Differences between Portugal and the U.S.—Part One
Inside Apartments and Homes
A Quick Intro
Hi, I’m Kimberly Anne and thrilled to be writing these articles for you. If you don’t know my background: I relocated alone from San Francisco to Portugal in September 2022, sight unseen and without a built-in support system. Before that, I spent a year traveling solo across the U.S., living in a van. I’m also a published indie author with over thirty novels hiding under my skirt (with a strong emphasis on hiding).
On Substack I have over 20 articles about traveling, living in Portugal, minimizing/minimalism and whatever else strikes my fancy. I post a new article (newsletter) each week. I also have a weekly podcast. You can find “all the things” on the main page here or in the archives or on my website!
I’m excited to finally write about the differences between living in the US and living in Portugal. I’ve been taking copious notes about this for two years.
Most importantly: I LOVE THE DIFFERENCES! Why?
They keep me on my toes and engaged.
They’re fascinating.
They’re fun (mostly).
Every day something new stands out and blows my mind…
You don’t get into a rut and you rarely go on auto-pilot.
I will write a series of articles on this topic because there’s so much to talk about.
But first: a “warning”
Sometimes, I wish I had found an article like this and read it before I moved here so I would know what to expect. And yet, part of me is happy that I didn’t because every day is a new discovery.
So if you’re a person that loves discovery, new and exciting and weird and crazy and different things every single day and you don’t find all of that overwhelming, you may want to skip this particular article. You can peruse my archives instead.
But if you’re a person that is overwhelmed by the thought of your move and everything seems too big and grand and you don’t want any more surprises, please read on.
Or if you’re not moving to Europe and you’re reading along and living vicariously, or if you’re moving elsewhere... here you go.
Inside My Apartment:
Instead of creating a long, boring list, I’ll infuse this with personal tales, and hopefully some of them will even elicit a chuckle.
Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.
— Maya Angelou
The Bathrooms
The first thing I noticed both inside and outside my apartment has to do with the bathrooms. All the light switches are on the outside. This does come with surprises. The first year I would enter the bathroom in my house, close the door and be in utter darkness as I felt around for a switch that wasn’t there. This happened in public restrooms as well. It’s amazing how long old habits take to change.
My writing coach asked me to look up why this was the case, so here goes. You can thank Christopher and ChatGPT for this information: historically it was done as a safety regulation since bathrooms are humid, and now it’s what people have come to expect. Apparently this is common practice throughout Europe as well.
Other Fun Bathroom Conundrums
My toilet, and this isn’t common for everyone, but it is common enough because most of the buildings are 100 years old or older… can not handle toilet paper. It will clog. It clogs regularly without toilet paper too, but it will triply clog with toilet paper. For me, this is not an issue because I lived on a houseboat in Sausalito where you couldn’t flush the toilet paper and more recently, for a year in vanlife. So I’m pretty used to it and it doesn’t bother me. But I know it would (and does) bother other people. However, it’s just something you get used to.
Another issue that I did struggle with more… is the only outlet in the bathroom is placed by the door and very high up. I’m told this is standard for safety reasons. It makes it impossible for me to use my “towel warmer”, placed on the other side of the bathroom in the only tiny space available. And no, I don’t have a towel warmer because I’m chi-chi, though there’s nothing wrong with that, I’m just a little more “granola/y”. I was told I’d need a towel warmer for the constant dampness in Porto as the wet bathroom towels never dry and quickly mold. I opted for a dehumidifier as well, which I much prefer and highly recommend. Forget the towel warmer. I wheel my dehumidifier into the bathroom after every shower. I love my dehumidifier and seriously can’t live without it.
Drying Clothing
The dehumidifier is an absolute must in order to dry clothing in the winter, there’s even a clothes drying setting. It’s rare to find actual clothes dryers in homes here or in most of Europe. They do exist, but they aren’t standard. Another strange thing, while I’m on the subject… is you have to buy your own washer if you rent a new, unfurnished apartment. I did this and would have purchased a dryer as well but there’s no room for one in my apartment. My laundry room is the size of a postage stamp but hey, at least I have one! This is more than a lot of my friends have.
The Windows
There are no screens. I find that when I mention this to friends in the US, they’re appalled. “How do you keep the flies out?” The simple answer is that I don’t. But strangely I don’t have much of a fly issue. I have fruit flies and that’s something I’ve finally learned to manage after two years, but flies from outside are rare in my apartment. It’s probably because I live on the second floor, which is technically the third floor, as the ground floor is considered the first floor here. Another difference that takes a long time to get used to, but also makes sense. The flies that do manage to enter are mostly eaten by my dog (for real!) or eventually fly out or die. I had one acquaintance here who was terrified of bees and she hired someone to put up screens. My cousin, living in Paris, seems to have more of an issue and bought velcro screens on Amazon.
But for me, I simply adapted. Another difference with the windows here are that they open differently. You twist the handle one way and they open from the top, sliding toward you but still connected on the bottom. It forms a wide gap for air circulation and I love this so much. This also makes it harder for flies to enter. In every room of my house, except my office, I also have door windows. These offer the ability to open from the top only or, twist the handle another way and it opens as a door. I leave my door all the way open in my living room whenever the weather is nice so my dog has access to the balcony. She likes to watch the goings on and sunbathe. This lets in more flies, especially in the summer and they will fly in circles in the center of my living room but for some “unknown reason” *cough* Estrela (my dog), they are always gone by nightfall.
Which brings me to the balconies…
Most apartments in Portugal have amazing balconies. I have one running the entire length of three rooms which includes my kitchen, living room and bedroom. My guest room also has it’s own private balcony. Balcony sizes vary. Mine is long and thin. One friend of mine has a very wide one. (Stop your dirty mind, I’m talking about balconies!) I can still fit a table, several chairs and a planter on mine. It’s where I lunch or eat dinner with friends when they visit.
The Size of the Kitchen and the Kitchen Sink
Are you seeing a pattern? Perhaps the Portuguese are not as obsessed with size as much as we are in the US?
Seriously though, it’s because houses and apartments are old here, as they are in all of Europe. In Porto they range from being built in the 16th century in the historic district to the 20’s and 30’s downtown. My area, a 25 minute walk to downtown, was built between 1933-1974.
And back in the day, rooms were smaller and plentiful to house larger families. There wasn’t the idea of an “open floor plan” or a large kitchen or even a large kitchen sink.
I found it much easier to adapt to a small kitchen than I did to a small kitchen sink. I still struggle with this. My sink is a tad larger than a bathroom sink. This is standard and I will say it’s one of my major pet peeves, but nothing I can’t handle. It’s certainly not a deal breaker. But it took awhile to get used to it and, I still get annoyed at times.
Thankfully I was somewhat eased into this by living in the van for a year prior to moving here. The van sink, while larger than my sink here, wasn’t much larger.
You learn to turn the water on lower so your sink and body aren’t covered with water while you’re washing, which still happens to me on a regular basis.
The countertops in my kitchen are wood, which are all the rave here right now and the stupidest material to use for kitchen countertops. I learned this in the van too. Water and wood are not friends. Water stains wood. Water will always stain wood. You can oil the wood every single day to form a “barrier” though don’t lean against it after it’s oiled or you will get oil on your clothing. But even then, if you leave anything wet or even slightly wet sitting on the countertop for an hour, you will have a stain. You may be able to sand the stain out but, why add all this work? Just don’t put wood countertops in the kitchen.
However, my apartment has them and I must use a towel to wipe them off constantly. The workers who tore down the old construction in my apartment (to the studs) and created this new apartment cut corners. A lot of corners. This wouldn’t fly in California, that I know for sure. The wallpaper they insisted was needed because of cracks in the walls, peels off at the seams. They didn’t seal the area between the kitchen sink and wooden countertop so water is destroying that area. The issues are long. But, the apartment looks nice enough. Just don’t look too closely.
And still, I’m super happy with it and feel very fortunate to live here. I’m not a nitpicky person and most things don’t really bother me. So I adapt to the tiny kitchen sink as best as I can.
Fixtures, Floors and Doors—oh my
Apartments don’t come with fixtures, or at least mine didn’t. So there are bare bulbs hanging in the ceiling of every room. I could hire someone or buy or rent a ladder and hang my own. I priced that out but it would cost me a minimum of €300 to outfit the entire house with the cheapest shades I can find and being on a budget, I haven’t bothered. Just don’t look up.
The floors are the original parquet wood and they’re gorgeous. But… oh there’s always a but isn’t there? 1. After they sand and shellack them, it stinks with the toxic chemical smell for months. 2. After two years they’re starting to come up in many areas. Did I mention the shoddy (cutting corners/on a budget) workmanship? Yes, yes I did. Still, I love them and prefer wood to carpeting.
There are doors closing off every room, and even the hallway, which I did not understand at first. My last apartment in California had an open floor plan for the living room and kitchen. Doors didn’t seem to matter. But now I love having them! If there’s a strong food smell in the kitchen, I can close the kitchen door, the hallway door and my bedroom door. One thing I cannot handle is the smell of food when I’m trying to sleep.
When I have guests I close the hallway door and they can sleep in without hearing any noise from the living room or kitchen. I really love the doors!
Oh and as my friend Siobhan discovered when she was staying here, the latches are magnetic! Plus, every single door has a lock and key. The same key works in every lock so it’s not secure but it’s super fun. And if I ever lose all fifteen keys, I could quickly pick the locks. In my defense, a kindergartner could pick these locks.
Bedrooms
The bedrooms are smaller here but I don’t mind that much. The only thing about the bedroom that I have found challenging is the lack of closets. Bedrooms in Europe, typically, don’t have closets. So if you want to hang your clothing, you have to buy an armoire, which limits your bedroom space even more.
Conclusion
I could definitely keep going but I think at this point you understand that pretty much everything is different, from my perspective. And if you’re from the US or elsewhere outside Europe, you’ve probably come to the same conclusion.
I love the differences. They encourage adaptability, keep me on my toes and require lots of mental interpretation (aka: deep thought). But most of all, they’re fun!
Resources or Mentions in this Article:
My Apartment — before and after!
First Six Months of Living Abroad
How/Why I Ended up in Portugal
Living Abroad After Two Years
If you’re considering moving abroad I have a series of articles to help.
Archive of all my Articles and Podcast Episodes
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—Expat on a Budget AKA Living Abroad on a Budget and My Unknown Adventure by Kimberly Anne
Great article, Kimberly! Many of these things I can relate to here in Mexico: no flushing toilet paper in older places, no screens on windows (including flies and the dog eatings thereof 😂), small kitchen sinks - ugh, I’m constantly doing dishes!
As for the differences in general: “You don’t get into a rut and you rarely go on auto-pilot” - yes! 💯
The doors, keys, towel warmers being to high, so many more that made me laugh and nod in agreement. Thanks!