While still living in Lisbon, more precisely by the end of 2003, I did the trip of my life… Patagonia! Whow, such sceneries and wildlife!
Like if it wasn’t enough, this is where I met the person who became my wife! Not only I’ve been lucky enough to been living abroad in different countries, but I traveled to the other side of the world to meet my other half.
As I already mentioned in the first part of my article, the film and TV industry in Portugal, being a so small family and having to work by project, I decided to change the country again. That’s when I met the second love of my life, Dublin in Ireland.
For some reason, I felt in love with the Irish people. For sure it has a rainy and grey weather, but it seems like the Irish spirit illuminates your daily life. The culture, the joy and apparent happiness (probably in part thanks to the pints) make you feel at home. It’s true that living in Dublin has a few cons like real state. It’s absolutely insane to find a decent apartment to rent at an affordable price (I can imagine my former colleagues and friends still living there, having that wry smile reading this). The daily drizzle can depress you at some point. But the fact you are able to live in such a multicultural city, work in a quite different environment I was used to, made these almost 4 years in Ireland, probably the best time of my life. I learned so much personally but mostly professionally that I must only thank all the fantastic people I met. The main con for me during this period was that my wife stayed in Portugal… So guess what… yes, you got it: I moved again!
2017 was probably one of the worst years of my life. I lost my father and was living alone in a foreign country. By the same period, my wife was invited to go to Geneva in Switzerland. As there are some coincidences in life you can’t deny, I decided to leave a job that I liked on Facebook in Dublin and moved to Switzerland. To be honest, I was not really convinced it would be a good decision, but it was a heart’s decision.
Switzerland… what can I say! Astonishing landscapes, beautiful little cities and fresh air. Period. Ok, I did not like that country. After living in Ireland, you move to the absolute opposite. Isolationist country, cold people, and where the immigrant is not welcome in general. The unique visit I did to Zurich seemed to me it would be much more open-minded than Geneva, which is a luxury city. But in general, I would say Switzerland is the perfect country to live in when you get older and have some generous retirement savings. Other than that, keep visiting this lovely small country, but go back home.
For nearly 3 months now, I’m living in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I cannot say much yet about this city, but the fact is that I immediately felt a connection with it. Makes me remember the crapy Irish weather (probably even worst) but it’s an artistically vibrant city with so many alternative events happening, an incredible modern architecture with that pinch of a dutch free spirit. I will probably come back to you in the near future to talk more about the Netherlands.
In a couple of days, I will come back with the last part of my first article here on LinkedIn, and make some kind of conclusion about how I feel about this nomad kind of life and how much we can learn (and miss) with it.
Here are the two other parts of my article