Which part of Spain is the best for teenagers to go to?

Go back to Mexico, give Spain a try, or something else?

• I asked this question a while ago, and for some reason, they deleted it. I didn´t say anything offensive, just asked a question. Some background information, otherwise my question won´t make sense: Anyway, I just got my TEFL certificate, which means, I am a real EFL teacher. Yay. :) I know that I want to teach English abroad, everyone says, ´´There´s a need for ESL teachers in the US... teach in the states`` but that would defeat the purpose. I wasn´t happy in USA. I´m in Barcelona now, and I LOVE it here in Spain. I would like to get to know some other areas in Spain, though. I´m undecided about where I want to teach English... I´m feeling a little torn. I really love it here in Barcelona, but I´m dying to see Sevilla or some other part of Andalucia. I think that I would be happier in Southern Spain than anywhere else in the world. I love Barcelona but I think I´d like andalucia more. However, I studied abroad in Mexico when I was in college. Spain is an amazing country but half my heart is still in mexico. I had a really hard time readjusting to American culture when I returned to the United States, and longed to go back to Mexico. That´s how I got into Tefl (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). I thought of Tefl as the answer to my prayers. I mean this with all respect, but unfortunately our news and media likes to dumb us down. I´m not going to lie- Mexico DOES have problems- but I think the news is taking them out of proportion. Drugs, violence, and crime happen everywhere. I lived in Cuernavaca,the city where the battle between police and the drug baron took place a few days ago. I don´t wanna ever go back to Cuernavaca, not because I am worried about violence, but because I´ve been there, done that. Plus, I there is a guy down there that I never want to see again. Bad memories. It is beautiful though. I would like to go to Guadalajara or Puebla... as wonderful as Spain is, there are things about Mexico I miss... people in Barcelona are very reserved. most people are nice and polite, but sometimes I feel like everyone is in their own little world. In Mexico, people I met were really loving and warm, everyone knew their neighbours, people would greet you ´´buenos días`` when you walked down the street. I wanna go back and teach there, but... please don´t take offense, I mean this with ALL respect... my parents are gonna kill me if I go back to mexico. They don´t understand that our news is biased, and they don´t know the country like I do. Furthermore, i do worry about the security issues in Mexico... our news does give us lies and biases but... it´s been five years since I was in Mexico. A lot can change in five years. How do you know how safe it is? I have met people from Andalucia and they´re all really warm and loving. I think I would love Andalucia more than anywhere in the world, but I´ve never been. I´m so sick of USA, I know people will tell me to stay in USA but I was miserable. I have no plans of teaching in my home country. Half my heart is in Spain and dying to stay there, the other half is in Mexico... I´m torn! What to do?

• Answer:

  I say your parents seriously need to travel more, American news decipts Mexico like that sucky movie Traffic as some dirty garbage dump with chickens everywhere in the street. Traffic even goes so far as to portraying Bosques de las Lomas as some crummy poor man neighborhood. FYI, Bosques de las Lomas is even fancier than Beverly Hills and it's where the wealthiest, most powerful businessmen in Mexico City live. A lot of diplomats live there as well. I'm surprised you never visited Mexico City while being in Cuernavaca, it's just a 1 hour bus ride. I wouldn't live in Mexico City (crap, I DO live in Mexico City, that sucks), but it's a cool place to visit for a weekend because there's so many places to go to. I find Cuernavaca one of the most boring places on Earth, there's just.. nothing to do there. I remember a time when it didn't even have movie theaters. There's a reason why it's a popular weekend vacation spot for the chilangos. I find Mexico the same as always, but I live in Mexico City, a place where most mexicans are too chicken or hate snobbish chilangos too much to visit. I visited Playa del Carmen which is a 40 minute drive from Cancun and it's a really cool place to live. A guy I work with thinks it's like a cleaner mini Miami. It's got a lot of job opportunities for english teaching to european tourists if you have the right documents. I don't know Guadalajara (my parents don't travel much at all) and I don't know Puebla either so I can't say how those places are like. I've heard Puebla has some really backwards driving laws designed to scam with parking tickets it's own people. I have a friend who's from Monterey say that the second most hated city in Mexico is Puebla right after Mexico City because it's the only place where it's own people likes to screw themselves up for easy money and everyone's okay with it. At least in Mexico City we're just really rude. Maybe you would like Guadalajara a bit more because it would be a large city instead of dinky little Cuernavaca (more to do), plus it's in the center of the country so unless you want to visit Chiapas on the weekend you could travel a lot in your free time. I'm vying for a job position outside of Mexico City hoping I'll get a spot in a place I've never been to ever in my life to travel more as well. Even if it's the Estado de México, there's so many municipios far away from the city I could very much enjoy living in. I'm sick of living in chilangolandia and it's sucky traffic. The nice thing is that you have the youth and job opportunities to choose where to live. You could live a year in a huge array of different places and get to know everywhere. Invite your folk to see the REAL Mexico, not the crap Fox News is feeding you. I feel safer walking in La colonia Doctores than in many major cities in the US at night.