A woman who left Britain to study abroad for a year in Spain is still there 13 years later working as a teacher, having married a local man and started a family in Mallorca.
Carla Jane, 35, from Shrewsbury, initially left to study Spanish in eastern Spain as part of her degree at Cardiff University, and later moved to the Mallorcan capital, Palma de Mallorca, for further study.
“During my degree I participated in an Erasmus programme in Valencia, Spain, and then was meant to go to Sicily. I loved my time studying abroad and knew I wanted to spend more time in both countries”, Ms Jane tells i.
“After my degree I completed a master’s in translation (English, Italian and Spanish) and moved to Mallorca with the intention of staying one year to perfect my Spanish here, then move to Italy for one year before returning to the UK.”
However, her initial plans did not go quite as intended after she got carried away by the life she encountered in Spain. Ms Jane said she fell in love with her Spanish surroundings and realised there was nothing left for her back at home, except family.
“I never made it to Italy. So 13 years later, I’m still in Mallorca,” she says.
Since moving to Mallorca in 2011, she has not only found her dream job in the Mediterranean, where she says she always wanted to live, but also her dream life.
Ms Jane works as an English teacher at a private school in Palma, teaching the International Baccalaureate to 16- to 18-year-olds, and is now a permanent resident of Spain.
In 2019, she married a local Mallorcan man, Pedro Soler, who works as a physiotherapist, and in 2021 she gave birth to their daughter, Siena.
As a Spanish resident, Ms Jane says Brexit has affected the frequency with which she and her daughter can travel to visit family members living in the UK.
“Personally that has meant Siena seeing her grandparents less than she would like to,” she says. However, Brexit has otherwise had little other impact on her life, and she says she would never want to leave her new home.
“I couldn’t imagine ever leaving the beautiful beaches, the Mediterranean temperature, the way of living… the island feels safe and there’s generally a slower pace of life,” she says.
She now lives with her family in the residential district of Establiments on the outskirts of Palma. They bought a four-bedroom white-washed house with panoramic roof terrace for €500,000 (£416,930), and spent another €50,000 (£41,655) on renovations, installing a new kitchen, flooring, bathrooms and double-glazing.
Ms Jane says she feels relieved to have been able to purchase a home and not be forced to rent in Palma, given the high prices due to properties being used for holiday rentals in the summer tourist season.
Ms Jane says that the island has changed a lot over the last 10 years, becoming much more geared towards the expatriates moving here. There are far more shops selling modern furniture and décor now to meet the tastes of the new British, German and Swedish expats who have arrived and do not want the traditional Mallorca-style furniture in decorating their homes, she says.
The cost of living is generally lower in Mallorca than in the UK, adds Ms Jane. Gas and electricity in particular are far more expensive in Britain, and in Mallorca fresh produce and wine are much cheaper. A caña, a small beer, can cost as little as €2 (£1.70), which is a major plus point, she says.
In Mallorca “the best things in life are free: weather, beaches, sunsets, excursions in the mountains”, she says, adding that she enjoys nothing more than spending her time strolling on the beach with her daughter.
However, there is one exception that sometimes makes her long for her native country: “Champagne is cheaper in the UK,” she says. “The only reason to move back!”
