• Tech employees share their salary negotiation tips, which helped boost their pay by tens of thousands of dollars.
• Their negotiation strategies include practicing pitches, using data, and leveraging multiple offers.
• Research and transparency are key in negotiating better compensation in tech roles, they said.

Sarra Bounouh has worked at consulting giant Accenture and three Big Tech companies.

But she still deals with imposter syndrome, especially when talking compensation.

"Going into a negotiation is always, at least for me, a very uncomfortable discussion," Bounouh told Business Insider. "I just want to push through and ask for what I deserve."

She and four other tech employees from Meta, Google, and Cisco shared their salary negotiation tips before joining a company or when trying to get promoted. They have used these strategies to add tens of thousands of dollars to their original offers in recent years.

Product manager at Meta

Avoid offering the first number. If you must, back it up with research, said Bounouh, a product manager who joined Meta earlier this year.

She suggested using resources like Levels.fyi or Glassdoor and selecting your role and geography to see recent offers and compensation that makes sense for that job.

"I personally don't like having detailed conversations about level and compensation from that first call with the recruiter because I want to meet the team, I want to meet the hiring manager, I want to get excited about the role," she said.

Bounouh prefers to negotiate her level and compensation once there's an offer on the table.

She said she often gets asked about salary expectations early in the process because recruiters say they want to save time for both sides.

She politely declines to share a number by telling the recruiter: "I don't have a number for your right now. I will need to do some research before getting back to you. At this stage of the process, I'm more focused on meeting the hiring manager and team."

Rehearsal is key for conversations about promotions or raises, she said.

Bounouh said she practiced her pitch for every job after Accenture and increased all three jobs' initial salary offers: Microsoft by 32%, Snap by 19%, and Meta by 37%.

Product manager at Oracle

Internal transfers between teams or offices are also an opportunity to negotiate your compensation package.

Ketaki Vaidya, who moved from Oracle's India to California office in 2022, said she approached her negotiation with an "everything under the sun is negotiable" mindset.

First, Vaidya looked at Glassdoor and talked to people who'd made the move to gather salary data. She wanted to ensure she was getting a fair offer for the US' cost of living.

"I was being given this offer for the credibility that I had built in the organization. I felt like I had an upper hand in negotiating," she said. "I was much more confident in asking for the things that I deserve — so it ended up being a very smooth transition."

After negotiating her base salary up to $80,000, she discussed other compensation components, including the timing of her next review, sign-on bonuses, relocation costs, paid leave, and remote work. She negotiated a sign-on bonus of $15,000 and a relocation allowance of $15,000, which weren't part of the initial offer.

Now, her compensation is about $130,000 annually, including stock units and bonuses.

Product manager at Cisco

When Varun Kulkarni switched from consulting to tech to work on more artificial intelligence projects, he was careful not to come off as aggressive during his pay negotiations.

Once he had offers from Cisco and others in hand in 2022, he was transparent with recruiters and mentioned other offers, without introducing his own counter number.

He asked recruiters how high they could go and what they thought about other offers.

"You want to kind of not be too pushy" he said.

His offer from Cisco already matched the market rate and what several competitors were offering, but he managed to negotiate it by 5%, bringing his total compensation to $180,000.

Product manager at Google

During his 2022 recruitment process at Google, Yung-Yu Lin used his employer at the time, PayPal, to land better offers from both companies.

He interviewed and landed jobs at several places — but their pay did not compare with Google's offer.

Lin decided to negotiate a retention package. PayPal countered with a 10% pay bump. He then renegotiated with Google.

Google offered a 20% raise on his original compensation at PayPal, which brought his offer to the $350,000 to $400,000 range as a senior product manager, including stock-based compensation.

Software engineer at Meta

Hemant Pandey, a senior software engineer at Meta, used other offers and research in his most recent job search.

After two years at Salesforce, in 2021 he applied to Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, and two other companies. He used offers from these companies to negotiate his compensation at Meta.

"Be very transparent that you have other offers. Even if you have interviews going on, mention those, because it's also leverage," he said. It signals to the recruiter that they have to move fast and work with your parameters.

Meta's recruiters matched the base salary and restricted stock units from the highest of all offers.

Aside from being transparent, Pandey said it is important to be proactive and research how compensation works in different companies. For example, candidates should compare how stocks are refreshed, he said. A refresher is when the stock option portion of an employee's compensation is updated.

"I also negotiated my sign-on bonus and said, 'Hey, at Salesforce, I'll be leaving my $30,000 to $40,000 of annual bonus if I join you. Can you help me accommodate that?'"

Pandey was offered $520,000 in annual pay, including stock options, in that 2021 move.

"The most significant thing happened in my career when I made the move from Salesforce to Meta, which was close to almost 80 to 90% hike" in pay, Pandey said.

Do you work in tech, consulting, or finance and have a story to share about your career journey? Please reach out at [email protected].

• I'm the youngest of three siblings — and the only Gen Zer.
• When I graduated this year, I faced the realities of job-hunting and adulthood.
• I learned lessons from observing my sisters and other millennials navigate their 20s.

After 16 years in the education system, my time as a student ended on a random Wednesday afternoon in April. I was finally free from lectures, tests, and group projects — but thrust into the realities of a scarier world: adulthood.

In this world, there were no set milestones to tell me I was on the right track. Everyone seemed to be on a path to something greater, but I felt directionless.

I know I'm not alone. Every 20-something has probably felt at least a little bit lost in life. But amid mass layoffs and the threat of AI replacing jobs, stepping into the job market as a fresh graduate in 2024 felt like diving head-first into an abyss.

An August report by an early careers platform, Handshake, surveyed 1,925 graduating students. They found that 57% of the students felt pessimistic about starting their careers — an increase from 49% of graduating students last year. Of the 57%, 63% said the competitive job market contributed to their pessimism.

The stress of not knowing whether I could secure a job was compounded by uncertainty about my career. I had studied journalism but wasn't sure if it was the right fit. I had the irrational fear that if my first job turned out to be the "wrong" choice, I'd be relegated back to the start line of the rat race.

Amid a brewing quarter-life crisis, I looked to my sisters, aged 28 and 31. They do many things that people of my generation may scoff at, like watching Instagram reels exclusively and using the laughing emoji. But they seem to have figured out one thing: life after college.

Here's what I've learned from watching them conquer the Roaring Twenties.

Life doesn't end when school ends

Toward the end of college, I mentally prepared myself for the fast-approaching expiration of youth.

"You must treasure your university days," relatives constantly reminded me at yearly Lunar New Year gatherings. They painted adulthood as a bleak portrait of bills, mundanity, and loneliness. So, when the time came, I was reluctant to let go of my identity as a student.

But as the youngest sibling, I also watched my sisters graduate from college, get married, and build their own homes. I saw them achieve promotions at work, find new hobbies, and start a life outside the one I knew of us growing up together.

Adulting isn't easy — I now know that. But there are also so many new milestones and freedoms that come with it, and there is so much to be excited about.

A job is just a job

My elder sister works in communications and the other in architecture. Even when their hours stretched into the night and weekends, they built a whole life outside work.

One started a sticker side business, and the other is now an avid runner.

It wasn't always smooth. My second-oldest sister burned out after working too much in her first job and took a career break. She prioritized work-life balance at her next job.

In that way, millennials and Gen Zers are alike. A 2024 report by Deloitte found that work-life balance topped the priorities for both generations when choosing an employer. When asked which areas of life were most important to their sense of identity, both generations agreed that jobs came second only to friends and family.

Distancing myself from the idea that my job had to be my one true passion lifted a weight off my shoulders. As much as I still want a job that gives me purpose, I also make time for other aspects of life that fulfill me, like working out and spending time with friends.

Just give it time

As with most worries, the fear that I'd never find a job was unfounded. In July, I started my first job as a junior reporter. But when the first day at work finally ended, I trudged home in a daze.

"I have to do this every day for the next 40 years?" I asked my second-oldest sister, who laughed. It wasn't that I didn't like the job. It was the change in routine from school life to a 9-to-5 that unsettled me.

"You'll get used to it," my sister said. Six months in, I still don't know if I will. But seeing my millennial counterparts thrive has encouraged me.

It's not just my siblings who have set an example. At work, my millennial colleagues are a constant source of guidance to the Gen Zers in the office. On social media, millennial influencers brand themselves as "internet big sisters" and give advice on navigating the complex years of their 20s.

Older millennials are now turning 40, but they were once in the position of Gen Zers, being scoffed at by the older generations for being "lazy" and changing work culture.

Now, they've drawn the map for Gen Zers' entry into the strange world of adulthood. It's made adulting just a little less scary.

• A secretary bought three shares of her company's stock for $60 each in 1935.
• Grace Groner reinvested her dividends for 75 years, and her stake ballooned to $7.2 million.
• Her employer, Abbott, shared Groner's story in a recent website post.

A secretary paid $180 in 1935 for three shares of her employer's stock. By the time she died in 2010, her investment had mushroomed to $7.2 million.

Abbott, a pharmaceutical company, gave a shout-out to the former employee in a recent post on its website.

"As we celebrate 101 years of dividend payouts, we're remembering one of the earliest Abbott investing success stories, that of Grace Groner, who worked as a secretary at Abbott for over 40 years," the post reads.

"In 1935, Groner bought three shares of Abbott stock for $60 each. She consistently reinvested her dividend payments and quietly amassed a $7.2 million fortune. Groner passed away in 2010, at the age of 100, and it was only then that her multimillion-dollar estate was discovered."

She gifted her entire fortune to a foundation she'd established in support of her alma mater, Lake Forest College. She earmarked the money to finance internships, international study, and service projects for students.

Groner hung onto her Abbott shares for over 75 years without selling a single one, despite several stock splits, and used her dividends to bolster her stake.

She was likely able to leave her nest egg intact for so long because of her simple lifestyle. She lived in a one-bedroom house, bought her clothes at rummage sales, and didn't own a car, the Chicago Tribune reported in 2010.

Her shares would be worth north of $28 million today, excluding dividends, given that Abbott's stock price has roughly quadrupled since 2010. The drugmaker's market value has risen to around $200 billion, meaning it now rivals Disney, PepsiCo, and Morgan Stanley in size.

• Elon Musk has had a big year with Tesla and SpaceX soaring in value, supercharging his net worth.
• He helped Donald Trump win reelection and intends to transform the US government in 2025.
• Scroll down for seven charts showing how Musk's 2024 played out.

Elon Musk has had a year for the record books.

His businesses have taken off, with Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and Neuralink all touching new valuation highs. Their success has boosted Musk's net worth to above $450 billion for the first time, putting him over $200 billion ahead of the world's second-richest person, Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

Musk has also become a power player in US politics after wielding his cash and clout to help win Donald Trump a second term in office. As one of the president-elect's closest advisors, he's now gearing up to overhaul the US government.

The situation seems worse at X, formerly Twitter, after Musk's $44 billion takeover and reshaping of the platform sparked an advertiser exodus.

Take a look at Musk's 2024 in charts (all data is accurate as of Friday, December 20):

1. Charging ahead

Tesla shares have shot up as much as 85% this year, driving the electric vehicle maker's market value above $1.4 trillion for the first time. They've since retreated but continue to trade near record levels.

The automaker has benefited from market buzz around artificial intelligence — which it's harnessing to develop self-driving cars and humanoid robots — plus a robust US economy and the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates.

Investors are also betting that Musk's businesses will benefit from his close ties to Trump, which could translate into less stringent regulations, government subsidies, tariff exemptions, and more.

2. Reaching for the stars

SpaceX's valuation nearly doubled from $180 billion at the end of last year to $350 billion this month, based on the price paid by the company and its backers for employee shares in its latest tender offer.

Musk's rocket, spacecraft, and satellite communications company made several technological breakthroughs this year. For example, it plucked the first-stage booster of its new Starship out of the air using a massive pair of mechanical "chopsticks" in October.

3. Shifting fortunes

Musk's net worth slumped in the spring as Tesla stock tumbled, dropping below $170 billion at its nadir.

But it rebounded by over $300 billion to touch an unprecedented $486 billion on December 17, as Tesla hit fresh highs and SpaceX notched a $350 billion valuation.

4. Rise of the robots

Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, was only founded in July 2023.

Yet it notched a post-money valuation of $24 billion in May following its Series B funding round. That rose to $50 billion in November, reports say, meaning the maker of the Grok chatbot is worth roughly as much as Monster Beverage.

5. X marks the drop

It remains tricky to gauge the health of X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter that Musk took private in 2022. One way is to use Fidelity's monthly estimates of the value of its stake in the business.

The mutual fund giant's figures imply that X's valuation has crashed since Musk's purchase. The tech billionaire laid off a large part of the company's workforce and relaxed content moderation in support of greater free speech, triggering an advertiser exodus that hammered the company's revenues.

Regardless, Musk recently posted on X that the platform has roughly 1 billion active users, although around 40% of them only log on during important world events.

6. Trump train

Musk was one of the biggest spenders in the US presidential election, deploying over $270 million to back Trump's race for president, run ads against Democrats, and promote conservative viewpoints.

His starring role in Trump's victory and emergence as one of the president-elect's closest advisors and a co-chief of the new Department of Government Efficiency suggests that his investment in the election has paid off.

7. Building brainpower

Neuralink, Musk's neurotechnology company, was valued at $8 billion this summer, up from about $2 billion three years earlier.

The developer of brain-computer interfaces wants to allow people with quadriplegia to control computers with their thoughts. Musk released footage this spring of the first patient to receive one of its brain implants.

• The holiday season is incomplete for many people without holiday movies.
• This year, Netflix is streaming a wide range of Christmas classics and original movies.
• Business Insider has rounded up what critics say are the best and worst Christmas movies on Netflix.

It is the time of year when many turn to Christmas and holiday movies to get them through the winter.

Netflix has a bunch of Christmas films available, many of which are originals.

Here are six movies to watch this holiday season — and six to consider skipping.

"Klaus" is one of the most recently made movies to be considered a Christmas classic.

Summary: As Norway's worst postal student, Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) is exiled to Smeerensburg and instructed to deliver 6,000 letters within a year. Through befriending a carpenter named Klaus (J.K. Simmons) and a teacher named Alva (Rashida Jones), Jesper is able to bring joy back to the town.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Why you should watch it: Critics praised the beautiful animation and hopeful narrative.

"Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey" is fun for the whole family.

Summary: In this magical musical, toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker) teams up with his granddaughter Journey (Madalen Mills) to recover an invention stolen from him long ago and restore his legacy.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Why you should watch it: Critics said the film is creative and fun for adults and kids alike. If you love musicals and the magic of Christmas, "Jingle Jangle" is fun to watch.

The likable cast of "Let It Snow" elevates a cliched story.

Summary: "Let It Snow" is a holiday rom-com about a group of young people in a small town in Illinois who are forced together by a snowstorm.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

Why you should watch it: "Let It Snow" is more diverse than the typical Christmas rom-com, and critics praised the charming young cast.

"White Christmas" is a fun Christmas musical.

Summary: The 1954 musical follows two former soldiers-turned-performers as they meet a beautiful sister singing duo. The two groups must work together to save the lodge owned by the soldiers' former commander.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%

Why you should watch it: Critics said "White Christmas" is warm and cozy. Perfect for a winter afternoon.

"Hot Frosty" is not as bad as it sounds.

Summary: Lacey Chabert stars as Kathy, a grieving widow who accidentally brings a snowman to life with a magic scarf. When she takes the responsibility of looking after the living snowman (Dustin Milligan), she gains a new perspective on life.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

Why you should watch it: On the surface, "Hot Frosty" seems like a silly film about a hot snowman, but it's also the perfect self-aware cozy movie to watch during the holidays.

"Carry-on" is the new "Die Hard."

Summary: Taron Egerton stars as a young, apathetic TSA agent who is blackmailed by a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) into allowing a mysterious package through security checks. The agent instead tries to stop the package from reaching its destination while protecting his loved ones.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

Why you should watch it: This is the closest thing to "Die Hard" on Netflix's catalog. A fun, electrifying thriller set on Christmas Eve, where one man takes on a team of highly trained terrorists.

The sequels to "The Princess Switch" are not as good as the original.

Summary: In the "Princess Switch" franchise, Vanessa Hudgens plays numerous lookalikes who bump into each other during the Christmas season in the kingdom of Belgravia. Chaos ensues.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53% - 56%

Why you should skip it: While the first "Princess Switch" was received reasonably well, the sequels — "The Princess Switch: Switched Again" and "The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star" — overdid it with the switching.

The sequels to "A Christmas Prince" are also disappointing.

Summary: This franchise stars Rose McIver as a magazine journalist who falls for a prince while trying to write an exposé about him.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36% - 50%

Why you should skip it: "A Christmas Prince" was fun, but sequels "A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding" and "A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby" made this royal love story outstay its welcome.

Critics slammed the "Holidate" for being bland.

Summary: Sloane (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey) are sick of bad dates and meddling family members. When they have a chance encounter, they decide to pretend to be a couple for the holidays. The arrangement works until they start to grow feelings for each other.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 45%

Why you should skip it: Roberts and Bracey have great chemistry, but critics thought the film was mediocre.

"A Bad Moms Christmas" was another poor Christmas sequel.

Summary: In the Christmassy sequel to "Bad Moms," Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn return as three mothers living life to the fullest, defying social expectations. This time, they are rebelling against their mothers, who are making the holidays difficult.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 32%

Why you should skip it: Critics said the sequel was not as funny or charming as the original "Bad Moms." "A Bad Moms Christmas" is fun to watch once, but it won't become a Christmas classic.

"Our Little Secret," Lindsay Lohan's third holiday movie, disappointed critics.

Summary: Ian Harding and Lindsay Lohan team up as two exes forced to be nice to each other at a family Christmas gathering when they discover their new lovers are siblings.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 38%

Why you should skip it: Lindsay Lohan's Netflix holiday movies are divisive: you either love how bad they are or are completely bored by them. Critics said "Our Little Secret" is better than Lohan's other two movies but still formulaic, and the two lead stars have poor chemistry.

Critics said "Best. Christmas. Ever!" was not the best Christmas movie.

Summary: Charlotte (Heather Graham) is envious of her old college friend Jackie (Brandy Norwood), who sends a Christmas letter every year about her family's accomplishments. When Charlotte and her family get stuck at Jackie's house for Christmas, Charlotte attempts to expose Jackie for lying about her perfect life.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 40%

Why you should skip it: Critics were not enthused by this film, with most saying that the story was poor and did not make much sense.

• As a graduate student at Stanford, Alex Yin, 32, had to decide between two internship opportunities
• He chose an internship in Bhutan, even though it was less relevant to his career.
• During his monthlong stint as an IT consultant, he learned how to grow from discomfort.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Yin, 32, an options trader from New Jersey. He graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business in June. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

As a Stanford Graduate School of Business student, deciding where to intern was tough.

I had two offers under the school's international program, the Global Management Immersion Experience. In order to graduate, fulfilling this program is required — either through the work abroad program or by taking a course on international business.

My first option was to work for a family office in Madrid, analyzing various investments. I had studied finance and statistics undergrad at New York University and had spent seven years in Chicago trading options at a large firm. It seemed like a natural fit and could be useful for anything I wanted to do in the future.

But I also had a second offer — a monthlong internship as an IT consultant at a hazelnut farm in Bhutan.

I had wanted to go to Bhutan ever since I went on vacation to Tibet when I was 17. It was such a magical place, and I wanted to return to a similar environment. I also knew it was a difficult country for visitors to visit as the government limits tourism.

It was a battle between my heart and my head. My heart was screaming, "Go to Bhutan! It doesn't matter what the job or company is. It's a cool opportunity."

Usually, I trust my head, but for this, I just listened to my heart.

I took the second offer

In August 2023, I flew 14 hours from New York to New Delhi and another five hours to Bhutan.

On the night I arrived, I met the CEO of Mountain Hazelnuts — an eccentric and friendly British man. The next morning, he took me to Tiger's Nest, an iconic monastery in Bhutan. It was an intense two-hour hike with steep and muddy trails.

Before the trip, I told myself I wouldn't care how uncomfortable it was and that I could spend a month without complaining. But it was day two, and I was like, "Wow, this is not easy. It's hot. I'm sweaty. There's a lot of poop around me. I'm about to fall." Still, I pushed through, and it was a magical experience at the top.

Later, we took a 16-hour car ride to Lingmethang, a small town in the eastern part of Bhutan, where I would work. I stayed in a three-bedroom home above the corporate office.

My week was divided between days in the office and field visits. As an IT consultant, my job responsibility was to manage a very limited IT budget and improve the security of their backup systems.

There was a point when I realized I'd actually never done any of this stuff before. "Am I qualified for the role?" I wondered to myself.

However, I learned that you can achieve a lot if you spend your time fully focused on solving a problem, even if you haven't had that direct experience before.

After work, I'd go to the village, drink a beer, and eat some momos, a type of dumpling, with my colleagues. They were locals between the ages of 25 and 45, and could all speak English well. I had to adjust to the simplicity, but I really appreciated it after a year at Stanford, where social events were nonstop.

Growing from discomfort

My biggest takeaway was that transitioning from a comfortable to an uncomfortable state isn't easy. But once you're in that uncomfortable state, it's pretty easy to maintain it.

In the village, I didn't have a lot of creature comforts. I had a pretty spartan life. But I was just as happy there, without the technology and distractions I had in Palo Alto. It's such a beautiful place that I didn't feel bored.

At night, I'd fend off mosquitoes, as locals don't kill them. I ran out of mosquito repellent in the first week, which was hard. The food also took a bit of getting used to, as it was mostly vegetarian.

Now, I live in New Jersey and am back in options trading. Although the internship was not entirely relevant to my career, it helped me gain confidence that if I try my best to solve a problem, I can still accomplish something.

I also appreciated how cohesive the company in Bhutan was. Although it wasn't doing well, everyone wanted to contribute their best. They held company barbecues where people would bring their families, dance, and sing into the night. I never heard anyone complaining during my time there.

I have found that this cohesiveness is hard to find in the US, where firms incentivize loyalty with money. I'd like to apply that to my future work places.

I will never regret choosing Bhutan, and I plan to return for a visit at some point.

• Nicole Echeverria felt unsafe in the US and wanted to try living abroad.
• She applied for graduate school because she thought getting a student visa would be easier.
• She now lives and works remotely from Nazaré, a beach town an hour and a half from Lisbon.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nicole Echeverria, 31, who moved from New York to Portugal in 2019. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I'd had the itch to try living abroad for some time.

I grew up in New York, graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2015, and then moved to Boston for work.

After the 2016 elections, I began to feel anxious about my safety. That's when I started seriously considering moving abroad. I just needed to find the right opportunity.

I knew a student visa would make it easier to move, so I thought, why don't I apply to graduate school abroad?

Most people think graduate school is only worth it if it can propel their careers forward. However, I saw it as a way to gain valuable life experience and keep me in the same career field.

I had a few requirements: The degree had to be business-related, taught in English, and American-accredited. It also had to be in a country with a lower cost of living so that I could pay for my degree without taking loans.

In the winter of 2018, I found the right program. It was a two-year Masters of Science in Business program at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics.

At that time, the program cost around 14,300 euros, which I had in savings.

I left Boston, where I had been working in content marketing, and moved back home to live with my parents in Long Island. For nine months, I focused on saving up as much as possible while commuting to New York City for work.

In August 2019, I moved to Lisbon. Although I had traveled to other parts of Europe, I had never visited Portugal. I went purely on the faith that if I wasn't happy there, I'd return to New York once I graduated.

I got really lucky that I ended up loving it. Lisbon instantly gave me a Los Angeles vibe. The weather was hot, but the beaches were beautiful. Everyone had a relaxed attitude, and people weren't on edge like they were in New York.

I didn't intend to stay

Around half a year into my program, the pandemic struck, and everything went remote. Many of my international classmates returned to their home countries. That's when I was faced with the question: Do I want to go back to New York?

Back in the US, I was always hyperaware of gun violence. Anything could happen walking in the streets of Manhattan, for example. A crazy person could approach you, and you just have to keep walking. It also looks like it's gotten worse, with incidents of women getting assaulted on the streets.

As hard as it was to be away from my family and close friends, prioritizing my health and safety was worth the loneliness of moving abroad. I felt less anxious about safety in Portugal, which solidified my decision to stay.

Portugal has a post-graduation work visa that grants international students a year of residence to find employment. After being on the visa for a year, I registered as a freelancer on a regular work permit and have worked as a social media manager since.

My family was surprised by my decision to stay. My dad told me that when my grandparents ask about me, he has to remind them that I live in another country now. But I still return a few times a year for Christmas or special occasions.

I'm planning a wedding in Portugal

In 2022, I met my fiancé through TikTok. He's Portuguese and commented on one of my videos. After two years, we moved in together in Nazaré, a beach town an hour and a half away from Lisbon.

We're planning our wedding in Portugal for August next year. We picked a venue an hour and a half away from Porto in the countryside. It's a gorgeous historic building built in the 1700s, and we're super excited about it.

The venue will cost $3,500 for a two-day rental, offering us the chance to have an affordable wedding.

Sometimes, I tease my fiancé with the idea that once I get my Portuguese passport, we can move to Greece or elsewhere in Europe.

For now, we dream of living in Lisbon and having a summer vacation house in Greece. From the relaxed way of life, lower cost of living, and the fact that I can work remotely as a freelancer, it just makes more sense to have my life here.

I'm definitely planning on staying for the long term.

• UK royal staff decorated residences like Windsor Castle for the holidays.
• The British royals have a slew of famous properties, from Windsor to Holyroodhouse to Buckingham Palace.
• Buckingham Palace is being renovated — and we've not seen any photos so far of it being decked out.

The British royal family is getting in the holiday spirit.

It's a festive tradition for staff from the Royal Collection Trust to decorate the family's residences around the UK.

This year, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh were the first residences to be decked out with Christmas trees and garlands.

Take a look at all the festive touches.

In Windsor Castle, a 20-foot Christmas tree was erected in St George's Hall.

The tree was sourced from the nearby Windsor Great Park and will be replanted after the Christmas display closes.

For the first time, Queen Mary's Dolls' House is decorated.

The Queen Mary's Dolls' House in Windsor Castle was designed between 1921 and 1924 as a "gift to the nation" from Queen Mary following World War I.

The doll house — often called the largest and most famous in the world — replicates an aristocratic Edwardian home and has electricity, working elevators, and running water.

This close-up image shows a mini 1920s Christmas tree.

To commemorate its 100th anniversary, the doll house has been decorated for Christmas for the first time with a miniature 1920s-style Christmas tree and garlands.

Meanwhile, festive garlands were on the castle's grand staircase.

The staircase leads to the State Apartments, which are open for the public to visit.

A 15-foot-high Christmas tree stands in the castle's crimson drawing room.

A Nordmann Fir Christmas tree was erected in the crimson drawing room, which the royal family uses for official entertaining.

Photos of the decorations at Buckingham Palace have not been released.

Buckingham Palace is decorated — but there aren't any pictures available.

A palace spokesperson told Business Insider that imagery of the interior decoration hasn't been released since the palace is closed to the public.

They said there were Christmas trees, garlands, and other festive flowers in the palace, the official London residence of the royals.

The photo above shows an event on December 11 at the palace, without any obvious decoration.

The palace is undergoing a £369 million ($466 million) refurbishment, which will see the royal household closed to state visits until 2027.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh was also decorated with trees and garlands.

A 15-foot-high tree was erected in the Great Gallery, the largest room in the palace.

Here's a close-up shot of staff decorating the tree with baubles.

The room is adorned with portraits of legendary kings of Scotland.

Two 12-foot-high Christmas trees stand in the palace's Throne Room.

The Throne Room is used for receptions, state banquets, and other formal events.

Here's a closer look at one of the trees.

The tree was decorated predominantly with red baubles and ribbons.

In the palace's dining room, giant festive garlands are displayed.

Staff members can be seen adding the finishing touches to the display.

The table was set with sugared fruits and foliage.

Clarence House has also been decorated for the holidays.

The London residence, which remains the primary residence of King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, also got a festive makeover in the run up to Christmas.

The property was decorated to resemble a Christmas grotto ahead of an annual festive tradition.

The Queen welcomed children to Clarence House to help decorate the Christmas tree in the household's library.

Highgrove, the King's former family residence, was decorated with towering nutcrackers.

Highgrove is in the English countryside some 85 miles west of London.

The two nutcrackers, which stand at over 10 feet tall, have been placed outside the Orchard Room, the estate's dedicated entertaining space.

Inside, a Christmas tree has been placed on a table.

The tree is in the Ante Room and will be visible to the public who visit Highgrove's gardens during the festive period.

Garlands of dried fruit have been displayed on the windows.

Staff members can be seen decorating the tree beyond the windows.

The table in the garden room was decorated with tall candelabras and seasonal colors.

Staff at Highgrove Gardens can be seen preparing place settings in the garden room.

If we see more royal Christmassy photos, we'll add them.