I never knew what I wanted to be “when I’d grow up”, so I ended up studying communications because my best friend did too.

I worked as a journalist for a decade but, at 30, I decided to completely change my career and venture into the world of IT. You can read about my reasons to do so in my very first article on Medium, here.

After completing a 5-month programming boot camp, I started working as a Business Analyst and have been doing so ever since. It has been an intense journey, with many lessons. …

In the summer of 2018, I backpacked for 3 months in Eastern Europe. I am a huge fan of the Balkans, so I was excited to head to Albania for the first time. But when I arrived in the country, I just wanted to leave.

I gave myself time to adjust: I explored Shkodra, moved on to Tirana, but after 5 days in Albania, I found myself in my hostel room browsing the Internet for cheap flights. The soonest and cheapest was headed to Budapest. The next day, I landed in the Hungarian capital.

Saying you don’t like a country…

Reading a book should have an impact on your life — you’d hope, at least.

While some provide entertainment, others teach you, and others change you. The latter can be dangerous, but can also be an open door to the next chapter of your life.

Whether you’re looking to start a new business, to understand yourself better, or to give some spice to your life, in this list, you will find something that suits you.

These are the 5 books that triggered a greater change in my life, in no particular order.

“One must always be careful of books,” said…

Since the 15th of June 2021, it is illegal to expose children to LGBTQ+ content in Hungary. Mimicking Russia’s 2013 Gay Propaganda Law, the conservative party led by Viktor Orbán approved legislation that bans the dissemination of content promoting homosexuality and gender change. This criminalizes any discussion on the topic inside schools or even on advertising.

Orbán’s party, Fidesz, defends the law is not aimed at attacking the LGBTQ+ community but rather at protecting children and keeping their education in the parents’ hands, defending that “only parents can decide on the sexual education of their children”.

“How a child is…

Travel. Eastern Europe.

I grew up not far from the westernmost point of continental Europe, in my home country of Portugal. However, as soon as I first set foot in Eastern Europe, I felt magically attracted to this side of the continent.

Since then, I have backpacked here for several months and visited most countries in the region. I discovered lively cities and gorgeous nature, amazing places that often don’t make it to traveler’s bucket lists. But, hopefully, you will put some of them on yours. I promised you, you won’t regret it.

1. Budapest, Hungary

The coolest city in the whole of Europe. So awesome…

This is not me bragging; these are facts: at 33, I live comfortably, I own an apartment, can afford to travel extensively, and I was never in debt. If you want to know how I manage all this, you can read about my best financial decisions here.

But I certainly have also committed some mistakes in managing my finances. Over the past 11 years, the time I’ve been working and earning, there were decisions that cost me thousands of euros. Money that I lost and that could have been invested to generate even more profit.

Here are my lessons, just…

I submitted an article to PSILY the other day. The editor said she would publish it if I made some changes. “Add personal details”, she suggested. She was right, it was the kind of story that would become a lot richer if there was a personal touch to it.

But it was about failed romantic relationships and I didn’t feel comfortable sharing my private life online. “I agree, but I will pass”, I answered, and published the story elsewhere. It’s called “Why Dating Wrong People Is Not a Waste of Time” and you can read it here if you want.

…

After 20 months of learning Hungarian, I finally reached level B1 and can have simple conversations with native speakers.

Does it seem like slow progress to you? It does for me too, but then I need to remind myself: Hungarian is one of the most difficult languages in the world.

Some days, I feel I am close to becoming fluent. Other days, all I want to say is “baszd meg” — that’s Hungarian for… you can imagine what.

But I keep going. Over these 20 months, I have improved my learning techniques but I have also noticed some mistakes I…