Hi, I’m Diane, your Barcelona insider

Born in Texas and raised across Indonesia, Oman, and Qatar, I learned early that home is something you build, not somewhere you're from. After studying Psychology at CU Boulder, I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years living in a Tongan village, it was definitely a tough adjustment but then after a year and fully fluent in Tonga, it started to feel like home. The experience reshaped how I think about community and belonging. A few moves and chapters later, I landed in New York City, for the second time and thought this is it I’ll really settle down now, but a few years in and my intuition told me it was time to move to Barcelona.

Like every international move, the reality was more complicated than the dream. The visa process, figuring out taxes here and in the US, finding a vet, navigating healthcare, opening a bank account, building a social circle — every step meant figuring something out from scratch, often not in English. What made the difference was the network of people who helped me along the way. Their advice and encouragement pushed me to trust myself more, and now I'm channeling that into helping others do the same.

I’ve always felt like Barcelona has a unique energy, it has a little of everything here from the strong Catalan culture, a storied port city, Modernisme architecture, barrios that each feel like their own world, endless events, hiking groups and language exchanges. It's a lot, especially in the beginning, before you have your people or know much about the way of life here. That's where I come in: I offer a mix of 1:1 time and connections to my network here, tailored to wherever you are in the process — whether you've just landed or you're still in the planning stages.