The first day she got here in 2016, it was a stupid thing to do. “Oh! The dog is driving! And people are driving and reading books. What the heck?” Bruna Marcolongo Schmitz’s humorous memory of a car (with the steering wheel on the opposite side) passing by were just some of the culture shocks I experienced when moving to Ireland from a coastal city in southern Brazil.
The then 27-year-old lawyer came with her husband after he was offered an IT job here. Since then, her life has completely turned around, she went back to university, changed her career and led an urban life, first in the city of Dublin, and eventually bought a house in Portlaoise.
Her parents’ families are from a middle-class background and immigrated to Brazil from Italy and Poland, while her husband Thiago Schmitz’s family is German. They both grew up in Florianópolis, a “small city but small place” in southern Brazil. They were together “forever.” It was 20 years ago when I was in high school. Bruna Marcolongo studied law at university, worked in her family law, civil law, litigation law, and was considering starting her own firm. They wanted to live abroad and learn English and were considering their options. A friend of a friend working in Ireland encouraged Thiago, an engineer, to apply for a job at his company. After five interviews, a job offer was made and their adventure began.
Ireland has become “a country that gives us the opportunity to work and learn”. She knew little about Ireland. She said: “It’s a rich, cultural place, old. Literature and dance. I found it to be a warm place.” Proving her Brazilian law degree would be complicated and time-consuming. In any case, it was difficult for her to work as she is the spouse of a worker with a critical skills visa and her visa only had stamp 3. She said, “No company wants to hire you because you don’t understand the rules.” But she had her studies in mind.
They rented an apartment on Grand Canal Dock and later on Foley Street. “The best moments we had were there. Central, quiet enough and close to everything.”
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The new country gave her the opportunity to think about her career again. She has always been interested in design and drawing and she took a one year course at the Dublin College of Design in St Kildare where she eventually gained her degree in graphic design. Her design degree project was a travel app for millennials that customizes travel itineraries.
They started getting acquainted with one person, but met many other Brazilians living here. At university, her circle expanded and she made even more friends. After graduating, they moved to Swords, but the lockdown forced them to leave town just as she began her job search in digital product design. Thiago was working from her home. She particularly immersed herself in her UX (User Experience in Digital Products) and her UI (User Interface) specialized online courses. It was hard being stuck at home, but I had a spacious apartment and a park and shops nearby. She added: “The design community is incredible. Designers help each other. I didn’t feel alone.” It is now possible to obtain a certificate (allowing you to get a job even if you are a foreigner). “It was like a gift from Ireland.”
She eventually landed a job at a startup to gain experience before moving to a leading global IT customer experience (CX) company. She works remotely as part of an international team and occasionally travels to other company offices overseas.
When it comes to product design, “the law can help,” she says. Her legal training has proven to be ideal for the logical and methodical steps involved in designing user paths in apps and digital products. She explains that Bruna, a Brazilian lawyer, and Bruna, an Irish designer, have come together. “I still believe that I’m both versions of myself, and I’ll never let that part of me go. I think being a lawyer is a great profession that can change lives. It’s not just about the courtroom. No. When lawyers work behind the curtain, when no one is watching, when they write and plan in advance, they are careful about every step, just as they are with design. You need to have a vision.” Creating a strategy is “both worlds colliding.”
She describes her work as a user interface designer, devising the visuals and pathways for the apps we use. “If you click from here to there, and from there to here, this is what the flow will look like. Think about what your digital users need. What exactly is the path to get from point A to point B? Do I have to consider that? That’s what I do. Visual and logical. And I think the law helped me logically.”
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When I first moved here, I was unfamiliar with everything, even the basics and how to shop at stores. Just ordering pizza was difficult. I’m working on the boiler.We don’t have a boiler [in Brazil], equipped with an electric shower. We were used to electric heaters that needed to be switched on in each room. ”
Socially, people hold back because they don’t know how to do even normal things. She had a good Brazilian friend. She says, “I felt supported, but I was reluctant to go beyond the Brazilian community and my comfort zone.” At first, it was due to unfamiliarity and lack of confidence in the language. “It took a while. During my college years, I was forced to be more open and more accepting.” Over time, many of my Brazilian friends moved to other parts of Europe, or I moved to my hometown. She has several Irish friends, and “one of my favorite people in the world” is Irish, and “we understand each other very well.”
“After a certain age, it’s hard to form friendships anyway, so you have to have some kind of connection, whether it’s through work or college or being in the same situation. You can’t force it. . Things start to happen. Some people will hug you, some won’t. With Brazilians it’s easier because of the language. Sometimes you don’t have to think to speak. Brazilians speak with their hands Sometimes I talk with my hands.” She is gesturing now. “And people ask, what does that mean? This comes from an Italian background!”
They are tired of renting due to the uncertainty of tenancy and are “exhausted by the competition to find a good apartment, even if it means paying a high rent.” They wanted their own place. Dublin was too expensive and the traffic was terrible even for short distances.
The pair bought a house on a property outside Portlaoise in November 2021 and are working remotely from there. “We love life. The people are nice. It’s a small community so everyone knows each other. The only complaint I have about living in Laois is that they could have more trains instead of making them an hour. about it.”
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Both families are on an extended visit from Brazil. During our visit, “they were working!” They painted the house and helped us. It was like an adventure because it was so different.” For example, figuring out how to hang a picture on a flimsy partition wall in Ireland. Thiago’s parents painted and varnished the stairs last June.
This Christmas, Bruna’s parents came to visit for a month. “They loved the Lyre people.” They all went to Italy “to see their roots” and “we showed them every place they could remember in Ireland. Then they went to Northern Ireland. They’re big fans of Game of Thrones. They did the GOT Experience, which was amazing. They were like kids, so I had to get them out of there. ! And the tourism, the natural beauty, it’s unreal everywhere. They were in a state of shock, shock, shock, shock, shock because everything was so beautiful.”
Thiago’s career also blossomed. “He’s very happy here.” Bruna recognizes that he’s lucky to have a job that gives him stability and structure. Her English has clearly improved significantly over her 8 years. Although she speaks Portuguese at home, she works in English every day. She realized she was comfortable with English “a few years after I came here, when I went to see a doctor without any restrictions or hardships. It was a normal doctor’s appointment.” Accommodation is especially expensive, but Bruna points out that what you can buy with the minimum wage here is much more expensive than what you can buy with the minimum wage in Brazil.
Bruna and Thiago became Irish citizens in 2023. “And that was the moment everything changed.”
At the ceremony, “They emphasized the importance of immigrants and how welcome we are in this country. My family is in Brazil, so it’s hard to say I’ll be here forever. Living here, I have to remind myself every day why I’m here because I want to go back to my family. But if you accept it on another level, you can feel at home even if your family isn’t here.
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“We’re really grateful. That’s how me and my husband overall feel – we’re grateful. Everything Ireland has offered us has been good.” More opportunities, Different jobs, cultures and experiences. “Ireland gave us the opportunity. I can’t complain about anything. I’ve done a lot here. Ireland gave us access. Courses for leading graphic designers I was exposed to this amazing culture, a place where you feel like magic is flowing around you. It’s very wealthy and the people are very kind and welcoming.
“It was beautiful. I cried halfway through. [citizenship] formula. It was a really proud moment for us.we were proud of our history and everything [that had happened]. And it’s not like we’re not Brazilian anymore. we. It was both. “
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the last 10 years.To participate, please email us newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish