# Blog 5 - Lisbon

It is going fast, but what have i done a lot already. The first week in my new town, in my new house, with new housemates, was quite tough. If everything is new and you have nothing to hold on to, and you only have yourself ... which was not exactly a lot for me since I was quite in ruins. But i have to build something from scratch again. Fortunately, the people around me are very sweet, neighbors, on the street, at work and my roommates are the best! I live with 2 French men and 1 Belgian / French girl. We connect well from the start, I am grateful for that. It is a nice house, clean, neat and we are respectful with each other. All my suitcases are unpacked and it feels a bit more like my room, with the cards and photos that I have brought from the Netherlands and received in between, it feels like there are always friends and family around me.

The first week I try to rediscover Lisbon, I went there once, a weekend away with 2 friends, but I must honestly confess that I recognize some places but absolutely do not know the way anymore, it is a big city and there are narrow streets everywhere! Alleys, squares, up and down, climbing, and scrambling through the city. I like it! But also now and then frustrating if you are tired of climbing but see that you are going the wrong way haha ​​little by little I start to understand the city but Google maps is still my big friend. At the weekends I still take my car and drive in the area to nice places, beautiful beaches or discover a new town, I have to keep doing this. Most of the time i like to take someone with me .. going out together and explore is the best thing you can do, it remains a wonderful Holliday feeling in this beautiful country.

The second and third week I have training at Philips, my new job at Customer Service representative, every day with a group of 6 people we get a lot of technical information about allll the products from Philips. We are a Dutch project where we spend time together with Dutch people and a Dutch trainer, my group has also just arrived in Lisbon, so we quickly start discovering together. Enjoy a bite or drink together. We are all very different and we all have our own story of why we came to Lisbon and each with a backpack full of emotional luggage, why we are here. We all want to be happy, do fun things, enjoy, accept each other as we are, and take each other in tow, to a bar or beach. Because we all know, through each of our own experiences, how not to do it. We try to enjoy extra hard here. A new beginning for everyone.

I really like the life here, I am doing well at work, I am learning fast and I always want to get better, I keep popping here too! The work is not fantastic, but I still get satisfaction from it. This week we were put on the phone. Exciting first you are afraid to help the customer, but with the training so fresh in your head, you know more than you think!
I speak to many customers every day with whom i have a nice chat with on the phone, if i try to help them as well as possible and the customer on the phone also notices that, you are always appreciated whether it is resolved or not, the customer is satisfied with your effort and that has always done well to me. They don't call for nothing often I am the last solution and if it works! They are very happy. That makes me happy again. My workplace is like 1 big school, I also sometimes accidentally say what time do you go to school? Or what time are you free from school .. It is a huge company with all younger people, ages 18 to 35 years, with exceptions, the managers, CEO, Supervisors who are all older, but generally Young. I have my own entrance card to enter, my own locker to store my belongings, no cellphone on the floor, only a bottle of water can be taken to your workplace. When we have a break, we are in a large canteen where you can choose from 3 hot meals a day, meat, fish or vegetarian. Each dish is around 2.50 Euro! So cheap and very tasty! I now 'dinner' twice a day with lunch and at home in the evening. Haha Delicious!

So yes, my life just goes on here .. It is not easy, I still think about the Algarve every day, I miss my friends enormously and my life there .. I still often have a hard time with it .. but it does get every day a little less heavy, every day I feel a little lighter and I feel more and more at home here. I have found a gym, where I can again enjoy zumba and pilates classes and they have a swimming pool and sauna! So relaxation is also available. In the city I always find new nice bars with live music, which always makes me very happy! Last week it was Halloween, lots of parties and many dressed up people walked through the city and in the metro and yes at work too! Zombies, creepy people, Dracula, vampires ... all blood and shabby people ... it's a bizarre party too. But it's my turn tonight! Haha Our trainer invited our team to a big party at his home. Many people have been invited and we are all going to be dressed up like freaks .. so I am going to prepare myself for fake blood, gray hair wax, white face paint and torn clothes!

Zombieee timeeee

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