Hello,

I am new to the board and will be very new to Madrid, Spain in several weeks ... Anyway, I have been to Madrid twice and I always felt it was filled with lots of Americans and British people but I never knew if they were tourists or expats. So is there a big American/UK expat community in Madrid? What would be the population? 10 thousand or much higher?

Okay, in addition I am a city boy into martinis, fine dining, sports (basketball mainly), art, and especially music. I am not just out of college I am in my late 20's ... Is the American expat community mainly college students, older, or highly mixed in age? Sorry for all the questions but this board is very informative I have just read threads and I learn more about Spain ...

In addition I am very close to moving to the Prado area of Madrid ... Does anyone know if this area is nice to live? Any suggestions for better areas of Madrid or more are appreciated.

Finally, whoever Jer is he is wonderful this board rocks! Keep up the good work!!

thank you very much for reading!

bye
Julian Garr

Yeah! Another Philadelphian in Madrid!! Welcome to the board.

Julian...don�t know if this is the best place to be asking for statistical information on the expat community here in Madrid. Although jer might certainly surprise us with his knowledge!

As far as the participants in this forum... I would say that there is a good mix of American and British expats participating... as well as American and British citizens participating from their respective countries. I don�t not mean to ignore those who are participating from other countries,... as there many members who are Spainsh, or from other European and Asian countries.

With regards to the multimadrid expat group (if you want to call us that).. we aren�t just expats. We are simply a group of individuals with a love for everything Spanish. In my case, I am an American citizen with a Spanish residency and live here on a permanent basis. I am in my mid 30s. The age range of multimadridians are from roughly 25-40 years old and run the gamut from students to those here "illegally" to various professionals.

Spend more time on the board and you will get a feel for the community. We get together frequently so I am sure you will never have to feel alone!

PS... the Prado is a great area to live in, particularly if you have an active social life!

Hello from yet another Philadelphian now living in Madrid! I�m not sure how big the expat community is, but I will say that at first I was rather surprised by how...SMALL...American/English speaking facilities were here. For example, many of the Version Original theaters where you can see movies in English are tiny. And, the store Taste of America where you can get some precious American groceries is tiny as well. I guess I expected, like everything American, such things would be HUGE!

I�m 36 (ugh almost 37) and have been quite pleased to find so many like-minded and similarly aged folks on this board. I think there�s something for just about everyone here.

I believe there are other Expat groups and clubs here and I haven�t participated in them, but my feeling is that they are more oriented towards finding other English speaking people and doing American style activities. What I love about this board is the commitment of everyone to being and living Spanish! And daily I am grateful to the Spaniards on this board who share their friendship, knowledge and experience with us "guiris."

Look forward to meeting you when you are here.

Thank you all for replying ... Fellow Philadelphians too. I am originally from Washington, DC but Philly has been my home since 1999 or so and as much as I love this gritty town I need Madrid! Though Philly is the place for good food and so much more I feel this is my hometown ...

Anyway, if you have more information on the English language theaters and English/American grocery stores that would be helpful. In addition I am now very excited about *possibly* living in the Prado area if it is social ... I don't know know hardly anyone in Madrid but I will be taking TEFL classes and I will be trying to meet new people too.

thanks again!!
JAY --- "It is snowing and raining and the temperature is in the 20's in Philadelphia, Madrid I need your warmth!!"

"Philly is the place for good food...."
I'd say Madrid is not a bad place to be either, for someone who appreciates that! :cheers:

"I am now very excited about *possibly* living in the Prado area"
That shows what good taste you have! -take it from someone who just loooves to live across from The Prado :l:

hey jayg, welcome to the board.

i am not sure of exact numbers but i think i recall reading an article somewhere that stated there were approx. 10,000 north americans in madrid so your guess was pretty good

counting the other americans (latin americans ), those numbers would ggo through the roof. remember, they are "americanos" as well

i ageee with pim, no lack of fine dining here either and you can also get martinis.

basketball is pretty big in spain so what ya waiting for

jer is i (jeremy --> me live), thanks for the complement but, while i can take all the credit for the main multimadrid website, the board members get most of the credit for the success of the board.

i agree with Chica, what makes our board unique is the mix of participants, both ex-pats living here and people back home who participate as well. no other board on the www has such a dynamic and positive mixture of participants :cheers:

also, Chica and Juliette are right about most of the american groups/clubs here being into american things and they tend to isolate themselves from "spain" and spanish culture. they tend to behave as if they were froced to move here (perhaps many were due to work) and resist assimilation into spanish society. there are a lot of british groups/clubs that do this too.

prado area is great in my opinion, well connected via public transports, lively and fun, etc... i assume you are moving into the tefl flat on paseo del prado, no? just a guess since Rocco (Madrid Insider on this board) is tha adminitrator of that apt. i think you will like it, it is very nice (recently renovated) and has a perfect location. book the room before you arrive as it has become popular and hard to just walk in once you arrive.

saludos,
jer...