The ex-pat life: How the nomadic life started.

This post is all about the beginnings of our nomadic life and our ex-pat experience in Barcelona, Spain.

At the time we met, we were dating for a year or so and both of us had our good jobs but were looking for something more exciting in life. We both connected instantly by the sharing feeling of wanting to know the world and experience other cultures. Before we realised, we started to talk about taking our Masters’s degree abroad and a great opportunity to study in Barcelona, Spain appeared through our researches.

It was a bit impromptu, without further researching nor planning ahead. We simply enrolled, and started our visa applications. And that was our first learning about Spain: everything takes loooong and it’s very bureaucratic.

The consulate of Spain required a lot of documents from us and since we haven’t prepared for that, we got to rush to get all we needed to get the visas. Fortunately, we got all the documents and the visas got approved in a month or so.

With all paperwork ready and 2 large bags each (EACH!) plus handbags, we set to the new adventure in Barcelona. And here, we started to get our cultures shocks:

The first shock: the apartment!

We rented a cute studio apartment online in a very centric area of Barcelona, the Gothic neighbourhood. Location was great, but ugh, not so much as we soon learned upon our arrival at the building. We had a friend that picked us up at the airport and helped us to get to the place. I will never forget his face when we arrived at the building to meet the landlord. He was like, this can’t be the it! The facade and main door was all spray painted with graffiti and terribly maintained. Once we entered the building - in a dark hallway that in the old times, it was a place to park the carriages and horses - our nostrills were filled with that sewer smell and I asked the landlord: Is this the actual building or we are just leaving our luggage here to go to the actual apartment? And then she said: Yes, this is the building, it’s lovely upstairs, you’ll see, she said with a smile as she climbed up the stairs.

At that moment, we all looked at each other very discouraged of what we just signed up for.

When we got to the apartment, it was actually nice. Very small, but well-kept, with nice furnishings and everything we needed to start the new life. The only issue was that it was a first floor facing the interior area of the building with no sunlight at all. If the lights weren’t on all the time, the place would get pitch black. But soon we realised we couldn’t live there for an entire year. The search for a better place started right away.

The second shock: we are all alone

Just to give some context here: In 2008, the economic crisis hit Europe but hit Spain very badly. To any immigrant arriving a few years after, that meant no chance of getting a job. We knew beforehand that we were going to Spain to study without jobs and sticking to our budget. The realization we are all by ourselves for the next year, on a tight budget was something we tried to prepare before arriving. But only on our first weeks we got the idea of how expensive Barcelona is and manage our savings would be the most important thing to do.

Further more, the first time we were both living together and we were now responsible for each other was something that I got scared of. But instead of fleeing the situation, we both handled it as we would always do for the following 15 years: as a team, together and pushing each other to do better and be better.

The third shock: bureaucracy

Getting our N.I.E. (international ID), was our first contact with Spanish bureaucracy. It was a complicated process to get this ID: Lots of documents in hand, 1 hour waiting in a line outside the building, plus 3 hours waiting to get to speak with an officer was what we had to go through. It seems, after speaking to other fellow immigrants, that is the normal, plus the kind treatment (sarcasm rules here).

After the ID got sorted out, we had another step into the bureaucracy: Bank accounts. To get a bank account was another ordeal. We had to prove that we had funds in to add to the account, plus the IDs, passports, visas. We got the accounts (checking account only, no credit card) and everything was done at the branch, and they used a booklet (yes, paper and pen) to register all your banking movements. For the record, in Brazil, we had stopped using banking booklets in the 80s.

Settling in

Learning the ins and outs of this new city was the best part of this new adventure: using the bike system, and metro were the best ways to move around the city. Getting to know the city meant getting to really know it and start to be smart: we got mugged in La Boqueria Market! One of the most busiest and famous touristic areas in Barcelona.

From a Brazilian perspective, we are used to look over the shoulder all the time, but a little distraction was enough. OK, maybe we should be more careful moving forward and keep in mind that not because we are in Europe, this means we are completely safe.

Besides this hiccup, life in Barcelona was good: we went to parties with people from all around the world! In one night you could meet people from Greece, Italy, Romania, USA, South Korea and many other countries. The world was all there, in this beautiful city.

And culture was at our doorstep with museums, ruins, cathedrals, all those things we only saw in books. To me, as a recently Architecture graduate, I was in awe at every corner.

The outcome

That was the year of our lives, so to speak. We discovered a way to live and enjoy a completely unexpected life, that we didn’t know was possible to be so good! Even living on a budget, life was great and affordable: food , besides delicious, was very inexpensive and even going out wouldn’t break the bank. It was a blissful moment.

An eye opener for us, comparing our lives in Brazil versus our current one in Spain, how expensive and stressful Brazil was. But that perfect mediterenean life had an expiry period. A year later, we had to get back. and we did, but that just fuelled us to continue on our nomadic adventures.

What about you? did you ever thought in having an experience like that? Leave a comment, I'd love to know about your experience or wishes to do something similar.

Ciao!