The person who encouraged Victoria Esperanza (38) to move from her native Chile to Cork in 2022? Her therapist.
“She said, ‘Victoria, you have to do this. It’s your dream. Start looking.’ She really helped,” she says.
At the time, Esperanza was in her mid-30s and fresh out of a long-term relationship. “I was very frustrated. I wasn’t happy at all with my life. It was a difficult time.”
Until then she had never lived anywhere other than the city she was born in, Concepción, which is about a six-hour drive south of Chile’s capital, Santiago.
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When deciding where she would move, Esperanza was choosing between Canada, New Zealand and Ireland. “I wanted to live in a good location where you can travel. Canada for me is too far away from everything, same for New Zealand.”
Ireland then was the natural choice. However, Esparanza does admit that she didn’t know much about her intended home.
“I knew that there’s a lot of gingers and they like beer.”
To figure out where in Ireland she should move to, Esperanza turned to Google.
“I googled a bit about Irish cities and then decided on Cork.”
What appealed to her about Cork was that, like her home city of Concepción, it’s not the country’s biggest city.
“Capital cities are not for me. I thought that all the culture in Cork looked cool. And it’s big, but not too big. So, it’s more manageable. I just felt it. I know it sounds ridiculous”
When she first arrived, she took an English course and also worked in a hostel and a food truck.
“That was hard because I was working 20, maybe 25 hours, so I was very tired with little money, but still happy.”
For Esperanza, who at the time was on a tight budget, living and working in a hostel turned out to be a good situation in which to find herself.
“People leave things at hostels, like food, shower gel, hair wash, things like that. Every little thing helped in the beginning”
After a few months she began minding two boys. When she finished her course, the boys’ mother told her about a healthcare assistant job she had heard of through another mother. She then recommended Esperanza for the job.
People were very nice. Nobody corrected me or said ‘I don’t understand you’. People were very patient with my English
— Victoria Esperanza
“I really believe in the energies of good people. So for me it was beautiful that a mother and another mother helped me. They trusted me not because I have a degree or because my English was perfect. They trusted me because they knew me.”
Esperanza worked as a healthcare assistant for three years but recently started working in a nursing home, a job she finds challenging but rewarding.
“There is a lady who is 103 years old and she’s okay, you know? I’m delighted that I can meet people and listen to their stories and learn about them.”
While Esperanza is very happy with her life in Ireland right now, not that long ago she was considering moving back to Chile.
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“It was winter time. I had just finished a relationship with someone. It was cold and I was feeling lonely. I thought, what am I doing here?”
However, a visit back to Chile over the Christmas of 2024 to spend time with family and friends revived her spirits. It also served as a reminder of how difficult life is in the South American country.
“Here in this country, I can have a better salary. I’m not going to lie – it’s a financial thing. I can save money. I’m looking to the long term. If I can save money here, maybe in the future, I can’t buy a big house but maybe a flat in Chile. In Chile it was impossible for me to save money.”
Back home Esperanza had to rely on help from her mother to make ends meet even though she was in full-time employment. Being a fiercely independent person, she hated having to depend on her mum.
“I think I will stay here, and I keep fighting because maybe I was so afraid to go back to Chile and for it to be the same. I’m afraid of what I’m going to do there.”
After she came back from her visit to Chile, life in Ireland got better for Esperanza. Not long after returning she met her boyfriend on Tinder. “His family are very loving. His friends are funny, like really, really nice. They made me feel really welcome.”
She sees similarities between Chilean and Irish people, who she considers equally chatty and sociable. She is especially grateful to the strangers in Cork with whom she was able to strike up conversation as she tried to practise her English in the first few months after moving to Ireland.
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“People were very nice. Nobody corrected me or said ‘I don’t understand you.’ People were very patient with my English.”
A big difference between the two countries that she has noticed is that people in Ireland are generally more relaxed and slower to anger than people are in Chile.
“People here are very calm for me. In Chile people are very fiery; they fight all the time.”
She loves how much people here say sorry, as she sees it as a sign of how respectful they are to one and another.
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 send us two lines about yourself using the form below.
