This monday I flew to lisbon with Bianca and Anouk. Of course the girls had to much luggage with them. Fortunately for them I could take some clothes in my bag. When we arrived we met Jorge, the university buddy of Bianca and Anouk. A buddy can help you with searching a room and things like that. I don't have a budy. This charming Portugese guy brought us to our appartments. We live seperated, but all near Praca Marques de Pombal. Almost all the erasmus students are living in this district, and it's a great area to live in. The city centre is 15 minutes walking, and the metro is nearby. My house looks great, balconies everywhere, including in my room. After we had seen our appartment, we went to bairro alto to eat some fresh salmon. Bairro alto(translated higher neighbourhood) is the place for eating and drinking in the small bars or on the streets. There is a really informal vibe and it's a bit alternative. The influences from Brazil are nice to see. Everybody is drinking caipirinha and other national Brazilian cocktails. They are only two euro's. Everything is really cheap. After diner we went back to our appartments because we where really tired.

The next day, I discovered the city on my own. It's hard to find things because it's like a labyrinth, the steep streets don't make that easier. I went to the area called baixa(lower neighboorhoud), this is the touristic shopping area near the river. After I visited some sights I went up to bairro alto to get my portuguese phone number at the ESN office. It's actually strange because you have erasmus lisboa and ESN which are offering two different providers. You can call for free with other students using the same provider. The problem is that nobody is using the same provider.
That evening I met some of my flatmates, and they decided to give an erasmus party in our house. It was easy to invite people because we have some erasmus facebook groups. So, in no time there where 30 students from our university, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa. It was funny untill the police was called. We avoided problems, and went to the city centre. They can give you a penalty of 500 euro after 10 pm. We went to the musicbox where every tuesda erasmus parties will be organised. I met a bunch of people and evereybody wants to meet everybody.
the welcome week/university
The welcome week started. I subscribed for all the activities. At the university everything was so well organised, maybe beacause it's a private university. It's such a small university that I met almost every other international student. I like that because I do not drown in the big city this way. There are some dresscodes at the university, which is strange for me. Swim clothes, flip flops and soccer teamshirts are prohibited. We did a nice lisbon tour by bus, and after that we visited a whine bar to taste the different whines and cheeses from Portugal. Every night in the evening, there are nice jazz concerts in the city. They are really good to relax. The night ended with a cocktail at the erasmus corner. This is the corner in bairro alto where the erasmus people from different univesities meet each other on the street.
In five days I can't say a lot about the Portuguese people, but the first impression is great. They are friendly, collectivistic and a little bit alternative. They don't live with the hour. You can see that in the metro, you don't know when the metro is coming, when it comes it comes. That's their way of life. But it's crisis over here and I see a lot of expired houses. There are wanderers everywhere. And If I ask for a cash machine, some people want a small amount of money for helping you. In the next blogs I will write more about the Portuguese.
I sit behind my laptop right now and every five minutes the table starts to shake. The metroline is straight under my house, but it don't irritates me. I have to go because I organised a meeting at estadio da luz to get tickets for the soccermatch Benfica - Manchester United. After that we have the welcome dinner. next week the courses are starting.
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