PERSONAL | THE STORY OF PAULINE AND CHRIS, AN INTRODUCTION

Finally, it’s time to properly introduce myself. I have to admit that the moving abroad plans weren’t officially fixed when I initially started this blog. But finally I have some news!

Chris and me, during couchsurfing holidays in Spain and Portugal.

First of all, my name is Pauline, I’m 22 years old and I’m Dutch. I spent my last 5 years enjoying student life in a small city in the north of the Netherlands called Groningen (if you aren’t Dutch, I dare you to try pronouncing this).

View of Groningen: canals and historic buildings.

I live together with my German boyfriend Christoph. We both just graduated; I finished my Master in Romance Languages and Cultures with a Major in French and Chris a Master in Marketing. We both love Groningen, but we were also ready for something new. We decided a long time ago that we wanted to move abroad.

Spain is one of our favorite countries and we fell in love with Barcelona in 2009, when Chris did an internship there and I visited him for several weeks. Big city life, culture, beach, great weather – it was all there. We immediately pictured ourselves living and working in this amazing city. Obviously, the ‘working’ part is easier said than done. But what the heck, we both finished our studies at the same time and nothing tied us to this country anymore. Why not just try now?

I wouldn’t mind having a weekly picnic in this park… Parc de la Ciutadella, 2009.

And so we did. We decided to move to Barcelona, but only if at least one of us would find a job. When Chris was applying for jobs, I said it could either take long, maybe several months, or it could all go really fast. Well, it did go fast - when he heard the good news, he had to leave pretty much right away. The moment I am writing this, Chris is already in Barcelona; he will start his first work day next week. Very exciting!

This leaves me in charge of getting our apartment empty (tips on how to do this will follow in another blogpost). I also have to finish some other things here in Groningen, before I can fly there as well. Another "task" is to find a job myself, of course, which might take a while since my profile isn't the easiest (language/culture/art), especially these days.

Am I making it more difficult for myself by moving to Spain? Absofreakinlutely.
Is it going to be worth it? I will let you know :-) 

This blog will be about this new exciting step: moving to Barcelona and starting a new life. I will keep you up to date with everything regarding this journey, and when we are finally settled in, I’ll write about all the good things in Barcelona city. If anyone has a similar experience (moving to Spain or even Barcelona, finding a job, an apartment…), don’t hesitate to contact me or write in the comment section below. Because, like blogging, it’s all new territory for me!