Living abroad | Larnie Zvigzne shares experiences of living abroad during a pandemic

Mrs Zvigzne grew up in Stawell and travelled to Ireland about five and a half years ago for a working holiday for 12 months.

She met her now-husband, Armins who is from Latvia, partway through that year and ended up moving back there indefinitely.

"I had done a working holiday in the UK before my time in Dublin and wanted to still be in Europe to travel so I picked Ireland and luckily, I ended up liking it," Mrs Zvigzne said.

"I have done some study over here now because my working holiday visa ran out.

"I studied business and am now working in a solicitor's firm in Dublin."

Mrs Zvigzne was married just over a year ago in a small intimate celebration.

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"We are planning to try and have a proper wedding in a couple of years time in Latvia," she said.

"That's the plan and hopefully we can still do it."

Mrs Zvigzne said living overseas during the pandemic hasn't come without its challenges for businesses and the economy.

"Cases didn't really start to rise until March and April over here, much similar to Australia," she said.

"In March we went into lockdown and a lot of businesses started working from home.

"Around that time was St Patrick's day and the biggest event of the year for Ireland for the sake of the Irish people and tourism as well.

"That was cancelled. Usually, there is a big parade through the centre of Dublin and millions of dollars was lost for the economy."

Mrs Zvigzne said many businesses had made announcements, working from home would continue until at least the end of this year.

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"I travel on public transport every day to go to Dublin for work," she said.

"A lot of the people from our village where I live and others who commute into Dublin and work for big multinational companies are all working from home.

"There are literally a handful of people on my bus at the moment."

Mask wearing is compulsory in Ireland in shops and on public transport but not in public spaces as yet.

"We have had a spike here in the last couple of weeks so it will be interesting if things change," Mrs Zvigzne said.

"People are taking the situation pretty seriously and following the rules over here.

"People are starting to see what is going to be the long term and with the school year starting in September there is a lot of stress about how it is going to be managed."

Mrs Zvigzne said at times it was daunting being so far away from home during the pandemic.

"It was a weird feeling when the borders were announced closed," she said.

"My Mum was going to come here in April and then her trip was cancelled.

"It's just so uncertain. Since my Mum's trip was cancelled we thought maybe we should travel back to Australia in 2021 but we can't be certain we could do that either."

Do you have a story to share? Get in touch - cassandra.langley@austcommunitymedia.com.au

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