A little about me

My name is Grace. I teach English as a foreign language and recently moved to Valencia, Spain to work, live, be close to my sister and her family and get some much needed sunshine.

I'm originally from Ireland and have lived there on and off but have travelled and lived abroad for several years. I've also been lucky enough to visit Spain countless times.

As a kid, our parents ran an English summer camp for Spanish and Italian students and so every July we would be surrounded by chatty, tanned and friendly Spanish teenagers. As kids, we visited Cadiz, Madrid, Toledo, Tarifa and Jerez and as an adult I've been to Barcelona, Bilbao and San Sebastian.

Spain comes across as an homogeneous state but in reality it is a country of contradictions, conflicting traditions, regional festivals, loyal food lovers, city dwellers and countryside chillers and all regions, towns and cities are their own microcosm of activities, cultures, dialects and habits.

Valencia always seemed like an underdog to me; a city that wasn't really worth visiting and whenever I did venture there to see my sister and her family, I left unimpressed and underwhelmed. Moving here though, I can see an underlying pride creeping up and spilling out into the city. Valencianos are finally marking their city as their own with pride and joy and fascination.

I chose to relocate to Valencia specifically because it was the easiest choice to make. My oldest sister lives half an hour away by metro with her life-loving husband and her two creative and incredible daughters. I had been having a rough time with being unemployed, lacking money, dealing with grey skies and rain and cold easterly winds and I felt I deserved something more. I loved where I lived on the west coast but it simply wasn't enough and was proving more difficult to survive let alone thrive, earn money, be healthy or even remotely creative.

Bit by bit, I've been learning to embrace this city of contradictions, strictly unspoken rules, red tape and proud people and it's growing on me.

Here's to the next few months!