Sharon is the perfect definition of a long-term expat who’s found her happy place in Mallorca. In 1995 at the tender age of 19, she took a chance on life, quit university, and moved to Mallorca from the UK.

Despite a few years in and out of Spain, her heart never left the country. She now has permanent residency in Spain, is happily married, and has no plans to move back to the UK. 

In the Black in Spain series, I interview Black women, from all walks of life, living all over the 17 regions of Spain. I try to help paint an honest picture of the ups and downs of life abroad, from the perspective of women of colour. My goal is to bring together our stories and help the next generation of Black women to find their safe haven in Spain.

This week, I am very excited to share Sharon’s story. 

Name: Sharon

Age: 45

Hometown: Birmingham, United Kingdom

Describe yourself/your background in 5 words max.

An Anglo-Jamaican in Spain.

WHAT’S YOUR BACKSTORY, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY WHAT MADE YOU MOVE TO MALLORCA FROM THE UK?

When I was studying at university in the North of England I went on holiday to Costa Brava with my friends. When we got to Barcelona, in the middle of Placa Catalunya, I decided that one day I’d live here. 

After that, I went back home. At the time I was in the process of changing universities. During my studies, I ended up going on holiday to Gran Canaria. Whilst there, I hung out with a lot of holiday reps and thought “forget about University, I am going to be a holiday rep too.”

Next thing you know at the age of 19 I got a job with a company called Airtours, and from there I ended up flying to Mallorca and doing a few summers as a holiday rep! 

Why Spain? How long have you been living here?

My parents were born in Jamaica but my sister and I were born and raised in the UK. Growing up, I felt like I was always cold! You know that cold that gets in your bones? I just couldn’t bear it. In Birmingham, there’s no beach anywhere. And though it is very multi-cultural, everywhere you go, of course, it is still very English 

But the thing is, even when I was going back to Jamaica, though I loved it there I never felt Jamaican either. So I thought I need to find somewhere that’s MY place. 

When I came to Spain for the first time, I loved how warm it was, and how chilled people were. At the end of the day, Spain was just two hours away from my parents at the time. It was just easy, it all made sense, and that’s the reason why I stayed.   

What do you do in Spain? How did you find your current job? 

I did a teaching qualification in Barcelona, and then I was teaching for a while. But the thing with Barcelona is that many people go there on a gap year and most of my friends ended up leaving. So I started to feel a bit lonely. That’s why I went back to the UK, but that didn’t last for long. 

Next, I moved to Madrid, where I was teaching and was made Head of Studies. I was living my almost Spanish dream, I had a Spanish boyfriend, we lived together, and my Spanish improved even more because we’d speak Spanish a lot with his family. 

But then Madrid is on top of a mountain, in the middle of the country and the weather is either very hot or very cold. So it wasn’t for me. So one thing led to another, I split up with my Spanish boyfriend and went traveling for a while. 

I came back a few years later to try and get a job in Madrid again, but that’s when the crisis hit. Almost out of luck, I ended up getting a job that allowed me to live in Mallorca whilst working in Madrid. 

WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF LIVING IN MALLORCA?

Spain in itself as a country is so varied. You’ve got islands, and the mainland is amazing; If you want to go skiing you can, or you can go to the beach. There’s everything. The different regions, the different cuisines, the Mediterranean climate it’s just great.

More than anything else, I love island life. There’s something about living in Mallorca that always attracted me. It’s a beautiful island in the middle of the Mediterranean, and the weather is amazing. Winter is quite short, and by the time March comes around you can start putting your sandals on again. 

Palma is a decent-sized city too. You’ve got everything here. With the lockdown, we all love it even more because there are no tourists, so we have the island to ourselves. Right, now at the beach, there’s nobody there.

Also read: If you’re interested in hearing more stories from Black women striving in Spain, check out the Black in Spain section for more inspiring stories.

When it comes to cons, I would definitely say paperwork! 

Whenever you want to do something, you’ve got to get millions of papers. And somehow, they always tell you that you are missing something. So now, whenever I need to get something done I bring copies of all my paperwork just in case! 

All this just means that sometimes it can be a bit difficult to get stuff done. 

WHAT ABOUT MAKING FRIENDS IN MALLORCA?

Something I found when I moved to the island is that is very hard to make friends with the locals. And there is very much a culture of greed here. We have some of the highest property prices in Spain. So you’ve got a lot of locals who can’t afford to buy a property. But then again, only foreigners can afford to buy a property in Mallorca. 

IN YOUR OPINION, IS MOVING TO MALLORCA A GOOD IDEA FOR BLACK WOMEN?

In Mallorca, I have never felt different. I worked at the international airport so there have always been people from everywhere. It was only when I moved to Barcelona that things changed a bit. 

Hear me out, in Barcelona, I have got plenty of friends and colleagues, but sometimes it was small things like getting on the metro, and seeing people looking at me suspiciously, or pulling their bags a bit closer. 

Then when I lived in Madrid, there was a time when my Spanish boyfriend and I found an apartment and as we were doing all the paperwork, the landlord called my then-boyfriend to check if I had papers.

A lot of the time when I’d apply to English speaking jobs over the phone, because I have a very British accent, and my name is very English, people would be surprised when seeing me for the first time. But then again, it’s not always in a bad way. Most people would be super interested to hear about my story, where I come from, etc. 

I am also aware that the fact that I am British has also been an “advantage”. I hate it, but it’s the reality.

Let’s talk about hair, how’s it been like for you here, what’s your hair story in Spain?

I wore my hair short for years, so I didn’t have to rely on anyone. Then, 10 years ago, I met my best friend who started looking after my hair. 

When I lived in Barcelona I did find a hairdresser, and in Madrid, I used to get my hair done in a Dominican salon near Atocha. Here on the island, I had a wonderful salon that unfortunately closed because of COVID.

All in all, the black hair salon experience is not the best in Spain. You can find people that do hair, but the salon experience isn’t always great. I just don’t get how in 2021, it’s still so hard to find a good place to get your hair done as a Black woman. 

Do you have any advice for other Black women looking to relocate to MALLORCA?

A lot of people always asked, where is it best to live in Spain. Before moving here you need to ask yourself, what do you really want. Do you want the mountains? The beach? Big cities? Villages?

Spain has it all. You can even get a mix of everything. In Granada, for instance, you can go to the mountains in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. So my advice is, don’t worry about getting tied to one place because it is very easy to travel around. 

If you want to live in an international community, that’s easy as well. Somewhere like Mallorca is great. 

But my number one piece of advice, especially as a Black woman is to learn the language, even if it’s just the basics. Because you’re already going to be seen as “other” that’s going to help you to integrate so much faster. I am not saying you have to suddenly have an advanced level of Spanish but learn the basics, this will get you a long way. Trust me, I have been there.

For more stories about Black women living and working in Spain, check out the below articles:

• Self-employed in Spain: How this Black founder created something she never had

• Black in Spain: From California to Asturias, moving abroad during lockdown

• Black in Spain: Seville-based, former Londoner turned flamenco dancer

• Black in Spain: Murcia-based, Trinidadian completing final year as English teacher

• Black in Spain: Barcelona-based, half-French, half Kenyan starting her career in Spain

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