Paula Van Oudheusden Saenz – half Dutch, half Spanish living in Spain.
Credit; Paula Van Oudheusden Saenz
My mother used to say that we would move to Spain once I finish high school, said Paula, sharing that the family was unable to move after all due to her mother´s illness and consequent passing.
I decided to move seven years ago. It took two years to actually re-locate and feel at home here, said Paula. She moved to a little town in the Granada Province with her husband and kids, seeking freedom from the Dutch routine.
Although Paula was raised bilingual, she felt rather lost in Spain during the first two years; Even though I´m fluent in Spanish, there were a lot of things I didn´t know about the bureaucracy and the laws in Spain. Working here was completely new to me. Paula works as a real estate agent, lawyer and international recruiter.
She admitted to identify with both the Dutch and the Spanish but noted; It’s still weird for me to see such a big difference culturally. In Spain, she learnt that you can´t have six appointments in one day and that there´s no use to hurry. But she loves living here and believes; In Spain, nothing goes as expected but everything works itself out in the end.
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From Moscow to Costa Blanca, Anna has spent over 10 years in Spain and one year in Berlin, where she worked as an actress and singer. Covering European news, Anna´s biggest passions are writing and travelling.
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