Like so many young Spaniards, nine months ago I decided to emigrate to the ‘land of opportunity’ to live the American Dream. At first, everything looked pretty good but, without a Work Visa, staying legal in the country was complicated.        

It was there where I got to know more about the candidate for the presidency Donald Trump and his populist speeches. His blonde wig covered the front page of every national daily newspapers. One evening sitting on a terrace of Balboa Park in San Diego­— the largest cultural and municipal park in the United States, named by the Spanish conqueror Vasco Núñez de Balboa— my Mexican friends and I wondered about what would happen if Trump won the US elections. Some of them joked about when to apply “calado” (cement in Mexican jargon) to build the wall; others designed contraband avocados and I was thinking a plan B, C or D: to arrange a marriage to an American citizen, to migrate to Canada or, simply, to return to Spain as it finally turned out.

Nevertheless that day it did not occur to us to think that this bad joke would become today the 45th President of the United States. I cannot stop thinking about how my friends and family there will feel now. May the conciliatory tone of his first speech be the same for his administration.

Nine months ago I emigrated to the United States seeking a better life. Nine months later, Trump wins the American elections and I am back in Spain. Anybody might think that I am a deserter.