This post is just to remember some moments that happened throughout this year for me, it’s a very simple summary.
I started 2017 trying to get a new job, this time outside of Brazil. At that time I was working remotely for a company in São Paulo, building a cool app with React Native. It was a really nice experience and I miss those days. But, you know, new year, new things… and I always wanted to live the experience of working and living abroad.
I’ve tried a lot in the past, but, this time finally I got it, after weeks of testing and interviews, I received an offer to work as a Front-End Developer at HelloFresh, in Berlin!
ReactLondon - London - England
So moving on, to the end of March, I had everything booked for a short one week trip to London, where I would help at ReactLondon conference, as a volunteer, and, of course, explore the city a little bit… but I still had to schedule an appointment to get my German work visa, fortunately, everything works well, and I managed to schedule everything for after my trip to London.
Ah, London, what can I say? Beautiful city, an amazing experience was that one week there. I miss London so much, hopefully I’ll be back there with more time next year.
After London…
Back to the German visa thing, in the earlier April, I went to another state, Rio Grande do Sul to get my visa done. After one week, I’ve received my visa and then, I was ready to go. To Berlin. To work for HelloFresh. Away from my family and friends. Well, that sounds a little sad and maybe scary, and you know what, it was.
Moving to Berlin was the most intense thing that happened this year for me. I won’t describe all the details here, but since the day I received the offer, it was an intense rush to get the visa, schedule the flight and all the bureaucracy things involved. I was very fortunate to have HelloFresh backing me up providing all the support I would need to moving abroad.
So, on April 26th, I left Brazil. CWB > GIG > LIS > TXL.
I spent 12 hours and Lisbon, well usually that’s not a big deal, you can do a lot of cool things in a new city with 12 hours, but…, I couldn’t sleep in the airplane. I was like a zombie walking in the Lisbon airport.
After my 12 zombie hours in Lisbon, plus 2.5 to 3 hours to flying to Berlin from Lisbon, I finally arrived and went straight to the hotel. I don’t need to say that I slept like a child, do I?
Overall, Berlin exceeded my expectations, the city is so vibrant, a mix of different cultures that compose to a city which dynamics are so unique.
React Native EU - Wrocław - Poland
Last year, after ReactEurope, the good folks from Callstack announced a conference focused on React Native, the React Native EU.
Living in Europe, I thought, why not go as a volunteer again? And so I did, once they released conference dates, I applied as a volunteer and on September 5th, I flew to Wrocław for yet another awesome conference.
Scream for me, Edinburgh - Scotland!
Bruce Dickinson was launching a book; “What does this button do?”, and with that, he was doing a series of presentation in the UK about his book and other things. I’ve never been to Scotland before, so why not? I took some vacations day and went there. I loved that city!
Wrapping up
And here I’m, back in Brazil for vacations, after 9 months in Berlin, living and working there. Well, this was a very special year for me, and I’m very thankful for all the support of my family and friends in this journey!