Hi all!

I'm Ben, currentlly living in Stirling, Scotland. I'm seriously considering moving to Spain, Barcelona especially is catching my eye.

Just looking for some advice really about how people find the move, the change of life, and how easy it is to go about sorting accomodation, employment and all those wee essentials.

Any help offered would be hugely appreciated!!

Cheers!

Ben

I found the move really easy. I drove from Denmark to Valencia. Leaving Denmark was a wonderful experience, after living there for 1 year. All my belongings fit right into the back of my car. In advance I had paid a deposit for an apartment in Oliva. The apartment was fully furnished, and much better than I had ever hoped for. I actually thought it was a dump, but I decided to take it for a month, to have some place to go to, and a roof over my head while I was getting to know the area. Now I will be staying here until april, then I think I will move to the city of Valencia.

I make my living working via the internet, so my biggest worry was not having access to it. But I solved it buying a 3g dongle from Orange, while waiting for an adsl connection at my house. I had read such horror stories about Telefonica, and internet connections in Spain, so I was worried that I would not be able to connect for a few weeks, but the Telefonica guy arrived at my house only 3 days after I signed the contract.

Life here is easier. The weather is nice. The food is of good quality for a reasonable price. One cup of damn fine coffee is for 1.10 euros. People are friendly, especially when you try to communicate with a badly broken spanish.

Hi Ben and welcome to B.E.

I see you've found your way around but if you need any help with the site, give me a shout via PM.

I lived in Spain for a short while many moons ago. Barcelona is a lovely place. My castillian was quite good but the local language in Barcelona is catalan. They will speak castellano to you but the language going on around you won't be that easy to discern sometimes. They aren't as bad as the welsh speaking welsh though!

I found the Spanish in general very friendly and yes, if you attempt to speak Spanish, no matter how badly, you will get a favourable response. Unlike in France.

It is said that the Scots end up with a very passable Spanish accent.

Enjoy B.E. and enjoy your new life.

Hi Ben,
I found it easy to move and spanish were very accomodating. Barcelona is a vibrant city - a big change to Stirling .
Unless you have particular skills(?) which are in demand, finding employment will not be easy.
I would suggest you try to learn a little spanish before you go. BBC website and or your local college.

Take plenty of cash!!!as unfortunaley its unlikley you will find work , treat it as a holiday and if you find work it will be a bonus , buy the lonley planet book for Spain ,ideal for finding accomodation etc.

Good luck

That is because of the AARRRRRSSS.

When a Scot says GRRREAT BRITAIN, the R is more similar to the Spanish PeRRo, than the english versoin, which is pero.

The Scots have the RRRRR on default mode because of their accent, and as it is usually the lack of RRRRs that stump the British, they are onto a winner...

I believe the Scots also have a sound they use when pronouncing the word LOCH that us Sassenachs don't normally utilise. This comes in helpful in pronouncing the jota in many Spanish words, or so I'm given to understand.