Potential move to Barcelona
 

Hi guys,

Hope this is the right place to post this sort of question.

My boyfriend has recently been offered the opportunity to work for a large company in Barcelona. It's more money and is a massive benefit to his career long-term.

We have lived together for nearly a year and to me it is out of the question to live in seperate countries five days a week, so basically if he took this job, it means we would be relocating to Barcelona.

I have always wanted to move abroad at some stage in my life and on the surface it sounds like an amazing opportunity. However, I am in the early stages of my career, and feel that a move to Barcelona may hinder my career progression.

The job my boyfriend would be taking is a permanent contract so we would probably be there for at least two years. I have recently started a new job here in England for an IT company, working in support. It is by no means the job I want to do for the rest of my life but it is a good stepping stone to the career I do want (in something like client relations or similar).

I can't speak a word of Spanish but believe I am a fast learner and can speak mediocre French. We would be hiring a Spanish tutor, should we move to Barcelona.

There are basically a huge number of questions I have about moving over there. How easy would it be for someone of my position to find a job - I have a pretty good CV for a 23 year old, worked for some major companies and have been a PA for some pretty prolific business figures, but I obviously wouldn't have much hope of finding a job until I could speak at least basic-intermediate Spanish.

How much does it cost to live around Barcelona - my boyfriend is looking at a salary of around 46-50,000 euros a year. We would have to assume that for an unguaranteed amount of time, that would be our combined income until I am able to get a job. How plausible is it for us to live on that kind of money?

How 'English friendly' is the city?

How easy is it to 'make friends' in everyday life? (that sounds lame, but we would know absolutely nobody if we moved, and it would be tough!)

What is the healthcare system like?

What is the quality of living like?

If anyone has moved to Barcelona and can offer me some advice, that would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Hi radio_nowhere, I recently lived in Barcelona on a similar salary to what your boyfriend will be making, so I can asnwer some of your points

1. 50k euros is plenty to have a good life in BCN if you are renting. You can rent a very good 2 bed flat in a good neighbourhood for around 1000-1300 euros per month. Buying is very expensive so I wouldnt consider it. There is no council tax if you rent and transport is good and cheap. BCN is a pretty small city, I used to go around on the free bicycles :)
2. Make sure you visit for a week to see flats and get to know the city. The city is very noisy so this is important to take into consideration when choosing your flat. There are also areas that have more immigrants or more Spaniards/Catalans etc
3. MY OH is Spanish and had a great job in LDN. However, she couldnt find a half-decent job in BCN in the year and a half we were there. She even had to learn Catalan as many jobs stated it was essential. I cant give you any good news on that front. All I can suggest is keep searching for good news stories on the internet, maybe someone has made it work :) Over 95% of all jobs are in Spanish or Catalan
4. BCN is a great city and incredibly comfortable for living in. Again, this varies a lot depending on exactly where you decide to live. My favourite area in Poble Nou, village atmosphere and very close to the beach.
5. There are some English speakers who live in the old town e.g. Bario Gotic where I used to live. It is very touristy there though and noisy. If you only speak English chances are you'll only make English/American/German friends. Most people make friends through their work and hobbies anyway, no different to anywhere else. Sounds like you know enough Spanish to negotiate the shops OK, but anyway BCN has tons of tourists so in the centre you can get by in English
6. Spanish healthcare is one of the best in the world, no worries there

We moved to Malaga because my OH and I work from home and we were getting claustrophobic in our BCN flat and being in the middle of the city. I would consider going back though, but I wouldnt live in the centre, like I said, half the people you see everyday are tourists!

I think you've got a great opportunity, but you've got to want to go there. Do you have an interest in Spain and Catalunya? e.g. do you like the food and culture? For me, that is actually the biggest Q as it will decide what attitude you go with. If you dont want to really be there than a foriegn city will be very lonely.

You may have to be prepared to just live off your partner's salary for a while, but in the meantime you can enjoy the city and improve your language skills. That'll look good on your CV anyway

Best of luck

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Thanks, that's really useful advice.

So what you're saying is, if I was to have any hope of getting a job, I would need Spanish and Catalan? What about if I were to brush up on my French and speak French and Spanish? I would be looking for secretarial roles or working for US or UK companies (I understand there are a few in the city) in administrative or PA positions.

I have toyed with the idea of bar work but I can imagine that being hard to get because of the sheer volume of people wanting casual bar work/waitressing, and also it's been a long time since I've done bar work and the hours would mean I would never see my boyfriend anyway.

How easy is Catalan to learn?

Thanks

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Well, from viewing many job adverts my OH decided she needed to learn Catalan to improve her chances of getting her job. My OH took 6 months to learn Catalan, but she is Spanish and speaks four languages already.

Learning a language to the level of being able to work in it takes a long time. From a realistic view, you do not speak Spanish or Catalan at the moment. I would recommend you learn Spanish first. It will take you probably 2 years to learn Spanish, if you go to full time lesssons i.e. 24 hours a week all year. I dont know if you would be able to afford that as that would be about 10k a year in lesssons.

So, it can be long-term goal for you to learn Spanish, but it wont get you a job over the next couple of years. So you will have to hope for an English speaking job. Secretaries in Barcelona in UK/US companies will be asked to speak English, Spanish and Catalan fluently as otherwise how will they communicate to the people around them e.g. how would you even book a taxi or a meeting room or conference etc?

As far as I see it, your best option to make this work would be to
go to Barcelona with your partner for a few years to enjoy the city, learn Spanish full time, maybe do the odd casual work if you can find it - and keep an eye open for job adverts where you only need to speak English. As long as you want to do this it would be a great lifestyle and you can eat out and enojy yourself at your boyfriends expense who will be earning a good salary :) If this doesnt appeal that there is nothing else I can suggest.

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Yes nothing like a misleading website promoting "living in uninterrupted sunshine" to help professional people prepare for life and work in a big multicultural city such as Barcelona.

If your main objective is to live in the sun, debt-free and stress-free, then don't go to Barcelona! :rofl:

That reminds me, make sure your flat in BCN has heating, its freezing in the winter!

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

I think you've got a great opportunity, but you've got to want to go there. Do you have an interest in Spain and Catalunya? e.g. do you like the food and culture? For me, that is actually the biggest Q as it will decide what attitude you go with. If you dont want to really be there than a foriegn city will be very lonely.

You may have to be prepared to just live off your partner's salary for a while, but in the meantime you can enjoy the city and improve your language skills. That'll look good on your CV anyway

Best of luck[/QUOTE]

I dont think that the question here is if she has an interest in Cataluna/Spain, the big draw is the boyfriend, and his job just happens to be in Barcelona.

I am sure faced with the BF moving away for 2 years or so, the fact that she might not like the food/culture is a minor consideration.

Go with him, you will probably love it and have a great time, and at least a new experience, somthing to tell the GKids.:thumbup:

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Jeez Louise, we recently left Barcelona but with a salary of 50 grand we may have been persuaded to stay a little longer! If money isn't a concern you will both have a great time for a few years, and you will probably find some kind of job. Even if turns out to be something you don't want to do long term, at least you don't have the stress of needing to find one! There is loads to do there and if you are a friendly and open person, and join a language course (preferable to a private tutor in my view as you will instantly make friends on a course like this) I think you will soon feel at home. I am often one of the biggest critics of Bcn on here, as so many people plan to move there looking for the Spanish experience, which it ain't as Cricketman says, but in your position I would leap at the chance! As for food, there's every kind of food under the sun available in the shops and restaurants so that's hardly a major concern. Remember the old chestnut about the Catalan language too, but if you learn Spanish you can get away without Catalan if you are not planning to live there longterm and have children.

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

What sort of jobs are on offer in Barcelona at 50,000 when spanish is not needed:confused:

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Ones which you get through your contacts in London :)

i.e. usually professional jobs with multi-national companies who have a BCN outpost, but not a large presence within Spain. Once the company gets bigger in Spain then it gets autonomy and "goes Spanish".

Think tax lawyers, marketing companies, accounting consultants, engineers, designers, architects, IT, even some types of sales

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Some interesting advice!

My boyfriend works in fraud (he isn't a fraudster I should say, he analyses it) - this is for a large international company which has an office at the World Trade Centre (I think) in Barcelona. The nature of his job means he is able to work anywhere in the world, because all over the world there are companies trading in English who need fraud prevention.

So 50 grand will get us a comfortable life? I was contemplating the idea of writing a novel - (how cliche...) and thought it would be an ideal opportunity to do it.

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Why does everyone who lived in this great Barcelona move to Benalmadena when they see the light. :rofl:

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Cheaper - and tired of big cities after living in them for 7 years.

I work from home and get a lot more flat for my rental money. Plus Malaga has just as many flights to LDN as Barcelona.

I was actually surprised that the countryside and mountains around Malaga are every bit as beautiful as those in Catalunya, so good for the weekends :thumbup:

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

Hi there,

I don't know if the opinion of a native Spanish counts, but hope it helps.

50 k salary is a very nice income for Spanish standards; it should allow you both to live confortably any place in the country. You have to take into account some things, though: how often would you like to flight back to England? From my experience (I live in London currently, although I will come back soon) it might mean a huge part of your budget if you are planning to spend weekends home say on a monthly basis.
As for the job, bear in mind that the current unemployment rate in Spain is over 20% (whereas it is about 8% in the UK I think) , so please be realistic. For sure it is a huge advantage to be a native English speaker in some companies, but I do not think that you could be a PA without speaking Spanish even if it is an international company. If you apply for a role in a Spanish company, chances are that you will also need Catalan, but catalan is not necessary at all for your daily life (people in catalonya are completely bilingual, just think of what happens with gaelic, scottish, etc, in the UK).
I think we Spanish are friendly, but we do not speak as good English as they do in northern countries, so that might be an obstacle in the first months. If you want to make local friends, I would suggest that -apart from Spanish classes - you join some other activity where you can meet spaniards (like a sports or culture club, any course at the university, etc). Try to choose an activity where educated people would attend, so it is more likely to find English speaking locals willing to meet foreigners.

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

I second that Johnnie! Re income, a friend of mine worked as a trader in Barcelona, earned tons of money, didn't speak a word of any local lingo. I think Barcelona is the ideal city for this kind of situation: you can enjoy life there and have so many leisure and social options, and then head back home when the time comes. I envy you Radionowhere! My friend's wife didn't work at all, was a happy housewife, so lots of time to do whatever you want, just make sure you get out and meet people.

Yes JDR, Barcelona exiles are many, I think it is when they realise that it isn't for the long term for them, as in my case. It's either shape up and learn (and accept) Catalan and the high prices, or it's move to a place which has comparable facilities and as Cricketman says, lovely countryside on its doorstep, without the cost and the language barrier. I have seen through the whole "Costa del Sol" myth, it is sold to people as being like Britain in Spain, but I don't see that side of it as I choose to avoid it, whilst making the most of the facilities on offer (like the occasional English breakfast!).

Re: Potential move to Barcelona
 

I have read this thread with interest as most expats usually end up in the costas and you don´t get much discussed about the city areas. Anyway, I´ve lived in Barcelona nearly 8 years, I´m from London and have a Spanish father who emigrated here as a child but lived in the UK for 40 years, my parents retired here 10 years ago. I have been coming here all my life (40 something years) and when me and my partner uprooted our life in London to come here it was a dream come true. Main reasons were my family connections but also I loved the architecture and culture and city centre living, we bought our flat in the downtown city centre area and have lived here ever since. If Radio_Nowhere has a boyfriend earning 50k euros, that in itself is a miracle and I too would stay here for ever and ever for that kind of money! Truth is, the average salary is 1000 euros -yes that´s one thousand euros (if you´re lucky) and that´s for skilled people with languages. I was shocked when I first started job hunting and moaned when my first employer (6 years ago) paid me 1300 euros a month (in cash), now I can only dream of that salary as gradually with each job the salary has gone even lower and with nearly 25% unemployment (highest in Europe by a long way) and my choices are virtually nill. I work in PA and administrative roles using my fluent Spanish and native English, I have never needed to speak Catalan and have no intention of ever learning it! My partner and I are seriously planning our move back to London for late this year or early next, due to not being happy here, Barcelona has sadly become a cesspit of crime and booze filled tourists and is not a good place to live. I am still young enough to appreciate city living but if I´m going to live in one then I think London wins hands down. There are no opportunities here,it´s more expensive than London for most things and quite frankly we are bored! I still love Spain but realise that Barcelona has become a greedy city just geared to mass tourism, the locals are not considered. Aside from this the weather here is not much different to London, we´ve had the longest and coldest winter and summer only started a couple of days ago, I´ve been colder here in winter than I ever was in the UK! I struggle to live on my pathetic salary and work hours are long too, nearly everyone I know is in the same boat. If you read about the Spanish economy it´s going the way of Greece, most people are living beyond their means and there´s a lot of poverty. Most people are paid their salaries in cash (this is normal) and this is why Spain is going down the drain, a fifth of the economy is in the black. Having said all this, if I had the chance to live here on such a huge salary I would do it, if someone offered to even pay me half the salary mentioned I may even stay, sadly that´s not going to happen and I´m sick of being insulted with absurdly low pay.

We haven´t discounted that after a year or so back in London we will miss Spain so we will keep our flat here, no point in even thinking of selling as nobody has any money any more. There´s an endless supply of foreigners who want to live here so we will surely find someone to rent it or do a flat swap with people in London. If we come back we will sell up and move somewhere else in Spain, away from the tourists and prostitutes (Barcelona is full of them) and maybe have a chance of a decent quality life, who knows!