A year ago if you had told me that I was going to be getting a job and moving my whole life from London to New York City, I would have told you that you were hallucinating. Yet, here I am, a week away from doing just that! The time has finally come. It’s been an exciting and surprisingly easy process. I have dreamed of living in NYC for as long as I can remember and now it is about to happen. It all started with a random google search: how to get a visa to NYC, as an architect? Which led me to Architecture-US! I couldn’t believe there was a program that could get me to my dreams, it seemed so easy that I was even a bit scared that it was a fake! I then did lots of googleing the names of the people that wrote these blog posts and cross checked with their info on LinkedIn. Hah! Now, it’s finally my turn, and you are probably on that side doing the exact same thing.
I am 28, Portuguese and have been working as an architect for 4 1/2 years. My traveling adventure started at 20 when I decided to move to Chicago for my Masters Degree. I stayed there for 4 years and really loved the city, the people and the whole experience. After that I went to Tokyo for an architecture internship for 3 months, and once again it was a fantastic experience that taught me so much about myself and about architecture. I then moved to London where I have been living for the last 3 years, but was really in need of a change of scenery because the constant grey weather just isn’t for me. Remembering how much I had loved my time in Chicago, I was really curious what it would be like to live in NYC. So, I decided, it is time to go find out what experiences New York has to offer.
I will be doing traineeship at Andre Kikoski, a studio where art, design, and architecture all converge to create a wide variety of unique spaces. I am sure I will learn a lot from my colleagues, the city, events, and through the projects I work on. Also wanted to take a moment to think that this all wouldn’t be possible without architecture-US, they are the real MVPs in this whole process. They have fantastic opportunities which they hand pick and send to you by e-mail, so every few days you get a choice of amazing studios to apply to in lots of American cities. They then take care of the communication with the company and are really just great at managing the exchange of information. I couldn’t believe how fast everything went from the moment I signed up, had my interview and got an offer! Crazy. Architecture-US was really key in allowing this to happen. They were so communicative and always ready to answer all my questions with ease and professionalism. Really wanted to thank Janis, for he was a real star in helping my process!
After waiting for a bit for the whole visa process to go through, it seems like everything has developed so fast in the last week! Had to book my visa interview, my plane ticket, hotels in NYC, and book flats to go look at, all within the last week. It’s finally all happening! It really only felt real once I bought that plane ticket. I am a little nervous about leaving everything behind, once again, and starting again in a new city. Yet for the most part, I am thrilled and can’t wait to keep you all updated on my journey. There is something special about NYC, it really is the center of the world, and now I am about experience being in the middle of it.
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