Type of housing: Apartment/House

Arranged by: Independently - My choice

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? An appartment where I'm living is for 6 people, during these time, I had different portuguese, african and other european roomates. The relationships in the house are really good, I've met so many diffrent people and with that I learned how to deal with diffrent people in all kind of situations in best possible way. Also, when we have problems with the house we have to deal with it more or less by our selves, which gives you a feeling of certain independence.

Personal comments:
You have to have real luck to find a good and cheap apartment in Lisbon. I had luck with low price of the rent, but the apartment is quite old, so things are breaking all the time. Since the people in the house get a long well and since the location suits me perfectly and cause of our big terrace, I never thought about changing the apartment.

Describe host city: Students equally interact with the local and student community

Activities, Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment

Personal comments:
I would say Bairro Alto is the best area to have a nice coffee watching people walking around... and also the hot-spot of Lisbon night life. Portas Longas in Rua Altamira is the best place to go for a beer while you listen to fados and talk to people (everybody talks to everybody there... I don´t know what they put in the drinks. And Miradouro da Graça is an unavoidable place to have a coffee with Lisbon at your feet on a sun set.

Course recommendations:
Better take courses you are interested in and not the one you might think are easy. They can all be quite demanding especially when you are not interested in the subject.

Personal comments:
none

Language of instruction: Portuguese

Main source of funding:
An ERASMUS grant

Other sources of funding:
Family
Personal savings
Government assistance

Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options

Personal spending habits:
Most of the things and services in Portugal are cheaper then in Spain but I don´t know why, maybe ´cos I didn´t worry that much about conversions, I spent more being there

Telephone, Housing: was more expensive than at home.

Travel, Nightlife, Overall: was the same price as at home.

Food: was less expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
I whish I knew the word hurry was not in the portuguese dictionaries. Now I know and I love tha way of life, but at the begining was a real cultural shock!

In my opinion:
Everybody loved it, you will too!