Why emmigrate?
I have recently travelled to my birthtown and had the chance to meet old friends and relatives that I have not seen in a long time. Most of them have stayed in Portugal most of their lives, while some emmigrated to other countries- They have moved mostly to other countries in Europe, due to the dire socioeconomical situation that Portugal has passed through the last decade. We met for a couple of social events and the reasons for emmigrating came up often as a conversation topic. I knew beforehand that there is a big fraction of portuguese emmigrants (emmigrants, yes, I do not understand why some people prefer to classify themselves as ex-pats, as if the word immigrant is some sort of insult) to whom the main reason for migrating has to do with the improvement of work conditions or economical situation. With the real danger of sounding pedantic or pretentious, I would say that probably one of my biggest personal motivations to emmigrate is the chance of being challenged and to