Stephanie Marques (30) arrived in Ireland for the first time from Brazil on St Patrick’s Day 2019.
“I had no idea that St Patrick’s Day was a thing,” she says. She had chosen to fly that day as it was the cheapest flight she could find: “I thought the flight was so cheap because it was March and cold.”
Marques had moved from her native São Paulo to Dublin to learn English, initially planning to only stay for the duration of her language course. When she arrived at her host family’s house, she found it decorated with banners and bunting and thought that they had decorated the house with Irish motifs for her arrival.
A few months after arriving she asked her host mother if they had decorated the house for her arrival or for St Patrick’s Day. Her host mother laughed and clarified that they had decorated the house for the national day.
“The only things I knew about Ireland was that it rained a lot, people drank too much and there were lots of Brazilians.”
Growing up in São Paulo, raised by a single mother, Marques spent a lot of time with her grandmother, who was a chef at a local school.
“I was always in the kitchen with my grandmother because my mum, she worked at the bingo and now she works at the poker table, but she was always working at night.”
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Looking to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps at 17, Marques enrolled in culinary school at the University of São Paulo.
From her second year in college she began working in events. That led to a job after college for a company that did catering for big companies such as LinkedIn and Google. Her job was very demanding.
Stephanie Marques moved to Dublin from São Paulo. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien
“I would work Sunday to Sunday. I would have one Sunday off a month and then sometimes Monday. I would always have to be there.”
Her hours were meant to be 6am-4pm but in practice it was 6am-6am as they had to clean the kitchen and get things ready for events the next day.
Feeling burnt out, she decided to take a career break to learn English. Her first choice of destination was Canada, but after having her visa request denied twice, she had to look elsewhere and with a bit of help from her mother found an English course in Ireland.
Moving from sunny Brazil to rainy Ireland was a shock, and she felt isolated. She desperately missed her friends and close-knit family.
“I didn’t want to stay here. I would cry every day because I didn’t understand English and I didn’t understand the Irish accent. It was just so rainy. It does also rain a lot in Brazil, but this is a different type of rain. It’s very cold.”
However, with a bit of time, Marques made friends and began to adapt to life. Just as she was beginning to settle in, the Covid-19 lockdown happened, which prevented her from travelling home when her English course came to an end.
During this time Marques had steady work as a childminder for a family, which she became close to.
“They treated me as part of the family too. I thought, Why am I going to leave now?”
She decided to return to college and did a marketing degree at the Dublin Business School.
“At college I saw that people would stick to their own groups. The people from Chile with their own community; the Irish people with their community; the Spanish and, I don’t know, Italian people did the same.”
As a result, most of her friends from college are Brazilian.
During her time at college she worked several jobs to support herself, including night shifts as a cleaner and minding children.
Stephanie Marques moved to Dublin from São Paulo. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien
After graduating she worked two jobs in which she says her bosses said they would sponsor her visa but ultimately did not. Growing increasingly desperate as her visa was coming to an end, she applied for a job doing logistics at company that supplies gluten-free chicken products. In her interview they told her that if she passed the trial day, they would hire her and immediately apply for her visa.
“I just had a good feeling about. It felt too good to be true but I had a good feeling about it.”
She passed her trial and has worked there ever since.
She believes that some similarities between her homeland and Ireland are what has made her feel so at home here.
“I tell all my Irish friends that Ireland is the Brazil of Europe. It’s just too similar. You guys love to party. We love to party. We drink a lot too. We love beans as well, but our beans are different. They are not with tomato sauce.”
She plans to stay in Ireland and hopes to get her Irish citizenship one day. Her dream would be for her mother to move here one day as well.
“My mother loves it here so much. And then seeing my friends accomplishing what they wanted. The possibilities that we have here in Ireland.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or send us two lines about yourself using the form below.