Diego Silva was coming to the end of a backpacking trip around Europe in September 2017 when he decided to settle in Ireland.
From the city of Montes Claros in Brazil, the 33-year-old was inspired by his cousin and her husband, who had recently made Co Kildare their home. She works as a theatre director and he is a drummer in a band.
“They are the kind of people that I identified with at the time. They are adventurous,” says Silva, who now works as an engineer in Waterford.
Having travelled the world, working in a circus and living in Japan for a while, his cousin had moved to Ireland, where she now lives with her husband and their two children.
“They are the kind of people you don’t see all the time and I was actually inspired by them, by the story that they told me. At the time I was willing to take a risk and put myself into this new adventure.”
Silva’s journey began in Dublin, where he first took up a short-lived job as a rickshaw driver while living in a hostel.
“The experience was really hard. I couldn’t really cope with the work, with the job.” After two weeks, Silva decided he’d had enough.
“I was working at nights and collecting drunk people, bringing them from one pub to their homes or to different pubs… I was just like, this is not for me.”
To make matters worse – “it was raining a lot at that time as well”. Silva was faced with the reality of Irish weather, a stark contrast from the Brazilian sun.
He was balancing work with study, having signed up for an English language course in the city centre.
“Learning a new language for me was something big as well. I was really excited at the time,” he says.
“I just needed to put some money in my pocket. I didn’t have a lot after buying the English course, so I was always working and studying at the same time.”
After spending a month living in a hostel, Silva moved into a three-bedroom apartment with five new friends in the north inner city.
“I wasn’t living in a very nice place,” he says, recalling how the area felt unsafe. However, his flatmates, with whom he is “still friends today”, and the affordable rent there, appealed to Silva at the time and he stayed for two years.
Silva moved between a few jobs – waiter, baker, and finally retail assistant – and soon began to feel comfortable in the Irish capital.
The pub culture stuck out to him as “unique” as a social 25-year-old.
“The pub culture was really strong, especially in Dublin, so we got to meet many people. I think people go a little crazy here. I used to think that’s why they close the pubs at a certain point.
‘Waterford – it’s been great as well. Dublin – it was amazing at the time. It was a really different phase of my life. I was doing a little bit of study, a little bit of work and then having a very social life’
— Diego Silva
“I think the pub culture is something that’s only experienced here, maybe in England as well. It’s unique.”
One common trait that Silva says he has noticed in Irish people is “the will to just help others”.
“I think I was lucky to have people help me all along the way. This is kind of similar… I think it’s something I would relate to my culture in Brazil.
“The Irish were always really chatty,” he adds. “They always want to know about your story. They like to interact and make connections.”
Ireland’s natural beauty also struck Silva as a standout feature of his new home. “We started doing hikes. Sometimes we would go for two to three days hiking. That was something new for me. In my region [in Brazil] it’s so hot you can’t be outside for so long,” he says.
“I think one of the best sides of Ireland is the nature here.”
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After a fulfilling two years in Ireland, Silva wanted to pursue further education.
He returned to Brazil at the end of 2019 to gather his thoughts and make a plan. Months later, the world was placed under lockdown. “Covid came and I couldn’t come back, although I wanted to.”
Silva remembers this as a challenging time, as his parents were also divorcing. “I was just having a very hard time in Brazil. With the whole situation, I got really depressed. I couldn’t find a job, it wasn’t a great spot to be.”
Eventually he got a job as a validation engineer, but was keen to return to Ireland. In February 2022 he was finally able to do so. This time, Silva was living in Shannon, where he juggled working as a night porter in a hotel with a six-month English language course.
“After the whole night, I would go to English classes, then go home, go to bed and back to work. Just this crazy routine. But it worked out.”
After being accepted to a year-long course in data analytics at the University of Limerick (UL) that December, Silva “couldn’t really work nights any more”.
“At that point, I left the hotel and worked as an operator in an electrical panel company.”
Fast forward to November 2023, and he was busy applying to jobs and for accommodation.
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He landed an engineering role based in Waterford and found a place to live there. He will soon be two years in the job.
Having lived in three parts of the country, Silva feels each represented “different times in my life, different periods”. Shannon was “really nice” thanks to the close relationships shared with his housemates and colleagues there.
“I think that was the nicest place I lived. People were really close to me. I was really friends with them,” Silva says.
“Waterford – it’s been great as well. Dublin – it was amazing at the time. It was a really different phase of my life. I was doing a little bit of study, a little bit of work and then having a very social life, going to parties and everything.”
Overall, he feels the move to Ireland has been a huge learning experience, “not only professionally, but I know a lot about myself”.
Silva is now happy with the life he has built and plans to stay in Ireland for at least another three years. “From then on, I don’t know, I still have this desire to live in a different country even than Ireland.
“I wouldn’t go back to Brazil but I’d go to a different country in Europe, maybe one of the Nordic countries.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish