Caroline (50) lives and works in Lisbon: how it started
Lieke
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3 minutes Reading time
Caroline was 50 when she left for Lisbon. She already knew the city from earlier stays, so when the chance came, the destination was never really the question. What she did not know was how the practical side would go: the language, the paperwork, the first weeks in a country where she could not read a single sign. Someone was waiting for her at the airport.
Why did Caroline choose Lisbon?
Because she had been there before and the city fits the way she wants to live right now. Lisbon was not a random pick: she knew what she was walking into.
What happened in her first weeks in Lisbon?
She was collected from the airport and taken to the flat her employer provides, for an indefinite period. After that came the practical questions: where to get the travel card for the daily trip to the office, where to register, where to find a language course.
What mattered, in her account, was always knowing what was happening next and where.
First month in Lisbon
First I was a little scared to do that big step in another country to work there. But Lisa Maria supported and answered all my questions, she was giving safety. By now I’m one month in Portugal and the job I got is fun, a lot new friends I got and easy living with a lot opportunities to go out. It’s a much better work life balance then before
Kristina Kijaschkin
What does a workday in customer service look like?
She comes into the office in the morning, logs in and looks at what work has come up. On hotline shifts the calls arrive automatically and she talks customers through their problems. At the moment she is on email, which is freer, and she can step outside between tasks. After about four months the option to work from home opens up, and the commute disappears from the day.🌞
She has learned professional inbound and outbound calling as well as sales technique, which she describes as useful for the career step she wants next. That pattern is common across customer service jobs abroad, and this is what a typical day in Portugal looks like for most people who make the move.
Thinking about starting in Portugal too? Have a look at the jobs in Portugal that include accommodation.
How do you make friends when you don't speak the language?
Before the job itself started there was training, and that is where her friends and colleagues came from. They spent their free time together as well.
Outside that group she found it easy to connect, with expats and with locals, who she describes as very open to conversation and who mostly speak English or French.
I love the sunrises over the river and the encounters I've had with people. Exchanging experiences about other countries, or about life itself, is priceless. Those are the moments that make life worth living.
What does she miss, and what caught her off guard?
She sometimes gets homesick, but for the people she left behind rather than for Germany. Phone calls help, and looking at old photos, though her own conclusion is firmer than that: what counts is enjoying the here and now and closing the door on the past. It helps that the sun shines every day and there is the sea.
The cultural differences she notices are small. People get up later and go to bed later, probably because of the daytime heat. And if you order a coffee you get what Germany calls an espresso, so you learn to ask for something bigger or specifically with milk. That is the kind of detail you pick up in your first month of working in Lisbon. 🇵🇹
What would Caroline say if you're still doubting?
Her lesson, in her own summary, is to stop thinking it over: if your intuition brought you here and your heart says yes, take it. In the end we regret the things we did not do.
This time won't come again. This offer may not come again. Others will, of course, but how many hints do you need before you realise you're the one being called?
If that lands, have a look at the current jobs in Portugal and see what is open right now. ✈️