Moving Abroad - Blog Posts

Getting to know my new home city vol3

Getting to know my new home... 

5 days

As my Portuguese adventure approaches (6 nights left to sleep in Finland) I made a short list of things what to expect my life to be in Portugal. Probably things won’t turn out this way but I’ll let you know how it went. This is how I feel NOW. 

I tried to create a positive list that reflects my interests. So don’t be disappointed not to find out the impressive numbers of how many corks the country produces or how many sunny days does it have in a year. Because those are not the reasons why I’m moving to Lisbon. 

(any of these photos are mine - since I haven’t been able to take them yet!)

UNDERSTAND

The history of Portugal and Lisbon. Being one of the oldest nations, countries and cities in Europe I expect the old times to be present all around me. In the architecture, the way people are, in the language...

Portugal was the first country to descriminalise the use of all drugs in 2001. And apparently the numbers of addicts etc. have gone down since then.

Portugal was one of the countries that the recent economical crisis’ have hit hard. Since then the figures have improved and been going up but still Portugal is still considered a poor country.

Things will happen SLOWLY. Also the matter of times when people say to meet at 5pm this doesn’t mean 5pm but 30min or more later.

SEE

Street art. Lisbon seems to be very colorful and ”arty” and free what comes to creating the art.

LEARN

Portuguese and to be able to communicate with over 200 million people in the world.

EAT

Great food. Apparently a lot of fish. Wine obviously. Good coffee! Ice cream on the other hand I have not very high expectations.

DO

Excercise. Lisbon is being built on several hills (still not sure is it 7 or 8, I keep reading different figures) so discovering my new city will go for a work out untill I get my gym membership going on.

Travelling. As one of the most greatest travel destinations in the world I expect to see a wide range of pretty amazing things while living in Portugal.

(the red forest in Sintra)

FEEL

Warm. Portugal has the warmest winters even thou they can include cool winds and quite heavy rain. But when compared to Finnish/Canadian winters I’ll be fine. 

Safe. Portugal has been rated as the 5th peaceful countries in the world and even though no stranger to crimes – with a use of a common sense you should survive without being mugged, raped, beated up or murdered. Just don’t wave around your wallet, jewellery, expensive camera etc. in a “come and get me” like. Check out the areas where NOT to go alone/in the night and don’t get too drunk. Or so I’ve been told.

EXPERIENCE

Fado – music. The poetic, melancholic tunes that seem to express the most deepest emotions of the nation. Similar to the one that swept Europe of its feet at Eurovision. 

Portuguese CouchSurfing community.

Lower cost of living. But this doesn’t mean  that I expect to have tons of money but compared to Finland for example, things will be cheaper for me.

MEET

Shy but friendly people. They apparently have pretty good English language skills also which will help me ‘till I get my portuguese skills up to date. 

International spirits at the office as outside of it. This doesn’t mean not-portuguese but people with an open mind. 

What More Can I Give?

After I returned from Canada in 2014 I knew already then that my next adventure would be in Europe. Even after my long time passion for Montréal and the French speaking Canada and the wonderful experience I had while living there.. I didn’t see the return or going to Americas, Australia etc. worthy of hours of paper work for Visas and work permits which I might not even get! Especially when you think that as an european I have 28 countries to choose from where I can live and work freely.

I started planning my departure last winter. Mostly from the financial point of view and decided the summer season being perfect time for my move since I could get my full vacation pay and to have been able to save enough money by then.

So how to choose the DESTINATION? It’s better to have several options in case something goes wrong with your first choice. When travelling always have a plan B! After googling for Finnish speaking jobs on several job boards I ended up with PORTUGAL, IRELAND and MALTA. Spain and some Western European countries were also possible but they had less customer service openings in Finnish so I focused mainly on these three. I also had some friends who’ve lived or live in these countries who could give me answers about living and working in there. This is the part where you gotta be realistic. Even though you’d love India as an holiday spot, are you set up for the everyday life in there? Practical things matter as much as the attitude you’re doing this with. 

“I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way” - Carl Sagan

I had already found out about the most common recruiting companies (MGI recruitment, Morgan McKinley etc) and companies (Teleperformance) out there so I would have some sort of idea which ones to trust. Couple of applying situations during the winter taught me that MAY (1-2 months before my availability date) would be more ideal because no one posts an add about job 6 months before opening.

To look for the jobs I used basic multilingual job boards but especially LinkedIn which I upgraded it to Premium (first month free trial). Especially on LinkedIn it was easy to check the company, employees etc. backgrounds. Despite of the work I did to find out the company’s background and whether it was even real or up to its reputation – there’s no guarantee that you still wouldn’t be screwed over. But I do trust my instincts (if it feels wrong - don’t do it!) and I do try to find out as much as I can in advance to avoid unpleasant surprises – and then you just go and hope that the bumps on the road wouldn’t hit you too hard. 

Same thoughts I would wanna share also about the safety in general. Especially after this morning’s news from London… you always stop to think about this stuff but unless you’re moving to Afghanistan or in some other country with high rate of crimes and killings, there’s not much you can do about it. You just have to believe that you’re safe by using common sense. You can have your hundreds of check lists, be paranoid, stay in and never go to a big event but frankly I just don’t believe in it. In the end whatever you do in life, you buy a house or you have a kid – you need to have the courage and faith that things will be okay.

“Pray when you feel like worrying. Give thanks when you feel like complaining. Keep going when you feel like quitting.” - Dave Willis

Once I started my active search things happened with a quick pace. Basically in two weeks from pressing the ”apply” button for the first time I had created several useful contacts across Europe (networking!) and nailed a job offer from Ireland and Portugal. Several interviews, language tests, all of been done. The first one I declined basically because of the pay wasn’t enough. After taxes (which are quite high) and accommodation and everything else necessary (the price range is similar to Finland) there wouldn’t have been much left. And I do recommend of finding these things out! How much do you pay taxes? How much does a cup of coffee or a room in a shared flat cost? These are pretty crucial figures in every day life and especially when living abroad you do wanna do things just to ENJOY life and not just the necessary ones to survive.

PORTUGAL was my first and the most potential choice since the beginning. FIRST of all the culture and the language are similar to Spain where I’ve done trainee and exchange periods and where I could see myself living and adapting to the way of life. I could really fit in! Secondly there is somewhat heavy selection of jobs for Finnish speakers in customer service area. I would survive! Third and forth, many jobs are located at the capital area with more international atmosphere and services etc. which I appreciate. Despite of living expenses being always more expensive in the capital area than in a smaller city, still in Portugal the price range is fairly affordable. It could be fun! Also the job description and the pay ain’t bad. 

And after this looong prattling, if you did make it untill here...if it isn’t clear enough already for someone - I AM GOING TO LISBON! Heading out on June 30th with no return date! The blog is reopened as a traveling blog what it originally was now that my life will be worth writing for! More posts with funny titels (LP inspired) to come!