What Makes a Dual Citizen?
I am officially a dual citizen (USA/Italy)! This started back in early September of 2018. My sister, Alecia Ramsey, called me up one night and told me something fascinating. While she was doing some genealogy research, she discovered that we might actually be Italian citizens by Italian law. According to Italian law, those born to an Italian citizen anywhere in the world are Italian citizens at birth. (Jure Sanguinis, which means “by right/virtue of blood”). Here in the USA, citizenship is passed to you if you were born on US soil, or, Jure Soli. My great-grandfather, Domenico DiCesare, moved to West Virginia from Italy around 1901. He and my great-grandmother…
Who Else is Interested in Baseball in Portugal?
As a lifelong baseball fan, I was curious about baseball in Portugal. Is it played there? Is it a common sport? Will I be able to go to many games? Let me tell you what I found out. But first, allow me to talk about my interest in the sport. Looking Towards the Past – Growing Up with Baseball in the US I have always been a baseball fan. Beginning with T-ball at six years old, I grew up playing baseball. Other than one unassisted triple play I made, I was never really exceptional at playing. Oddly enough, I grew to love the game even more as a fan long…
What Epiphany Means in Portugal: A Surprise to Me
What does Epiphany mean in Portugal, and how is it celebrated? The day the three Wise Men came to pay their respects to the baby Jesus is the end of the Christmas season. Epiphany is also called Twelfth Night. Some people believe that you should only take down your Christmas tree and decorations on Twelfth Night. Doing so early could be bad luck. If you forget, you should keep them up until Candlemas Day, February 2nd (which I have always just known as Groundhog’s Day). Perhaps this is why my luck has been not-so-good from time to time. I have always taken my tree and decorations down anytime on or…
How To Transfer a US Driver’s License in Portugal
Getting a driver’s license in Portugal isn’t too hard. You need certain paperwork and a lot of patience to deal with bureaucracy and language difficulties. Go to the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT) – Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes – as early in the day as possible as they are always busy. Here in the United States, I have a commercial driver’s license. I have endorsements that also allow me to drive tanker trucks, hazardous materials, and motorcycles. When I move to Portugal, I don’t know if I will drive heavy trucks for a living or not. Eventually, I will buy a car over there…and possibly a motorcycle. …
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What Makes a Dual Citizen?
One Turning Point After Another in My Life
Can you think of a specific moment in your life, a turning point, when you knew that your life would never be the same? Oftentimes, I think of many of those moments in my life. We all have events in our lives that profoundly change the direction of where we thought we were going. I would like to share a few of these moments with you, including the most recent one – why I decided to emigrate to Portugal. I Was Just a Kid In high school, I was just meandering through life as if life was happening around me. I was merely a participant in everyone else’s lives. I…
Starting a New Life, Late in the Game
I know I’m making the right decision. I just know it. It’s probably not for everyone, but if you’re reading this, you might be interested in how I decided to move to Europe to start a new life with some of my family. There is a lot to consider. I’m fifty years old, and we plan to move only two years from now. My wife, Angie, and our two youngest sons, Bradley (19) and Benjamin (4), along with my sister, Alecia, and her daughter, Kellie (16), plan to move to Portugal together as a family. We will live, work, and enjoy what life has to offer across the Atlantic. For…
