Catalans Abroad

Marta Puig i Bosch.

Marta is from Anglès (La Selva)

A home not all that far from home

In 2008, UNESCO listed the Citadel as a World Heritage Site

"You can go to work on foot or by bike, there’s a friendly atmosphere in the neighbourhood and you have all the convenience of a big city"

Why did you leave Cat­alo­nia?

I de­cided to fin­ish my Ar­chi­tec­ture de­gree in Delft with the Eras­mus Pro­gramme and then I stayed in Rot­ter­dam for an in­tern­ship; both ex­pe­ri­ences lasted 16 months. Al­though I had al­ready trav­elled at that time, it was dur­ing this ad­ven­ture that the de­sire of dis­cov­er­ing other ways of liv­ing, work­ing and doing was awoken in me.

Thus, I went back to cel­e­brate Christ­mas with the idea of mak­ing a fresh start. While I was wait­ing for schol­ar­ship an­swers that I had asked for, I went to Madrid for a job and it was there that I re­ceived a call.

Why did you choose Besançon?

I didn’t, it was ran­dom! It was Besançon or noth­ing. A pro­gramme called Eu­rodyssey of­fered me a schol­ar­ship in Besançon which con­sisted in tak­ing French lessons for a month and doing a paid in­tern­ship for half a year.

I im­me­di­ately looked up Besançon on a map. It was a good lo­ca­tion, not far from Stras­bourg, Lyon and Switzer­land, and I didn’t hes­i­tate. I thought that seven months would pass quickly even in the event that it wasn’t a good choice, but I’m still here!

How long have you lived there?

Since Feb­ru­ary 2006, so 12 years more or less.

Are you happy with the job op­por­tu­ni­ties you found in your adop­tive coun­try?

I’m fine! You have to come to terms with it only being a small city, but I can deal with that. I was em­ployed in the agency where I had done my in­tern­ship for 5 years but then I wanted to progress so I de­cided to go free­lance. It’s al­ways dif­fi­cult to be­come self-em­ployed, but it’s eas­ier in France than in Cat­alo­nia. There you can take get a lot more sup­port for set­ting up a new busi­ness. In ad­di­tion to that, I had the op­por­tu­nity to take a quick course in self-em­ploy­ment which helped a lot.

What do you think is the best thing about liv­ing in Besançon?

The qual­ity of life. You can go to work on foot or by bike, there’s a friendly at­mos­phere in the neigh­bour­hood and you have all the con­ve­nience of a big city but also the coun­try­side nearby. I like the fact that Besançon has lots of green spaces in the town cen­tre, which is pedes­trian.

What do you con­sider the high­lights for any brief visit for the first time?

Get­ting lost in the city cen­tre, climb­ing up to the Citadel to have fan­tas­tic views of the “boucle”, which is what all the lo­cals call the town cen­tre. And let your­self be car­ried away by your senses.

And if vis­i­tors have more time or make a re­turn visit?

There are plenty of great places not far away: Or­nans, La Vallée de la Loue, Baume les Messieurs, Château Chalon, to name a few. It’s a good area to go walk­ing, be in con­tact with na­ture and do sports like kayak­ing or ski­ing, as well as cul­tural ac­tiv­i­ties.

What do you miss most from home?

The sea, even more than the sun.

Do you plan to go back to Cat­alo­nia?

I have never se­ri­ously con­sid­ered it. I al­ways say I will come back when I re­tire but who knows? Maybe the right time will be when Cat­alo­nia achieves in­de­pen­dence! How­ever, I try to come back home as much as I can and I would like to do that even more.

CATA­LANS ABROAD Besançon (France)

SOME SUGGESTIONS:

Berta Coll

Can you recommend a place to have lunch with friends? Le 4 Saisons and Le Vin et l’Assiette.

Where would you have a special dinner for two? Le Phenix.

When is the best time of year to plan a visit?

May, June and July. In autumn the landscape is also very beautiful; however, it’s cold and it rains often.

What is the best kept secret about the area? Everyone has his or her own, but I especially the small places that Besançon let us discover little by little.

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