expat life | Barcelona Blonde

Are you thinking about moving to  Barcelona? You’re certainly not the only one who’s been lured in by the Catalan capital’s charm. The city is home to a thriving international community wi...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2017/11/04/moving-to-barcelona-first-steps/

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I think this is probably the longest I’ve ever gone without updating my little blog! Good intentions and planned posts just haven’t been happening over the p...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2016/12/07/hello-strangers/

Last week, I was feeling nice and fuzzy about Barcelona – but as they say, what goes up must come down. After a week of humidity and little frustrations, I’m feeling a bit less enamored of my...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2016/07/07/things-dont-like-about-living-in-barcelona/

It may appear that I am a proper responsible grown-up here in Spain. I have a bank account, pay an astonishing amount in taxes, and have an apartment contract to my name. It all looks pretty ne...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2016/04/04/change-apartment-contract-spain-not/

You may have noticed that my blog has become a little quieter lately. As always, there’s a real life reason for that. Clue: if my blog is looking really nice, it’s probably because I’m real...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2016/02/29/freelance-life/

Take a look at the literature on culture shock, and you’ll probably come across the concept of “reverse culture shock” pretty quickly. Before I’d spent a little while abroad, I was skepti...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2015/12/23/reverse-culture-shock-home/

The other day, one of my friends asked me what it was like living in a city where I look so obviously foreign. He asked as he knew a girl who looked like me – blonde hair, blue eyes, a total �...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2015/10/26/fitting-in-abroad-when-you-look-foreign/

La crisis, la crisis – that’s a pretty common phrase you’ll hear uttered all around Spain. But right now, I’m experiencing a completely different kind of crisis – the quarter-life crisi...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2015/03/12/the-guide-to-having-a-quarter-life-crisis-in-spain/

Two questions I often get asked about living abroad are 1) if I speak Spanish (yes); 2) how did I do it? It’s basically been a lot of long, hard work – but I’ve managed it.  Spanish is a...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2015/02/08/how-to-make-learning-spanish-fun-really/

So I’m officially unemployed. Yesterday morning, the HR guy showed up unexpectedly and asked me to have a chat. I wasn’t too worried – last time we’d had a chat, it was to discuss the pos...

http://barcelonablonde.com/2014/11/06/unemployment-in-spain/