Speaking European – Mira Pranger

Mira Pranger was born in The Netherlands but has lived in London for 13 years, and spent the past year and a half in Valencia.

Finding daily life a challenge, with a rise in price and deterioration in weather, Mira and her husband felt it was time to move out of London. 

“London was getting too expensive and we couldn’t have a good quality of life there. Things have changed since Brexit and Covid and it just wasn’t the same anymore.”

Mira´s husband is half-Spanish and Valencia was already dear to them, being the location of their first holiday together. 

“I love Valencia! It is so much calmer than my life back in London, and it’s definitely what I needed,” said Mira about her move.

She especially loves the climate: “We live five minutes away from the beach, it is such a blessing. And having all this sun makes a huge impact on my wellbeing.” 

Mira works in the creative field, multi-tasking in working as an actress, personal trainer, and running an interior design company. She is currently relocating her company from London to Valencia and is looking forward to integrating into the local community. 

She mentioned that the change in the environment went smoothly, due to the “amazing expat community” of Valencia. 

 “We have friends from all over the world, a really diverse mix of cultures. And it´s so different from London, because the city is smaller, and the weather is good, so it’s easy to get together and stay active – play beach ball, swim, just be spontaneous.” 

Mira has also made Spanish friends from whom she is learning the language. “We have a friend group of proper Valencians, and they introduce us to the city and the culture, from the local point of view.”

She found that learning Spanish was not as easy as she had imagined, especially because of so many English speakers around. “Because my partner and I work in English, there´s not actually so much Spanish in our daily life. And most Spanish people of my generation speak English so I have to invest into going to Spanish classes.”

Mira found only one downside to moving to Spain, which is getting accustomed to the bureaucracy. “At first it seemed impossible to get things done here. It is so different from England and the Netherlands but of course, moving to a new country, you have to be prepared to handle changes.”

What Mira highlighted about her life in Spain, is the “high level of life quality,” which she could not find anywhere else. 

“I could not recommend Valencia enough. The weather is ridiculously amazing, and the Spanish culture is so fun. It’s an amazing experience.”