lIFE RESET - IN A NEW COUNTRY (What I did right)

As many of you know, migrating is not easy. There are different ways to achieve success in each journey that is made, but there is no exact formula that allows us to know what we really need to do while reaching our goals once away from our countries. Where at the time of arrival there are many fears and uncertainties. Questions about work, language and culture enclose us in a bubble of worries from which it is difficult to leave until everything levels out and our lives begin to take shape once the necessary stability has been achieved.

Photography: @miguelarocha (Stockholm, Sweden)
Nikon D3300

Like many Latin Americans, I had the opportunity to emigrate few years ago, and although we all have different reasons why we decide to leave our countries to go a long way to unknown lands, most of them do not move away from the average, I mean, to start a new life.

If life is difficult in our native language, imagine what it is like to arrive in a country where you do not understand absolutely anything they say. In my case, I had to emigrate to Sweden. This beautiful Scandinavian country opened its doors a little over a year ago and until now I have had to exert the necessary pressure on myself to move forward where I want to go, while most of the questions that friends and family always ask me are always about language and work. The language has been complicated till certain point. Sweden’s official language is Swedish, taking English into account as the predominant second language, which greatly facilitated my stay since I handle English quite well. It can be said that almost the majority of the Swedish population speaks English perfectly. This helped me a lot to get into interpersonal relationships that will help me develop intellectually and professionally in this advanced European society.

About work, I have some things to say. As every start, this topic is not easy. I had the opportunity to arrive to a familiar’s house who kindly offered me lodging for a few months until I could stabilize. In that house they gave me the opportunity to develop a plan to save a little and gather some money to be able to at least pay the monthly transport card, which is somewhat expensive if you do not have a real job that allows you to cover all your expenses in a satisfactory manner. This was not an innovative plan, in fact, it is the departure of many Latino immigrants in foreign countries to survive the first months, and in some cases, to achieve the desired success. Like many Latin Americans abroad, I started cooking to sell among the same Latino community in Sweden.
Groups in certain social networks are very useful in these cases. Because they provide you with the necessary contacts to generate the necessary income. As a Venezuelan, I chose to prepare typical food from my country with my partner and in this way reach a specific audience. Those, three milk cakes, the ham loaves, the Tequeños, the Arepas, the Empanadas and the Quesillos were responsible for our savings during our first months of stay in this country, where the competition in each area is abysmal.

Photography by: @miguelarocha (Stockholm, Sweden)
Nikon D3300

After four months we had already generated a fixed clientele that every week made their food orders, to whom we made the respective deliveries in squares, parks, train stations and bus stops. Each order was electronic since we obviously had to avoid street sales in the streets of Stockholm, which was never in our plans and we did not carry out.

During these months, said income allowed me to pay for the monthly public transportation and buy some food. Clearly only what is necessary. In a short time, we realized that sales were starting to drop and the clientele was disappearing, results that we had expected from the beginning, because usually these customers were excited about the arrival of new flavours, which they had not had the opportunity to try out a long time and after several purchases, they begin to get bored and return to their daily rhythms of life. When visualizing this, it was necessary to fight against the depression that is completely natural at the beginning of these processes, but especially in these Nordic countries due to the lack of sunlight.

At the end of those first four months, after receiving our respective work permits, putting into practice English and speaking with the right people, it was through social networks, with the same Latino community groups that after publishing some job offers, we got the opportunities that perfectly fit our lifestyle. From the first day my superiors agreed that I could speak English with each client, as long as I made an effort to learn Swedish. This job has given me the opportunity to leave that place of welcome, rent a small apartment and cover my monthly expenses, while Sweden continues to show me how advanced a country can be in terms of society.

Now, after a year of having started in such a pleasant work environment, I can say that I have been satisfied with the achievements obtained through this work, which has given me stability, future friendships and a lot of experience with which I have acquired an infinity of culinary knowledge and service in general.

Photography by: @miguelarocha (Stockholm, Sweden)
Nikon D3300

My story may not be very different from many others, but I think that there is always something to learn from each person's point of view. At the time of emigration, try to emerge as you can with the greatest legality in each moment, and always trying to do things correctly. Remember that the country you are coming to is expecting something good from you as a human being, as a worker and above all as a citizen. It is up to you to return that great welcome with as much gratitude as possible. In my case, I continue to work every day while learning a beautiful new language and creating friendships that I know will last for many years to come. And as I always say, preparation is everything in these cases.