5 things I learned from moving to Portugal
It’s been 3 years since my husband and I packed everything and moved to Portugal. These 3 years have been many things: from depression to i-kinda-like-it-here moments. The truth is I never planned to move to Portugal (or to any other southern country). I’m the snow queen, the queen of snow, I need snow in my life. However, our life took this weird turn and here we are, living our new life in Lisbon.
Over these 3 years, I’ve been through all the stages of grief, and now I am finally at the “acceptance” stage. It wasn’t easy for me. I wanted to go back to Canada countless times but with time (and some effort), I learnt how to live in my new reality.
Here are some things that I realized after moving to Portugal:
I’m a big city girl. I need that buzzing energy to keep me going. Fun fact: Lisbon is the smallest and the chillest city I’ve ever lived in.
I don’t care much about summer things. This summer I went to the beach 0 times. The ocean is way too cold for me, and I don’t enjoy freezing my ass off. I do enjoy going to the beach where I can actually swim like in Greece, where the water temperature is +28°C. Otherwise, I’m not interested.
I NEED seasons in my life. I can’t survive when it’s pretty much the same weather every single day. If you take a calendar from me, I will never be able to tell you whether it’s March, July or October because it’s always sunny in Philadelphia Lisbon. And it’s not a bad thing: many people move to Portugal for that exact reason. However, that doesn’t really work for me.
Difficult situations help us grow. Yulia who arrived 3 years ago to Portugal and Yulia now are 2 different people. I’ve changed a lot and that is thanks to Portugal. I stopped drinking, I started working out consistently, I fell in love with sports. Also, I’m more patient & chill now (you have to be in order to live here)
Lisbon still doesn’t feel like “home”. As much as I try to love it, I miss Montreal (and Canada) terribly. Montreal has spoiled me in so many ways, and I realized that only by moving away. I miss the apple picking, pumpkin farms, festivals all year round, road trips to the States (and of course my friends). It might sound silly to some people but those things truly make me happy.
Moving to Portugal wasn’t the worst decision of my life. I’ve met many incredible people here. I’ve seen friends that I haven’t seen in years. I travelled to a lot of places: new and old. Our relatives come to visit much more often compared to when we lived in Canada. Will I stay in Portugal forever? Probably not. Where to next? I don’t know. For now, I’m trying to enjoy the sunny days because I’m pretty sure I’ll miss them haha ⛅️
Take care and don’t forget to drink water (it’s pretty hot out there)
Yulia
