Here to stay: Barcelona long-term foreign residents

The word ‘expatriate’ derives from the Latin ex, meaning ‘out of’ and patria, meaning ‘country’ or ‘fatherland’. In its most basic context, to be an ‘expat’ is to reside in a country and culture other than one’s own. Not surprisingly, Spain has come to be known as one of the world’s most popular destinations for people looking to set up home abroad. Some come for love, some for work, some for the climate, some for general adventure. Many stay for a very long time. Why Barcelona? We asked a few of the city’s long-term foreign residents that very question...

MARIANO DE BERNARDI—Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mariano de Bernardi originally planned to stay in Barcelona for three months. Then he planned to stay for six months, and then for one year. That was in 1987. “I had a kind of personal crisis in Buenos Aires,” he recalls, “a job that I didn’t like, no future in my career and a relationship that didn’t work.” So he cut his ties and came abroad. He considered London and New York, but he felt more confident moving to a Spanish city, and he had friends in Barcelona. “The reason I decided to stay was that I felt better here than in Buenos Aires,” he says, “and also I was having a lot of fun...”

Like many foreign residents, De Bernardi says he feels neither Catalan nor Spanish because he isn’t Catalan or Spanish. Nor does he feel 100-percent Argentinian, since he left his country so long ago. “When I go back there, I feel more like a tourist than a native,” he explains. “I simply feel like an Argentinian who has lived in Barcelona for more than 25 years.” De Bernardi says he is more a “citizen of the world” than anything, except when it comes to football. He supports the Argentina national team, but is also a very serious Barça supporter. “Football is about feelings,” he says. “It is demonstrative of how you feel about the place you live and where you feel you belong.”

De Bernardi likes that Barcelona has become a “handy-sized” cosmopolitan city, which he attributes mainly to the Olympic Games of 1992. “You can cross Barcelona in less than 15 minutes, but it is still a big city in terms of culture, in the broad sense of the word,” he says. “And yes, I would choose it again.” The ability to easily escape the city is also one of the factors that has kept De Bernardi here for so long. “The possibility of driving a couple of hours and ending up on some of the most beautiful beaches of Europe, or going to the Pyrenees for the weekend, is fantastic,” he says. “It is, for me, a very important feature of Barcelona.”

De Bernardi recommends:

*Any ‘tasca’ [traditional tavern] in Ciutat Vella

*Argentinian restaurants: La Pampa (Autovia Castelldefels 110km, Castelldefels), La Carreta (Balmes 358, Sant Gervasi) and La Vacatada (Dr Trueta 225, Poblenou)

CHRISTINE ZINDY—Boston, Massachusetts, US

Christine Zindy came to Barcelona for love, 12 years ago. “My partner’s job brought us here, and I was thrilled,” she says. They planned on staying two to three years, possibly longer. “We were open for adventure and had no real set plans,” Zindy explains. The relationship ended, but Zindy’s love for Barcelona remained. “I had evolved and changed,” she says. “I had a large group of wonderful friends, a good-paying job, a gorgeous apartment on Enric Granados and a lifestyle that was unparalleled.” Zindy maintains that Barcelona was, and still is, the perfect place for a single, independent woman. “I relish that time in my life,” she says.

Now remarried, Zindy and her husband are “enjoying the Barcelona lifestyle in a different way.” Zindy recalls feeling more integrated into Spanish and Catalan society when she worked for a local office here, before becoming a mother and, ultimately, completing her training as a Speech and Language Pathologist. “Being a mother is quite isolating,” says Zindy, “and rather than feeling more attached to being ‘American’ or ‘Spanish’ or ‘Catalan,’ I feel more like a member of the ‘mother’ society.” At the same time, adds Zindy, this society loves children, and so having a child is a huge “ice-breaker” and allows her to enjoy a certain sense of “forgiveness, lenience and understanding” in her daily interactions.

Zindy says the city is cleaner than when she arrived. “Things like trash collection, street cleaning, and recycling have made it a nicer and greener place to live,” she says, “and Bicing and new bike lanes have changed the accessibility of the city.” While she would love to see more parks and more green space developed, and stricter measures taken to address the problem of air pollution, she also feels the city is more or less on the right path. “Living in Barcelona, I have come to crave the colour green, green trees, green grass, and flowers,” she says. “But finding a city with everything that Barcelona has to offer—sea, mountains, great weather, culture—and clean air and green space? Well, that Utopian city just doesn’t exist.”

Zindy recommends:

*A bicycle day trip to Mataró

*Beaches up the coast for a “cleaner, quieter, less theft-ridden experience”

VIOLETTA CURRY—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US

When Violetta Curry arrived in Spain 25 years ago, she believed she was the only black person here. “It was really difficult,” she recalls, “really scary, also. There were no black people.”

Curry originally went to Granada for a semester abroad. She had no plans to stay in Spain, but she soon met a Spaniard and her course was forever altered. “He came to the US to meet my family, and then we said, ‘Now what are we going to do?’” recalls Curry. “So we got married.” The two returned to Spain and lived in the Sierra Nevada, Granada and the Canary Islands before landing in Benidorm. Curry began her career as a jazz singer there, as part of a ‘Supremes’ show, but ultimately Barcelona beckoned. “I got a phone call from a musical director who had heard about me,” says Curry. “He was looking for a singer for this pretty classy nightclub with a big band. I came, I auditioned, and I got out of Benidorm.”

When Curry arrived in Barcelona, she walked around the city and was struck by its beauty. “The lifestyle keeps me here,” she says. “Because I’ve been living here so long, I really understand the Spanish character; I really understand the nuances.” Curry adds that because she came to Spain at the age of 21, she had the privilege of maturing here, having to learn everything from banking to shopping to cooking. “I grew up here,” she says. “My whole ambience was Spanish, and so I became very emotionally attached to Spain.” Curry also recalls her decision to “be intelligent” and to study Catalan early on. “Speaking Catalan has opened a lot of doors for me,” she says. “It’s my party trick.”

Though she now has a second career as an English professor, Curry continues to perform and to teach voice. Barcelona is home for Curry, even though her husband lives in Dublin—a marital arrangement she highly recommends. “We see each other about once a month,” she says. “We tend to meet in cities like London and Amsterdam.” Curry feels that the face of Barcelona has changed, which makes it a very interesting city to live in. “The downside is that the crime rate has gone up,” she adds, “but I still consider it to be a really safe city.”

Curry recommends:

*Morelia Argentinian restaurant (Plaça Comercial 7, Born)

*Riding a bicycle

NINA COHEN—Burlington, Vermont, US

Nina Cohen left the US 17 years ago. She was on her way to Prague, and then Berlin, but the weather in Barcelona won out. “I took a trip around Spain, by train,” recalls Cohen, “and somehow Barcelona made the most sense.” Cohen says she knew that when she left the US, she wasn’t going to go back. “I don’t know how I knew that, because I didn’t have anything here. I knew I was going to stay here, but I didn’t know how I was going to stay.”

An industrious entrepreneur, Cohen figured it out. She worked as a nanny, she worked at a bar and, ultimately, she opened her own clothing store, called ‘Ninas’ on Carrer Verdi, which she had for a decade. Just last year, Cohen opened the vegetarian ‘Café Camélia’, also on Verdi. “I wanted a family neighbourhood café where people could come and eat home-cooked food,” says Cohen. “I like the social aspect of running a restaurant.”

Cohen enjoys her expat status. “There’s always a newness to it, to always being a foreigner,” she says. “I’ll always be on the outside, I’ll always have an accent, I’ll always be culturally marked, which I like,” she adds. “I’m also more at peace with my country here. I prefer a long-distance relationship.”

Cohen liked how easy-going Barcelona was when she first got here. “It was cheap; it was easy,” she says. “It’s changed, but not as much as it’s changed in other places. I’ve always liked the level of tolerance toward savage behaviour here.” For now, Cohen plans to stay put. “There are moments when I still look around and I say, ‘Wow, what a wonderful place to live.’”

Cohen recommends:

*A trip to Montseny

*A walk in Parc del Carmel

*Veg World (Bruniquer 26, Gràcia)

*La Vietnamita (Torrent de l’Olla 78, Gràcia)

JONATHAN GLANZBERG—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US

Jonathan Glanzberg came to Barcelona 22 years ago with the intention of staying a year and the desire to learn to speak “perfect” Castilian which, he confesses, still hasn’t happened. He came here originally because an American friend who had lived in the Basque country convinced him to come to Spain rather than going to Japan, which was his plan at the time. “I’m easily influenced by others,” says Glanzberg, who took a four-year “detour” in the mid-Nineties to Peru, Mexico and back to the US. “I would still choose Barcelona as a place to live,” he adds. “Having lived in three other countries has made me appreciate this place more.”

English teacher by day, Glanzberg is also a working musician. His band, the Hoppin’ Frogs, plays blues “but with elements of alternative country, jazz and rock.” Glanzberg likes that Barcelona is a lot more “multicultural” than it was years ago. “It’s hard to believe that sushi was almost unknown when I came here, and now we’re knee-deep in the stuff,” he says. “But I hate the fact that parts of the city have turned in to theme parks for tourists. I miss the bars for toothless old men. There will be no place for me to hang out in a couple of years.”

Glanzberg recommends:

*Sol y Luna (Verdi 50, Gràcia)

*Honky Tonk (Finlàndia 45, Sants) and El Col·leccionista and Cara B (Torrent de les Flors 46 and 36, respectively, Gràcia) for live music

JAN CLAYTON—Cambridgeshire, England

Barcelona was “recommended” to Jan Clayton by friends back in England 13 years ago. “It had sunshine, it was cheap, and it had a great standard of living,” she says. “I had no time frame,” she goes on, “but I imagined it might be a starting-point from which I would try other countries, and then there was no change of mind. I suppose I was happy where I was and I just forgot that there were other options.”

Clayton does not like how expensive the city has become, especially in the area of housing. But she does like the “diminishing amount” of dog shit. “There is still room for improvement,” she adds, “but when I first moved here you could barely see the pavement.”

An actress, Clayton calls herself a “mish mash” when it comes to cultural identity. “Here, I definitely feel more English, but in England, I certainly don’t feel Spanish or Catalan,” she says, “but I do realise I’ve been culturally changed.”

Clayton recommends:

*“Beaching it” in Caldes d’Estrac (Maresme)

*A walk in Collserola

*Eating at Fresco (www.fresco.es) if you have kids

*Cocktails at Las Cuevas del Sorte (Gignàs 2, Barri Gòtic).