in mind, the British Embassy and Consulate in Spain has developed its very own ‘Integrometer’, which surveys Brits in Spain about just how well integrated they really are.

The ‘Integrometer’ can be found on the British Embassy’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BritsLivinginSpain) and takes just a couple of minutes to complete. It is a great bit of harmless fun, but with a serious intention – the responses offered by Brits will help the Embassy offer better consular services to the hundreds of thousands of British expats currently resident in Spain.

The aim is to provide more up-to-date and relevant consular information that may be important to Brits who live in Spain, so if you are one of them and would like to find out just how integrated you really are, it is well worth a few minutes of your time to offer your responses and feedback – while also doing a great deal of good for the thousands of fellow Brits – current and future – who also call Spain home.

Simply log on to Facebook and visit ‘BritsLivinginSpain, or click on the link above. Good luck, and have fun!