Moving to Barcelona

JAMES MC

New Member
After visiting Barcelona, me and my boyfriend have decided that we want to move there. This is the plan:
1. Finish my degree, get a TEFL certificate and establish myself initially as an English teacher. Then either work freelance as a private tutor or get a proper job (when my Spanish is up to scratch!!). Teaching jobs I have checked out list wages as €1000 - €1200 per month. Is this reasonable to live in Barcelona? - I realise it is very expensive!
2. Boyfriend is planning to learn Spanish at the Institutio Cerventas over the next 18 months then get a job in a bar or similar - what kind of wages would he be looking at per month fo bar work? He will obviously looking at getting a better job ASAP but you have to start somewhere!!
3. We want to live around L'Eixample or Ciutat Vella areas - we have checked out http://www.shbarcelona.com and the accomodation seems pretty reasonable - would this type of agency be the best way to go or would the local papers be better?
Finally - are we being realistic or is this all just a pipe dream???? As much info as possible if thats OK - what are utility costs etc like?!?? Could we survive on these wages?????
Thanks Guys x
 
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i think you are going to be seriously short of money trying to live on teachers wages. i know, i've done it, but i had the luxury of owning my apartment and therefore didn't have to pay rent, and it was difficult enough then.
 
Unfortunately I am not a millionaire!! lol lol
TEFL was the only thing I could think of doing as a job as I do not speak Spanish. What kind of salary do you need to be earning in Barcelona to have a fairly nice life (not worrying about the price of bread and a beer etc etc!?!?) Is it THAT expensive, even moreso than the UK?

I thought that you could make OK money teaching...? Am starting to think that I may be wrong.

If I have fairly decent Spanish would my degree help me get a better job?
 
JAMES MC said:
Unfortunately I am not a millionaire!! lol lol
TEFL was the only thing I could think of doing as a job as I do not speak Spanish. What kind of salary do you need to be earning in Barcelona to have a fairly nice life (not worrying about the price of bread and a beer etc etc!?!?) Is it THAT expensive, even moreso than the UK?

I thought that you could make OK money teaching...? Am starting to think that I may be wrong.

If I have fairly decent Spanish would my degree help me get a better job?

ive been there for a few days before and it's cheaper than Dublin but not that much so id assume you would need to be earning at least €1,500 per month minimum to survive,cracking city but dunno if id live there,id sooner live in Dubai,now that's really quality nowhere beats that city8)
 
don't forget that you may very well need catalan in barcelona to get a good job. silvia will know more about that as she lives there.

teaching english is widely regarded as a way of working across the world. my hourly pay as a teacher was less than the ladies who clean hotel rooms!
 
Ah James sorry wish i could help more re: the wage of teachers. When i was over there i met a guy there that was originally from Philadelphia, and was a teacher. But i didn't ask how much he made. He seemed to not be doing too bad, he had a nice apt. near the Ramblas, but shared w/ 2 roomates. I think he struggled a bit, but was by no means rich in their terms either. I say go for it! And yes maybe your b-friend can get a better job later, although maybe bar people might not make too bad in a busy spot?

Good Luck!

John
 
After visiting Barcelona, me and my boyfriend have decided that we want to move there. This is the plan:
1. Finish my degree, get a TEFL certificate and establish myself initially as an English teacher. Then either work freelance as a private tutor or get a proper job (when my Spanish is up to scratch!!). Teaching jobs I have checked out list wages as €1000 - €1200 per month. Is this reasonable to live in Barcelona? - I realise it is very expensive!
2. Boyfriend is planning to learn Spanish at the Institutio Cerventas over the next 18 months then get a job in a bar or similar - what kind of wages would he be looking at per month fo bar work? He will obviously looking at getting a better job ASAP but you have to start somewhere!!
3. We want to live around L'Eixample or Ciutat Vella areas - we have checked out http://www.shbarcelona.com and the accomodation seems pretty reasonable - would this type of agency be the best way to go or would the local papers be better?
Finally - are we being realistic or is this all just a pipe dream???? As much info as possible if thats OK - what are utility costs etc like?!?? Could we survive on these wages?????
Thanks Guys x

Sorry, I missed that post :oops:

James, unfortunatly Barcelona has the most expensive long term rents in Spain, check this website http://www.idealista.com/pagina/portada?opidiom=cidioma&localeRef=en
but 1000€ is a tight budget , it's a challenge to find a place under 500€, specially in Eixample and Gótic.
About bar jobs I don't have a clue how much they can earn, but there's lots of places aimed to tourists where staff hardly speak spanish.
You can go without cataln while you learn spanish, but once learned it's a plus and the governement offers free courses for foreings
There's a big british community in barcelona, if you google a bit you'll find few interesting things ;)
 
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