Meie ka...: 9 months in Portugal

On 5th of February 2019, I moved to Lisbon. A week later, I started my job as a Product Data Analyst in Pipedrive. It has been a crazy 9 months and here is a small summary of my experience.

1. Do I recommend moving to Lisbon?

Yes and no - this depends on you and your personal preferences.

Firstly, moving abroad is always hard but worth it as you grow so much as a person.

Secondly, Lisbon is a great city. It is one of the safest and sunniest capitals in Europe. It offers a lot of cultural events, opportunities for travelling and meeting new cultures. However, it is a city of half a million inhabitants. So for me personally, it is sometimes too urban and full of people.

2. Would I move again if I had to make the decision today?

Yes, it has been a difficult 9 months but the most fulfilling ones of my life.

3. What would I do differently when moving now?

Research, research, research.

When I moved I knew how to speak a bit of Portuguese. Also, I had visited the city in January to look for an apartment and get to know the city.

I googled some information on Lisbon but I forgot entirely to learn about Portuguese history, culture and people. So at first I struggled a lot with communication. According to Edward T. Hall, Portugal is a higher-context culture and Estonia is a lower-context culture. This means that Portuguese put higher value on interpersonal relations and communication. Also, the things not being said are as important as the things being said. In addition, family is really important for Portuguese.

In my everyday life, this meant that I struggled with communicating because people asked very personal questions and talked more than I was used to. Portugal was the first place where people said that I talk too little. Also, it was hard to make Portuguese friends as their lives were filled with family dinners, visits etc.

The best part

I love

how warm, open and helpful Portuguese people are
how much Portuguese enjoy life
the climate
the ocean
amount of cultural events
small Portuguese cities
how sporty and healthy Portuguese people are
fairness and inclusiveness of Portuguese society

The worst part

For me the hardest part came about 3 months after I had moved to Lisbon. By that time, I felt that I should already understand the culture and society but I was still struggling. I had made a group of international friends outside of work but I still felt very alone most of the time. At the same time, I was struggling at my work and feeling that I was letting my team and company down as I had so much more job tasks than I was able to complete. Also, we moved to a new co-working space which was an open space for 30 people. For me, this was a very hard work environment as it got very noisy in certain hours of day. I felt extremely tired every day I got home. So from June to August, I felt very unhappy with my life. In August, I finally talked with friends and they helped me to put things in perspective. They helped me to realise that living abroad is hard and I am doing as well as I can and I shouldn't put this much pressure to myself. I learned how to say "no" at work and put let pressure on myself when I fail at something.

Pictures, pictures, pictures