Recent Grad moving to San Juan in May

dhb10 New member

Member since 30 December 2013

dhb10New member30 December 2013 02:00:29

Hi,

I am a male, graduating senior in college and I have always wanted to move to San Juan, Puerto Rico after college in order to live/experience latino culture and have a break to work and enjoy the island before pursuing graduate studies. I am 21 years old (will be about 22 when moving) and although I do not have native-level fluency, I speak very good/almost fluent conversational spanish due to years of studying the language and living in Spain/latin america for months at a time. I am very much an adventure/fun seeker, am friendly, usually make friends easily, enjoy nightlife and excursions. I am also extremely hard working and take pride in excelling academically and in a professional setting. I am looking to live in San Juan for atleast 3 months and if I like it, up to a full year. I hope you may be able to answer one or more of these questions:

1. Would you recommend San Juan for someone like me? Will it be easy to make local/expat friends my age as I hope to? How would I go about meeting recent graduates or college students without being a student? Do other young people from the states do this kind of thing - just up and move to the island?

2. I have experience working in biomedical laboratories but I am also very open/looking to work in hotel/hostel/tourism industry. Are these kinds of jobs (as full time) easy to find? And will hotel/hostel/temp agency work pay enough to support rent (with roommates) and food/incidentals during my time there? Is there another line of entry level work that I should be looking into?

3. In order to make friends and live there without a car, is Old San Juan the best place to live? Is it affordable with roommates? (I saw other posts online saying people were able to split rent with 3 or so people in OSJ and only pay $300-400 a month) Is it realistically possible to live outside of OSJ without a car if I want to commute to work/grocery store/nightlife etc.? How would I go about finding roommates near my age?

I know these are a lot of questions, so feel free to answer just the ones you can attest to. I would love to hear from both locals and other expats/US mainland-ers that moved to San Juan. Thank you in advance for your help!

Fond of Ibiza Active member

Member since 15 December 2013

Fond of IbizaActive member31 December 2013 10:46:21

Hi

Old San Juan, Condado and Ocean Park are probably your best bets if you don't want to buy a car. The rent will be fairly expensive all well, as these are popular areas. I had a (tiny) studio apartment in Ocean Park three years ago for $600 to give you an idea. These areas are popular with wealthy Puerto Ricans and Anglos/Expats here.

A lot of young people are living in Santurce, and while it may not be as "nice", there is definitely an underground/hipster vibe to some parts, and it is also a 5 min bicycle ride or a 20-30 min walk to the nice areas that I mentioned above.

As you probably noted the meme on this forum here about how getting a job (I say "good job") can be tough in PR. However, since you are 22, don't want a car and not supporting a family you have more options. My (non-PR) wife used to work in hotels here and there is a lot of turnover (7-10ph opportunities), and there are dozens in the area that you are considering.

Keep your expenses low and you will be fine.

NomadLawyer Serial expat

Member since 27 September 2010

NomadLawyerSerial expat31 December 2013 17:37:07

693

I second Fond of Ibiza's answers to your questions, dhb10. That's a solid take.

dhb10 New member

Member since 30 December 2013

dhb10New member01 January 2014 16:35:03

Great advice! Im glad im now understanding what people are referring to when saying there are "no jobs". Also, great info om the neighborhoods. Im looking to be in OSJ, condado, or santurce near condado. Im going for a visit in March to make sure it will be a good move for me and to apply/interview for jobs for May. Thanks again!!