Interview with Pilar

Pilar was born in Barcelona, Spain and moved to Exeter in 2013. She currently lives with her husband, who is originally from Chile, and her four children. She is a native Spanish and Catalan speaker and also speaks English (although she is reluctant to say so). Spain’s economy was severely impacted by the 2007/08 financial crisis so Pilar moved here in search of work and to improve her own quality of life and that of her family. Before arriving, they had never been to the UK before and did not have any family or friends here. They decided to move to Exeter because they fell in love with the photos on Google and thought it would be warmer in the south. Her husband migrated first in summer 2013 and the rest of the family followed in December of the same year. Overall, Pilar has had a positive experience living in Exeter. She currently works as a ‘Technical Spares Website Administrator’ for a company which provides replacement parts for stoves and fireplaces. She is also part of a group called ‘Españoles en Exeter’ and an online Catalan community. Fortunately, neither she nor her children have experienced any discrimination for being immigrants. The biggest challenge Pilar faced was the language barrier. When she arrived, she attended classes at Exeter College and St Thomas community centre to learn English. However, she still sometimes feels out of place at work because of her language skills. For Pilar, her life in the UK is completely different to her life in Spain in terms of culture, weather and work-life balance. Although she misses her family and friends back home, she is very happy with her life in Exeter and has no plans to return to Spain or move elsewhere in the near future.