Living Abroad: My Experience of Moving to a Different Country
By: Daniela Schwanke
Tags: Portugal, Living Abroad, Personal Development, Travel, Brazil

Since I chose Portugal (or the world) as my home, I’ve always wanted to write about why, in fact, I decided to leave everything behind and go on such a crazy and delicious adventure that is living abroad.

First of all: I don’t have any ties around here. I don’t have a Portuguese or European family, passport or anything like that. I decided to go by myself, completely alone, without having a slightest idea of ​​what tomorrow would bring for me (crazy teenager, I know).

But one of the things I truly believe is that this kind of decision is all about the person’s personality. You have to want a lot. And I’ve always been fearless and impatient (on a very hardcore level). I always wanted to see the world, discover new cultures, experience new things. And believe it or not, at 8 years old, I already had this desire.

- “I want to leave. Study for what?”

A rebellious kid echoed through the house.

And my mother, always patient, tried to put my feet on the ground and explain that only after school I would be able to go and follow my way.

And I stayed there, counting the days. And also my mother (but in this case, for my rebellious phase to pass. And it never passed, as you can imagine).

Alongside this little adventurous animal that I have inside me, there is also a whole sad reality that Brazil is facing. And even though I love my beautiful country, I kept wondering if this was the country I wanted to raise my children and live my life (and this is a feeling that only Brazilians will understand).

The months I lived in São Paulo (back in 2014) were enough to show me a reality that I would rather not see. “You have to kill a lion a day”, as they say. And that is the motto that governs the country. And this is the motto that, unfortunately, defined the people.

It’s every man for himself, period.

Why Portugal (or, more precisely, Lisbon)

My story with Lisbon is funny. In 2012, from atop of a plane, I established a very strange relationship with the city.

I remember waking up in the middle of a flight (it was a Madrid-São Paulo connection), turning on the television in front of me, opening that little digital map and… there I was, right on top of the city that I would fall madly in love with years later. In that moment, I felt a strange sensation, as if that name, that location and that moment were a kind of a “click”. Since then I knew I needed to go there. And I went. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 (the last one to stay).

It’s very hard to explain, but I feel like I’ve lived here before. Lisbon is a delightful, cozy and strangely familiar city to me.

And it’s so exciting to build a life away from everything I already know and believe — this must be one of the most powerful forms of self-knowledge on the planet. Because life far away expands our horizons, opens our minds and shows us what really matters. It’s like giving birth to a new “me”. And also suffering (a lot) and being (a lot) proud of the adult you recreated.

Above all, it is accepting that you will never, never be the same. You are constantly changing.

And I thank Portugal (and the world) every day for that.