‘In Brazil, it’s all about the food. Here it’s more about the drink’

When Laura Devides first moved to Dublin, she lived in some “very bad places”, including one rental where she shared a double bed for a long time, before moving to a mattress on the floor.

“It was the second place I lived in Dublin. At first I was sharing the double bed with my sister but when she went home to Brazil, a friend of mine [was] sharing. It was so uncomfortable, and then I got a mattress in Ikea and slept on the floor for like a year,” Devides says.

She says it was difficult to find anywhere else to live due to the housing crisis, but now she shares a rental with her long-term boyfriend in Bray, Co Wicklow.

“We’re lucky. It’s a two-bed near the beach, but we still pay a lot,” Devides says.

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Originally from Londrina in the south of Brazil, with a population of about 500,000 people, Devides moved to Ireland in May 2014.

“It’s funny because I never imagined I’d still be here nine years later, but here we are,” she laughs.

Devides grew up the eldest of three siblings, and had a “pretty good life growing up” in Londrina.

“I got a good education and had a good life. I was frustrated though, because nothing really happened in Londrina, and if you wanted to do anything you [had] to go to São Paulo and it was expensive there,” she says.

After school, Devides began a university course in food technology, but she always knew her passions lay in a more creative field.

“I did my first introductory make-up course in Londrina and then a proper one in São Paulo. It was fun at the time but the city was too crazy for me,” she says.

That citizenship really changed my life. You don’t think your visa is going to change anything in your day-to-day life but it does

Devides’ younger sister had heard about programmes for Brazilians to travel to the United States and suggested they go there for a few months. “It was similar to the way the Irish go there and to Australia. We went to America when I was 21 for five months. It was really fun, but it made me realise I didn’t want to go back to studying food technology.”

Devides was already working as a make-up artist but it “wasn’t really considered a proper job”, she says. She then realised Ireland offered one-year visas for Brazilians to study English and work part-time.

“You could work some hours and that’s what made it viable. My sister and I came in 2014 with the goal of just staying for that year, but two months later I met my partner,” she says.

Her sister returned to Brazil to resume her studies, while Devides remained in Dublin in a long-distance relationship with her partner, who was living in Co Kerry. “When I met him it was his last week in Dublin before he went back to Kerry. I went to Kerry every other weekend and I loved getting the train there, because where I’m from we don’t have trains like that and I loved the novelty of it,” she says.

After two years they began living together in 2016. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the couple moved to Co Kerry for one year and saved some money. “I wished we could stay longer but my jobs are in Dublin, and he can work from anywhere,” she says.

Devides mostly does make-up for brides, something which she considers to be “living the dream, for real”.

She has Italian citizenship as her grandfather was Italian. It was a “really expensive and complicated process” that took almost two years, Devides says, explaining that she also lived in Italy for a period, but it has meant that she has been able to remain in Ireland.

“That citizenship really changed my life. You don’t think your visa is going to change anything in your day-to-day life but it does. It changes the kind of jobs you can do, for example.”

Devides worked as a babysitter in Ireland for years, a job she “loved”, and still remains in contact with some of the families. “But after the citizenship I could go for full-time salon jobs in make-up and that was amazing,” she says.

Devides works as a freelancer in make-up now and about 90 per cent of her clients are Irish.

“This week I had a client who was a bride in 2020. I did her make-up for her wedding but this week she came back to me as she was going to her brother’s wedding. She was showing me the photos on her wall of her wedding day and the make-up I did. I was so proud and emotional,” Devides says.

When you speak English all day at the beginning, when you get home, you’re exhausted. But now I dream in English

“I think Ireland gives me this possibility of having this free life. I’m happy here, I have everything here that I need.”

While there is a large Brazilian community in Ireland, and Devides has some Brazilian friends and connections, she has “always tried to be part of the community” and build relationships and professional networks with Irish people.

“I’ll never be Irish, but if you don’t do that, you would feel like an outsider,” she says.

The biggest challenge to this was the language. Though Devides had studied English since the age of 15, after her mother enrolled her in classes, it was a shock to arrive in the US and “to realise ‘oh, this is a different language’,” and “a second shock to arrive in Ireland where the accent is so different”.

“It took me a while to adjust. When you speak English all day at the beginning, when you get home, you’re exhausted. But now I dream in English,” she laughs.

When Devides first arrived in Ireland, the Brazilian community was “not as large as it is now”. “The biggest difference for me since it has grown here is that I don’t need to bring things back from my visits home [in] Brazil any more, like my favourite sweets,” she explains, adding: “I can find them in a local Brazilian shop. There is even one near me in Bray”.

Devides sometimes feels “a bit of prejudice from people because there are so many Brazilians here now”. Overall, she feels Ireland has been “a warm and welcoming place” for the past nine years.

“I have so many opportunities in Ireland than I’d ever have in Brazil. I was featured in Gloss magazine. I did the American ambassador’s make-up, and an actress from Jurassic Park. It’s easier here to progress,” she says.

The work-life balance in Ireland is “much better” too.

There are more differences than similarities between Brazilians and Irish people, but this makes it more of a joy for people from different cultures to mix, Devides believes.

“Everything in Brazil is so loud and emotional whereas here, it feels so contained. The Irish share stuff to a degree but not really. The food is a big difference. In Brazil, it’s all about the food. But here it’s more about the drink,” she laughs.

People in Ireland are “very honest”, which can “create a safe environment”.

“You forget or drop stuff and Irish people give it back to you – it’s a no brainier,” she says.

Devides takes life in Ireland “year by year” but hopes to stay here if she is able to visit home at least once per year.

“Ideally I’d like to spend a couple of months a year in Brazil though. There was a stage I was nearly 3½ years without going back for a visit and that was the hardest in my life,” she recalls.

“For it to be worth being here, I have to go home to visit once a year or more. But I really love my life here”.

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