NOVA SBE EXCHANGE LISBON, PORTUGAL SPRING 2016 Rahul Kumar Bothra REPORT
My time in Lisbon, Portugal has been a truly unforgettable experience where I had the opportunity to see and experience the mix of cultures that resides in Europe. Throughout my exchange in Europe I was able to travel all over Portugal as well as the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, Czech Republic, Vienna and Italy with friends from HKUST and from the exchange alike. Lisbon is one of the oldest and most beautiful cities Europe has to offer which was apparent from the first moment of touching down. The First Month: February While one of the warmer countries in Europe, Portugal was very cold when I first landed and stayed that way till late March. The city itself is gorgeous with countless viewpoints (mirodorus) and complete lack of skyscrapers which gave this city a much appreciated serene and peaceful feel in comparison to Hong Kong. During my first days in Portugal, I made sure to get a feel of my surrounding area as well as visiting NOVA University which was located fairly close to my living quarters in the heart of Lisbon. To further help my integration into the Lisbon culture and the exchange itself, I was invited to numerous exchange events which were a great way to meet likeminded people and begin making friends. This integration was heavily supplemented with the Erasmus group which was responsible for many of the gatherings and parties for the exchange students which is where I was able to meet the majority of my friend group. It was very easy and very natural to make friends since everyone was very open and friendly in these groups since they were meeting many people for the first time as well. I arrived a few weeks before University began which was a very good decision since it allowed me to get used to the vibe of the city and take some time out to socialize before the work started. I was fortunate to live right next to the University in the Saldanha which made commuting very easy for me; however, I highly recommend staying in locations closer to the ocean such as Baixa Chiado which was the city center and where a majority of the students who attended University were hosted. This area definitely has a better student vibe and many interesting places and fantastic restaurants which serve authentic and delicious Portuguese cuisine. During the first month I was able to travel to Madrid to visit one of my HKUST friends who took his exchange in the same semester as I did which was really fun. In addition I was able to travel to the town of Porto, a gorgeous port which is famous for sweet fortified wine. Porto was one of the most beautiful cities I have seen in my life, especially due to the iconic large bridge that connected two parts of the city and the steep hills which created a gorgeous view of the river. Since Portugal is so old, the city of Porto had a lot of history which could be seen from the incredible castles and cobblestone roads which took us back in time. I travelled to Porto with the Erasmus organization which organized a surfing trip which was incredibly fun, but still allowed us to explore and experience the city. Second Month: March By March, the weather was still uncharacteristically cold; however, it did start to slowly warm up towards the end. During this month things in Lisbon became quite routine and natural with my friend group. I was able to rent a car and take a trip to the beautiful castles of Sintra with a few friends as well as checking out some of Portugal s iconic beaches. These trips gave a sense of how different the various
parts of Portugal were in comparison to each other. Everything I saw was very unique and iconic to its host city. Towards the end of the month, I went travelling to Budapest, Prague and Vienna which was an incredible experience. I would highly recommend both Budapest and Prague since they offer something very unique and are definitely sights worth seeing. In addition to being gorgeous cities, both came with many different activities to do which were incredibly fun. Budapest is perhaps the most historical city in the world with many activities oriented around its rich culture such as the famous ruin bars or old castles which have been preserved. Prague was a very interesting experience and will forever hold a place in my heart because I was able to go skydiving above the beautiful Czech Republic countryside beneath me. Third Month: April During the month of April, studies began to get harder, but with time management I was able to still experience everything I wanted to from my exchange. During this month I worked hard with my groups on coordinated projects which had a relatively heavy workload during the week and was able to see and experience new things over the weekends. I travelled to the Netherlands during the beginning of April which was an unforgettable experience. Towards the end of April, the Erasmus organization held a trip to the Algarve which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. The trip was organized during the spring break, so everyone had some time to relax and distance ourselves from the stress of the constant group meetings and hard work which all of us were experiencing during the semester. The Algarve s were absolutely incredible and had constant events to attend thanks to the amazing planning of the Erasmus organization. I had a lot of fun with my friends as well as getting to know many other people from different schools around Lisbon. Fourth Month: May May started with a trip to my friend s beach house in Palma Mallorca, one of the islands in the south of Spain. This was incredible. Mallorca is simply gorgeous as an island with cinematic beaches and a nightlife which puts anything in Hong Kong to shame. This trip was so much fun me and my friend decided to extend it for a week and take a two day pit stop in Rome on the way back. I can honestly say that this week was one of the best in my life. Towards the end of May, my friend from the UK came to stay with me which allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and experience everything I still had to from the city of Lisbon. During this time we checked out the incredible aquarium which is considered to be the best in Europe as well as heading over to iconic locations such as Belem (a town which looks straight out of a fairy tale) and the Christ statue which overlooked the entire city. Fifth Month: June June was a gloomier month since many of the friends and people I met slowly began to head home from their exchange. I still managed to go to some of the beaches in Cascais (a nearby beach town) which were full of people since the weather was ideal. In addition some newfound friends and I took a trip to Sesimbra which boasted castle ruins and beaches which looked like something straight out of a postcard.
Towards the very end, I took my last trip to Stockholm, Sweden for the Midsommer festival which was incredible. My friend (a former exchange student from HKUST) took us out to his island in the Swedish archipelagos to celebrate along with 40 friends of his. This was a truly unforgettable experience. When I got back to Lisbon, I had a few precious days to say bye to everyone I had the honor to meet throughout the exchange and say a personal goodbye to Lisbon. I loved that city and everyone in it. Lisbon the City and People Lisbon is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The people are incredibly friendly to foreigners and make it very easy to traverse the city with a very limited knowledge of Portuguese. The Portuguese people are very laid back and make the city alive through their interactions with the city itself. I often loved to sit at some of the viewpoints around Portugal and listen to people play amazing music on their guitars and watching street performers juggle, making the city vibrant with energy. A popular part of Lisbon is Baixa Chiado which is full of bars and students and is truly something to experience since going there with a group of friends can be a lot of fun. Lisbon itself has a very good atmosphere and constant events which pack the streets. There were constantly festivals happening which brought people of all ages out to the streets to dance and enjoy the Portuguese street food. Lisbon itself is very tiny which makes walking around the city very easy to do. I often walked over to the other side of the city to visit my friend s house which took me about 30 minutes in total. In addition, Lisbon offers very cheap taxis and numerous other methods of transportation such as trams, busses and a metro system. Visa Luckily I have a German passport so I did not require any Visa for Portugal which made things very easy for me. Orientation Activities The majority of the orientation activities will be on the exchange students Facebook page as well as the Erasmus Lisbon page. I highly recommend going to these as you will meet a lot of other exchange students and all the events are a lot of fun and very affordable. Accommodations Unfortunately the school does not provide accommodations, so you will have to find one for yourself in Lisbon. I found my home for the exchange semester from uniplaces (a website which specializes on finding university accommodations for exchange studdents); however, I recommend trying to communicate with other exchange students and living with them as it is definitely more entertaining and fun to have roommates with the same kind of mindset as you. In terms of location, I would highly recommend finding a place in Baixa Chiado since it is much more interesting than the other parts of Lisbon and has a lot to offer for exchange students. That being said, if you want something closer to university, Saldanha offers some really great housing and is a 15 minute walk to the university.
Course Registration Course registration is a guided process at NOVA SBE. I personally found it very difficult and counter intuitive due to the constant steps and deadlines which makes it surprisingly difficult, not to mention that the system is not compatible on some browsers and may be Portuguese at times. However, once you have selected a course, it is almost a certainty that you will be put into the class which makes it really stress free. Take your time when selecting the courses, and note that once the courses are selected, you are unable to add/drop for a period of time or alter the chosen courses. Teaching and Assessment Methods I fully enjoyed the classes at NOVA SBE. The teachers spoke perfect English and seemed to be experts in the field they taught. A course is split between lecture periods which occur with the main professor to tutorials which are held by the TA. In NOVA SBE, you are evaluated out of 20 and I found the workload tough but fair. A majority of the projects takes place in a group, and final presentations are common for a majority of the courses. I was very comfortable in the classes and found that the general teaching attitude at NOVA SBE is very welcoming and adaptive to exchange students. A majority of the work operates on internal deadlines which makes it an ideal situation for those of you who want to travel throughout your exchange due to the flexibility. Sports & Recreation Facilities NOVA SBE unfortunately does not have any gym or sports arena on the main campus; however, there are constantly things going on in Lisbon itself. The school teams and clubs have designated places around the city which they use to practice and since Lisbon is not too large, it is fairly easy to attend regardless of where you are located in the city. While NOVA SBE does not have a gym, there are plenty of budget gyms around Lisbon which are even promoted by the ERASMUS exchange organization which offers discounts. I am a fairly athletic person and felt very good about the plethora of options available for daily fitness. For those looking to do more adventurous sports, NOVA offers some surf courses/water sports clubs which are very fun. I had a great time surfing and enjoying the incredible beaches of Portugal. Finance & Banking Lisbon is a cheap city. Everything in Portugal feels super cheap in comparison to the rest of Europe and even Hong Kong for that matter. I ran into no problems at all with a budget of 5000 euros throughout the entire semester; however, travelling to other places in Europe was very costly. As for banking, I was fortunate enough to have an existing bank account in Europe and didn t need to start a new bank account which saved a lot of hassle.
Social Clubs & Networking Opportunities As an exchange student, the majority of the networking and social club events will be based solely around the Erasmus organization which sets up countless events and are responsible for some of the best memories I have. This organization brings together exchange students from all across the city and allows people to meet/socialize and network throughout the entire semester. There is rarely any break from the Erasmus organization and was able to attend events and social functions without ever needing to stop. I can honestly say that I met many lifelong friends through Erasmus and that this exchange would have been very different without them. Health and Safety In general, Lisbon is a fairly safe city. I had absolutely no problem throughout the entire exchange and neither did any of the friends I had made. In terms of health insurance, I believe the school offers this, but I had my own from Germany which worked throughout Europe. Food Portuguese food is simply delicious. Throughout the entire city there are countless fantastic places to eat with food from throughout the entire world. I highly recommend eating at some of the all you can eat sushi places which are scattered through the city. Another incredible delicacy is the pastel de nata which could possibly be the best dessert in the world. Portuguese cuisine is quite basic at heart, but is incredibly satisfying and very cost effective throughout the city. A majority of the good places are around the Baixa-chiado region of Portugal which is another huge advantage to live in that area. Transportation Lisbon offers numerous possibilities for transport from busses and trams to a far reaching metro system. I found the most useful method of getting around was to use the metro system since it is very quick due to how small the city is. If the metro isn t to your liking, it is possible to solely rely on walking and cabs since the taxi fare in Portugal is ridiculously affordable and very fast due to a lack of traffic. I found no real trouble with getting around Lisbon with the metro; however, I highly recommend getting a student pass as it will save you a lot of money with tickets. Climate While one may think that Portugal is a very warm city, I found it to be quite chilly from February to the end of March. After that period of time Lisbon was extremely warm. Towards the end, the majority of the exchange students were on the beach almost daily due to the amazing weather. While Lisbon does get quite warm, do not forget to pack warm clothes as well. Communication
The people in Lisbon will speak the local language of Portuguese which may cause issues with the older crowd. I found that a majority of the local university students and the younger populace spoke perfectly fine English and often preferred to speak in English. I found no real trouble with communication and even picked up some basic Portuguese due to the bi-lingual nature of the populace. Have fun in Portugal, I know I did. If you have any further questions, please contact me on rbothra2610@gmail.com.