University of Aveiro

Finally, the moment to talk about the grand institution that the University of Aveiro is, literally, has come.

I think it's very useful for anyone doing their Erasmus to know where to go, and where you'll spend most of your time, if you chose Aveiro. On the other hand, you also get to know each place so you won't be lost.

Built in 1973, the University of Aveiro receives over 15000 students for a variety of courses and several times it has been recognised with national and international awards.

First, I think we should start our tour with:

The Reitoria (Office)

This big building with brown walls as you can see in the image, is our 'Reitoria'. You'll probably have to come here quite often to take care of your Erasmus papers, but also a lot happens in there.

• Beside taking care of your Erasmus, that's a place where you take care of a big part of your problems, like your schedule, scholarships, etc...
• Also, your insurance (if you hurt yourself whilst participating in a UA related sport or during school hours, you are entitled to school insurance).
• For Speeches and lectures.
• Shags of the ESN.

Warning: If you do need to come to the office, you'll need to take a ticket for the line, which will probably be very long.

Piece of Advice: Download the University's App, that will show you your schedule and let you know whose turn in the line to the office it is (Reitoria). This way, if you are number 300 and it's only on number 27, you can go have some lunch and check the app.

Next to the Office, there's a spot that everyone calls:

"Fotossíntese"

On those stairs, you can see two people enjoying the sun. And that's the purpose of this place. It's a spot where students, employees and even teachers can do their 'Photosynthesis' and recharge.

The building on the left of the picture is...

The Library!

It even has it's own website and everything: http://www.ua.pt/sbidm/biblioteca/.

I love going to our library:

• It's a great environment for studying/reading/doing whatever you want.
• It has study rooms for group projects or if you just want to study alone of with one more person.
• They have tons of books and a fast look-up system.
• It's safe to leave your stuff there while you go for lunch (although it's better if you don't take too long).
• There's this little room at the entrance where you can keep your umbrella. Which in Aveiro, believe me, is very helpful.
• The people attending the students are pretty cool.
• It has 3 floors.
• It has Wi-Fi although it's not the best in the world.

Next to it we have....

In this picture, the building doesn't look very good and even bit rusty, but I promise that's not true.

On the left there is one of the two dinning halls of the university.

The normal price (soup + main dish + dessert + water and salad) for students is 2, 50e.

Personally, I like to eat there. It's not cheaper than eating at home, but it's way cheaper than eating anywhere outside of the uni. The only issue is I don't really get much time for lunch.

Advice: Do you remember the App I told you about? You can check what's the menu for the day.

On the right.... erghh.... I'm not really sure I know what's going on in there. But I know there's an exit from the dinning hall and some offices, so I guess they might take care of the dorm things, or something.

Between the Library and that building there are some stairs which will take you to the famous:

Catacumbas

There you will find:

• At the end, the stairs will take you to the dinning hall
• University robe store;
• Pharmacy;
• Post office;
• Printer;
• ATM;
• Phone;
• and...

The CUA, which is a bar with outside tables and with a big variety of snacks.

The 'Caixa Geral de Depósitos', is the official bank for the university. So our student cards are also credit cards.

A stationery store.

And.... The best part....

A book store!

Very Important Tip: all the products sold in the university are usually cheaper, meaning the robes, the printing, the notebooks and, the best part, the books! They are at least 10% cheaper than at any outside store. It really compensates to buy them there.

Besides, there's a lot of rooms that are being used for the people who study Design.

Leaving the 'hole'....

On the right, there's the Department of Maths, Geo-Sciences, Civil Engineering, Social Sciences, Political Sciences and Territory Sciences (if I'm not mistaken).

This is the right side, where the DEGEI is (Department of Management and Industrial Engeneering). I attend most of my classes there, since my degree is NTC.

At the end we have a:

Half-Moon

These are stone-made seats in the shape of a half-moon where students hang out and also haze each other. You can consider this space for the NTC, Design and Music students, since that's their building in the photo.

On the right, in construction, the students of Design and NTC and Music will be able to make all the noise they want around the DECA (Department of Communication and Art, which will be called Department of Music).

To your left.

The Caloirodromo

I have no idea why it's called like this.... maybe because it was the last building to be built or something.

Here we have a lot of classes and speeches. There's a snack bar with sandwiches and cakes.

In the front, we have grass where most of freshman hazing happens, but in the end everything gets cleaned up.

To the front we have....

The Aristides Hall

This building looks small, but inside there's a field where most practice and tournaments happen.

The UA Cup is the big university tournament where everyone from every degree can participate.

• Futsal (M/F);
• Voleibol(M/F);
• Basquetebol (M/F);
• Andebol (M/F);
• Table Tenning;
• Badminton;
• Swimming;
• Chess;
• Squash;

But...

In the same building, there's a gym. . It's a bit small but it has all the essentials and the prices are lower than anywhere in town.

There are places to practice:

• Judo
• Karaté
• Taekwondo
• Yoga

Outside (you can't really see in the picture), there's a big field to play rugby and a track for running.

We also have sailing activities, but of course, outside the campus.

Then there's the bridge.

The bridge goes through the river and it's called Ponte do Crasto.

Which will take us to:

• The other dinning hall. Which is better than the other one (might have better food and/or be bigger) but since it's far away people don't go there that much.
• Student Association.
• Dorms.
• The Student's bar which is a great place to study, and watch football or have FIFA tournaments during the day, and at night it turns into a disco. Usually opens on Thursdays.

And that's it, I'll leave you with a picture of what's behind the library.

The famous Ria de Aveiro.

The photo doesn't show much but I just want to assure you that leaving the library at sunset you'll see one of the best views in the world.

I hope seeing you at the University, where I've been studying for 3 years and that you'll enjoy your stay to the maximum like I'm trying to.