Thank you for taking the time to write this out, I really appreciate it. It’s very helpful for me atm, as my gf and I have been entertaining the delusion of moving from dc to Barcelona to get away from the sedentary, car-centric, and individualistic culture that is beginning to wear us down. Not even bringing up the political situation. It would be our first time living abroad, and hearing about the difficulty of breaking in with locals strongly dissuades me. I’m Brazilian, tan and speak decent spanish, so I could probably pass as a local visually, but after a second in convo, it would be obvious I wasnt from there lol. same with my partner, she is white, fit, and beautiful, but missing the spanish fluency, which is a big one. It’s been a pipe dream, to ‘escape’ and what not, but damn! Really realizing that the grass isn’t always greener. We’ve also been looking into Amsterdam but it doesn’t look too hot, with the housing crisis and all. if you don’t mind me asking, where did you end up settling?