It was the year 2014 and as a young dentist, I couldn’t develop myself professionally as I wanted.
Besides, I worked too many hours per day and I couldn’t spend much free time with my partner and little son. So I decided to look at a career abroad and after a few contacts I got in touch with BGB, but I still found it quite exciting since I had never been to the Netherlands before. Once we were invited for a personal introduction at the office and met the team, we returned home and, after a few days, our decision was made.
Before we went to the Netherlands, we first had to learn the language at the Academy. It was great and fun to do this with other dentists and due to studying together, we also got to know many new people that are nowadays part of our family. However, it was definitely not easy to learn the language, because it was an intensive course and besides, as young family, I also had to combine the course with my duties as a mother. But I was motivated and had a lot of perseverance, so eventually I managed to learn the Dutch language after several weeks of hard studying.
Of course, in the beginning I still made mistakes with the language, but I noticed that I started speaking better and better when I started working in the dental clinic.
Of course, we sometimes find it difficulty that we are apart from our family, especially now with two children, but that’s why we try to go back there regularly, combining it with the nice Portuguese weather! ???? But apart from that, we are very happy and grateful with our life in the Netherlands. We have a good work-life balance and can spend a lot of time with our family – both in the evenings and during the weekends. And we even bought a house here, so we are completely settled and don’t see ourselves going back soon!
We have nice neighbors and also regularly meet up with friends we met during the course and in the Netherlands.
In short, as a Portuguese dentist, I can definitely recommend the Netherlands, but you have to be motivated to learn the language and be able to stand the Dutch weather once in a while ????
Want to read more about Joana and Dário’s story? Our recruiter Arjen interviewed them a while ago about their journey and life in the Netherlands! See the link to their story here!
