Why I moved to Lisbon with one suitcase

Five years ago I left London with one suitcase, a laptop and a borrowed key to a flat in Graça. I told people it was for six months. I think I knew it was not.

What I did not expect was how much the suitcase would teach me. With so little, everything I owned had to be chosen twice: once to bring, and once to keep. I still own very little. I still choose twice.

Lisbon was patient with me. It let me be bad at its language for a long time. It taught me to walk uphill without complaining, mostly. And it gave me a desk by a window that faces the river, where nearly everything on this site was written.

Lena · 11 April 2021, Lisbon