Personal Bytes

In response to Joao Ramos comment

Hi Mário.

Glad you do posted this.
I’m thinking to try my luck in USA. I know Green Card will not be a easy thing to get, but I hope to manage that well (legally of course).

Now, how as been your experience there? How does a European lives with some American Mentality (and I know not all of them are that way)? What was the biggest problems you had there, from current life (getting a place to live, buying food, laundry) as to the Job environment, etc etc.

By another way, what will be the first impression of a Portuguese person in USA?

Hi Joao,

First off, getting a green card is really hard and, as Vitor Rodrigues answered you, you need prior working experience in the USA to be eligible to get one. You can try the green card lottery but bear in mind that they give a very small amount compared to the ones applying for one. There are some special visas like E-1 that allow you to work on a company that’s from the same country you’re from. Here at SAP most of the Germans have that E-1 since SAP is German.

As for the Americans, I’d say we paint an absolute distorted vision of what they really are (exception for the current Government). Americans are really kind people. You go to a supermarket and you’ll receive tons of “His” and “Hellos” from people you’ve never seen. People are simply nice. Even if we consider states like Texas or New Mexico, people are nice, although their political views are quite questionable.

Fortunately I didn’t have a big problem since I arrived here. Finding a house was not easy but I managed to do it. Craigslist is hugely popular here so you’ll find everything you need there. You can even find people offering free stuff for pick up (beds, sofas, TVs, anything)! As for buying food, getting healthy food is considerably more expensive than getting junk food, but you’ll be able to manage it. Overall, food is probably cheaper than in Portugal if we consider the actual currency Dollar vs Euro. And so is gasoline! Regarding the laundry, I was fortunate enough to get an apartment with a washing machine, which is something quite odd here. Most of the people simply go to laundries (waste of time). If that happens to you, make sure you take your laptop or a book with you. It’s dead boring. Oh, and most of the apartments are not furnished. I had to buy a ton of things in IKEA (of course it had to be IKEA, I like supporting Europe :-).

Also important is the fact that public transportation here, although fairly decent for such a large state (California), is really expensive. That’s due to the car and oil industry lobbyism to keep cars rolling. For instance, traveling from San Francisco to Fremont by trains costs around $10 for a two-way round trip. Taking the car with you, unless it’s really fuel inefficient (Mustang 1967 GTO? Shelby? Cadillac Escalade? Hummer?), will probably be cheaper.

Finally, my first impression was that, except for the food, I kind of felt at home. The culture is not that different (you’ll get used to not giving kisses in the face, only kind of hugs). As some people say, in America everyone is different and everyone is the same. There’s not a big culture clash since you’ll find people from everywhere so someplace or another you’ll find someone you’re comfortable with. It’s been a great opportunity for me to get to know new cultures and dealing with people from all parts of the world on a daily basis has given me a very handy experience.

I couldn’t end this post without talking about one of me most fascinating cities in the world. San Francisco. It’s a very open minded city where you’ll see a lot of different people and a lot of limousines. You go there and you can smell entrepreneurship all over the place. Anyone is a suitable individual for opening a company on the next day and failure is not seen as a major disaster (as in Europe) but rather a great learning experience to replenish yourself and simply try again. I met individuals doing their 7th or 8th company. And some of them never succeed but they’re still trying!