Greetings from Porto, Portugal!
When I first heard that my Erasmus destination would be Porto, I had no idea what was ahead of me. I had so little information about this city that I had to do a quick google search; the same amount of inhabitants than Tampere, near the sea and home of FC Porto. Alright, sounds good.
I arrived to Porto a week before my studies we’re scheduled to start at Polytechnic of Porto – School of engineering, ISEP. During the first week I noticed that you can easily manage with English, price level is low and that the houses really don’t have insulation. In February and March you almost had to add cloths when coming back to your apartment from outside.
Pic: Porto city from Clérigos Tower
So began the school and activities, the school part is a little more laid back than in Finland. Portuguese people don’t really wear watches, so someone being 30 mins late is more a rule than an exception. ISEP as a school is very similar to TAMK and the ways to teach and work are mostly the same and they were easy to adopt.
Porto is a city loaded with activities to do, one of those is offered by the sea; surfing. Porto has great possibilities to learn the secrets of surfing and for experts Portugal has the biggest waves in the world to offer! Mountains and beautiful nature also provides good opportunities for hiking or mountain biking.
Pic: An army fort at Matosinhos beach
In general the people in Portugal seems to be extremely friendly and laid back. They have a lot of tasty traditional foods and sweets that they’re really proud of. And about football they’re absolutely fanatic, the atmosphere in local matches is out of this world!
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