--- title: "From Delft’s Canals to Lisbon’s Waves: the leap that put sunshine on my face 🌞🌊" description: Discover how moving from Delft to Lisbon transformed my life, offering more sunshine, surf, and a slower pace, while boosting my personal growth and professional opportunities. image: https://cityjoboffers.com/hubfs/Top%20destinations%20%2816%29.jpg --- [Testimonies](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/tag/testimonies-fr) # From Delft’s Canals to Lisbon’s Waves: the leap that put sunshine on my face 🌞🌊 [ City Job Offers ](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/author/cityjoboffers) 24 April, 2025 ![](https://cityjoboffers.com/hubfs/Top%20destinations%20%2816%29.jpg) > *“Moving abroad isn’t always about boosting your CV—it’s about learning to breathe differently.”* ### 1. The spark: *“Are all my winters going to look like this?”* I’m **Joris**, 27, Dutch to the core. For years my mornings were pre-dawn alarms, drizzle on the window, and a bike chained up under a bleary grey sky. Solid job? Sure. But I felt the **autopilot** stealing the best bits of me. One November afternoon—Inbox at zero, mood below it—I spotted a Lisbon vacancy for Dutch-speaking digital support. The post showed an orange sunset over the Tagus and whispered *“relocation included.”* I don’t surf (yet), I thought, but I can learn… and hit **Apply**. ### 2. Why I said “yes” (spoiler: it wasn’t the career ladder) | Motivation | What it really meant to me | | --- | --- | | **Sun & blue sky** | Swap seven months of fog for 20 °C breakfasts in March. | | **Sea & surf** | Turn “vacation sport” into “Tuesday routine.” | | **Slower smiles** | People who chat over a standing coffee—my calendar needed that pace. | | **Speak Dutch… far from home** | Help Dutch firms from a tiled neighbourhood that smells of cinnamon. | | **Plain curiosity** | Discover who I am minus the bike, the usual friends, the familiar streets. | ### 3. Touchdown: realising “living” sounds different in Portuguese I arrived with one suitcase, a contract, and two weeks of hotel keys. By the first Monday, I’d already got lost in Alfama on purpose and fallen hard for the scent of **pastéis de nata**. The office—an international support hub—buzzed with accents. Training was intense, but the vibe was light: playlists swapped, jokes told, genuine *“how are you?”* moments. Stepping outside to a chorus of **bom dias** felt less like visiting and more like being invited. ### 4. My new normal (and why I’m not going back) - **08:15** Pingado on the terrace, river breeze in my hair. - **09:00** Helping Dutch SMEs sell better online. - **13:00** Lunch without a stopwatch, chatting wave forecasts with Greek and Italian teammates. - **17:30** Metro + board to Carcavelos; first surf class included a spectacular wipe-out and even better laughs. - **22:00** Hill-top miradouro, guitar, friends speaking a mash-up of Portuguese, English—and my Dutch accent no one corrects anymore. What blows me away isn’t the pay cheque or the project name. It’s staring at the ocean and **feeling light**, as if life fits better here. ### 5. Tiny changes that changed everything 1. **Learning “saudade”** – Name what you miss and it weighs less. 2. **Owning less** – Two loud shirts, rented surfboard, more stories than stuff. 3. **More daylight, more life** – I work, exercise, cook—and still FaceTime family before bed. 4. **Being the foreigner makes you brave** – Every mini-challenge (directions, new friends) adds courage. ### 6. And that dream job? It showed up by itself Twelve months on, with solid metrics and semi-decent Portuguese, an email popped up: internal interview—**with Google**. I nailed it, sure, but honestly? Even if that email had never come, every swallowed wave and sunset chat was already worth the leap. ### 7. Hearing that same itch inside you? 1. **Listen to the “what if…?”** – Today’s discomfort is tomorrow’s favourite story. 2. **Don’t wait for the perfect role** – Sometimes the trampoline is a “regular” job in an extraordinary city. 3. **Pack curiosity, not expectations** – The magic lives in what you didn’t plan. Lisbon taught me that real motivation isn’t counted in CV lines; it’s measured in **how many stories you can tell while staring at the horizon**. Fancy writing yours? See you at the next sunset. 🌅 Previous Post ###### [Sant Jordi: enjoy Barcelona local traditions](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/sant-jordi-enjoy-barcelona-local-traditions?hsLang=en) Next Post ###### [🌍 What Working Abroad Really Teaches You (It’s More Than Just a Great CV)](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/what-working-abroad-really-teaches-you-its-more-than-just-a-great-cv?hsLang=en) ### Similar Blog Posts [![](https://cityjoboffers.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WORK%20%20BEACH%20%20ENJOY%20LIFE%20%20REPEAT%20POST%20IG%20.png?width=352&name=WORK%20%20BEACH%20%20ENJOY%20LIFE%20%20REPEAT%20POST%20IG%20.png) ](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/lisbon-enjoy-the-tasty-life?hsLang=en) #### [Lisbon: enjoy the tasty life](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/lisbon-enjoy-the-tasty-life?hsLang=en) [![](https://cityjoboffers.com/hs-fs/hubfs/1-2.png?width=352&name=1-2.png) ](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/explore-the-green-side-of-lisbon?hsLang=en) #### [Explore the green side of Lisbon](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/explore-the-green-side-of-lisbon?hsLang=en) [![](https://cityjoboffers.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Post%2010.jpg?width=352&name=Post%2010.jpg) ](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/the-10-best-free-activities-to-do-in-lisbon?hsLang=en) #### [The 10 Best Free Activities to Do in Lisbon](https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/the-10-best-free-activities-to-do-in-lisbon?hsLang=en) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "City Job Offers", "url" : "https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/author/cityjoboffers" }, "dateModified" : "2025-04-24T10:12:16.759Z", "datePublished" : "2025-04-24T10:12:16.000Z", "headline" : "From Delft’s Canals to Lisbon’s Waves: the leap that put sunshine on my face 🌞🌊", "image" : [ "https://cityjoboffers.com/hubfs/Top%20destinations%20%2816%29.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://cityjoboffers.com/blog/from-delfts-canals-to-lisbons-waves-the-leap-that-put-sunshine-on-my-face", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://cityjoboffers.com/hubfs/Imagotipo_1-2.svg" }, "name" : "City Job Offers" } } ```