Living in Neverland

Why did you leave Cat­alo­nia?

I left be­cause of my work sit­u­a­tion. I fin­ished my the­atri­cal stud­ies and I was not able to find a proper job. I had to work in re­tail, which was re­ally tir­ing, and the money didn’t allow me to have a de­cent lifestyle in Barcelona. I got ac­cepted for a part in a play at the Bi­en­nale di Venezia and my teacher mo­ti­vated me to leave Cat­alo­nia.

Why did you choose Berlin?

I wanted to con­tinue with my the­atri­cal ca­reer and Berlin has a lot to offer. I also wanted to learn Ger­man. Back at that time not a lot of peo­ple were ac­tu­ally mov­ing to Berlin, Lon­don was the place to be, so I ac­tu­ally thought I would have bet­ter chances in Berlin than in an­other city. Every­thing was re­ally cheap com­pared to Barcelona: I was able to af­ford to live alone in one of the trendi­est neigh­bour­hoods and have lunch for just four euros!

How long have you lived there?

It’s been seven years now.

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

I am happy I got a job re­ally quickly hav­ing no ex­pe­ri­ence in the field and at that time also with no Ger­man, but on the other hand , I couldn’t con­tinue with my the­atri­cal ca­reer be­cause of the Ger­man but I found my way into other fields. I know back home I would have never got the op­por­tu­ni­ties I’ve had here; I’ve al­ways had a job and I grew in my ca­reer until I be­came head of a de­part­ment in an Amer­i­can cor­po­ra­tion.

Last year I de­cided to take a year off to ex­plore, start writ­ing again and begin my own pro­ject: “Fem­spire”, a dig­i­tal mag­a­zine, a com­mu­nity and plat­form for women who want more from their life and ca­reer. That would have never hap­pened with the salaries paid in Cat­alo­nia. At the mo­ment I’m a free­lancer writer and an E-com­merce&Tech Op­er­a­tions Per­son­nel con­sul­tant.

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

The peo­ple you meet. Berlin is a place for lost souls which end up find­ing their path over here. I al­ways like to call the city “Nev­er­land”. Peo­ple here don’t judge, there’s no age limit for any­thing, there are new op­por­tu­ni­ties every day and you meet peo­ple from all over the world. In fact, now I can say I have met peo­ple from al­most every quar­ter of the globe and this is some­thing that has no price. Berlin has some­thing spe­cial that can­not re­ally be ex­plained until you live here: the same way you hate the city and its weather, the next day you just love it.

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

Flea Mar­kets (Mauer Park or Box­ha­gener Platz on Sun­days), have a beer in Mon­bi­jou Park next to the river, enjoy the open-air karaoke in Mauer Park on Sun­days and avoid touristy places and food... just get lost in the streets of Kreuzberg, Neukölln or Pren­zlauer Berg. Rent a bike and ride through Tem­pel­hof (the old Berlin air­port).

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

Then ex­pe­ri­ence the party scene and go to a club in the morn­ing. Pay a visit to Teufels­berg, which used to be an Amer­i­can lis­ten­ing sta­tion dur­ing the Cold War but today is a pop­u­lar place for a day out and tak­ing amaz­ing pho­tos.

What do you miss most from home?

My fam­ily and Barcelona. Berlin is not a pretty city so I miss the ar­chi­tec­ture a lot , the streets and soul of Barcelona...and the sea! Also, speak­ing Cata­lan on a daily basis.

Do you plan to go back to Cat­alo­nia?

Not for now and not any­time soon with the po­lit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion back home. Also, the salaries they are will­ing to pay are not an in­cen­tive ei­ther.

CATA­LANS ABROAD berlin (ger­many)