In Fall 2022, I had the privilege of moving to Porto, Portugal for my last co-op term. I got to work at a cool startup (shoutout to Smartex!), but the main reason I accepted the job was because of the opportunity for me to work and live in a different country. I am so thankful that God gave me this opportunity and blessed my time in Portugal. It was a term filled with challenges, joy, and lots of new perspective.
Language is a powerful tool
One of the very first things that surprised me about Portugal is how well everyone speaks English. My company’s working language is English, so I already knew that my coworkers would be able to speak English to at least a working level. However, I quickly learned that most Portuguese people of the younger generation — no matter their occupation, can speak English fluently. Language fluency is a powerful tool. In Portugal, if you’re not fluent in English, you miss out on many job opportunities. There are also many Brazilians working in Portugal, and they’re able to do so because the two countries share the same native language. And it’s only because of my coworkers’ abilities to speak English that I could talk about faith and listen to their perspectives. I came to realize that speaking a language opens so many doors — including a door to sharing the gospel. I’m very grateful that despite growing up in Canada, I’ve been able to maintain my conversational Mandarin skills, giving me an additional tool to share the gospel with.
Work hard, take it easy
I think it’s a well-known stereotype that Europeans take it easy when it comes to their work life. Surely everyone in Europe arrives at the office late, spends the morning drinking coffee, takes a two-hour nap, maybe does productive work for two hours in the afternoon, then proceeds to leave for a three-week vacation, right? Well, whoever came up with this stereotype has definitely never been to a Portuguese office. Much less, a Portuguese start-up! The normal work hours in Portugal are long. 9–6 is the norm, but my office was usually still full until 7:30 in the evening. People would also work on weekends and holidays. At work, everyone was so productive and fast-paced 99% percent of the time (the other 1% was during the World Cup games). It almost seems like a paradox, the way Portuguese culture holds the Southern European belief that life should be enjoyed slowly, while simultaneously it looks down on laziness.
Everyone at my company is so smart, dedicated, and hardworking, but they are also the most last-minute people I have ever met. Outside of work, it seems like time is just a concept to the Portuguese. Dinners can start any time between 7–10 pm. They can last anywhere between 1–3 hours. Will you know what time dinner starts and how long it lasts beforehand? Definitely not! You want to schedule something a few days in advance? What’s the rush, take it easy! That’s the Portuguese mentality about time, and honestly, I find that it works!
I’ve always struggled with finding motivation to work hard, or feeling satisfaction from working. Generally, on a spectrum from slacker to keener, I’m probably a little closer to slacker. But I found that after adopting this Portuguese mentality about my non-work life, I stopped viewing work as a burden. Work was no longer something that was taking up my time, but rather it was an opportunity to do a good job at supporting my coworkers and their own work. I really admire how hardworking my coworkers are while still being such chill, fun, and relaxed people to hang out with. As a busy Waterloo student it’s definitely hard to not feel rushed about time, but as I approach full-time work I hope I’ll be able to maintain the Portuguese mentality of working hard and taking it easy at the same time.
Small surprises and big milestones
I’m someone who gets very insecure in new situations, so I was somewhat worried about transitioning to life in Portugal. This was my first time moving to a new country and becoming immersed in a different culture. I had many fears about things like getting along with my colleagues, whether or not I would make friends, and whether I would be out-of-place as a foreigner.
What surprised me is that the feeling of being out-of-place came up at unexpected times. My first few days in Porto, I was focusing on getting settled down. Taking a taxi from the airport, done. Walking around the streets near my apartment, done. Even picking up produce from a small store, done. Things had been going smoothly and I was finding it pretty easy to navigate these tasks. Then suddenly — I’m standing in the grocery store, staring at the bakery’s display of various types of bread, unable to figure out how the bread-slicing machine works or even how to get the bread out from the display. Waves of anxiety hit me, along with the overwhelming fear of looking stupid. I debated whether I should ask someone for help or just try to figure it out myself. Then I realized I would have to stumble through unfamiliar Portuguese words in order to ask for help, which would still result in me looking stupid, so it was a lose-lose situation.
For me, it was always during these small, seemingly insignificant moments where I’d be hit with the feeling of “Wow I am a foreigner here, I am completely out-of-place”. Yet despite these small moments of fear and uncertainty, I surprised myself with some of the things I ended up doing during my time in Portugal. I’ll call these milestones, just because they’re things I never would have expected myself to do. Things like starting conversations with strangers, going to a new bouldering gym alone, or getting into a heated argument with a coworker in the middle of a textile factory (if you know how non-confrontational I am, then you know how big of a milestone that last one is).
I guess all this is to say: when you are living alone in a completely new environment, you end up learning a lot about your own strengths and weaknesses. You also get many opportunities to put yourself out of your comfort zone and see yourself grow. I never expected to feel overwhelmed about buying bread, but I also never expected to become a social butterfly at work! The challenge of experiencing a new environment may seem scary (like it did to me), or maybe it just seems like something easy and exciting for you. Whatever the case, I think that getting to live abroad would be an amazing opportunity for anyone.
Conclusion
To keep things concise, I only chose a few things to write about. As much as I got to do fun things and travel to cool places, it’s the conversations and life perspectives shared with me that I treasure the most. No matter where you go in the world, the effect of sin and the need of a saviour always becomes clear. As I take stock of the different lessons I learned in Portugal, and am now returning to Waterloo for my last term, there is one verse from Scripture that makes clear what my focus must be on, no matter where I’m currently living and working:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” — Matthew 6:33
