Lisbon, the best city for Erasmus

Why did you choose to go to Lisbon, Portugal?

Honestly, I wanted to go to the furthest place I could go with Erasmus. My school had an agreement with about 10 schools, but I thought that I would somehow find my way to the countries where these other schools are located. Apart from that, I am also interested in Latin culture. The fact that Lisbon was the only big city I could go to among my options was also effective.

What is it like to live in Lisbon? Would you recommend it? How is the city?
Lisbon, despite being a big city, is generally calm, but never monotonous. The people of the city celebrate their traditional festivals and these are spread throughout the year. The city was really nice and met my expectations. Outside of the center, there are many towns and villages to explore. One of the most active ESN clubs in terms of Erasmus is the one in Lisbon. I would definitely recommend it.

How long was the scholarship for? How much scholarship did you get to cover your living expenses?
I received a scholarship for 4 months and 10 days, I stayed for about 5,5 months. Since it is a group 1 country, you normally receive a monthly scholarship of 600 Euros for people from my country, but 80% of it is given at the beginning of mobility, so I received around 480 Euros per month.

How much does it cost to live in Lisbon?
If your school has a dormitory, it might range about 200-250 Euros, and rooms range from 300 Euros to 600 Euros, maybe more. Groceries cost about 120 Euros a month, transportation 30 Euros (40 Euros if you are over 23), 1 meal in a traditional restaurant costs 5-15 Euros. Drinks cost around 1-3 Euros, cocktails can be found for 5-10 Euros. I myself spent around 450-550 Euros on average, but I'm a good bookkeeper and you should do the same if you also have a limited budget.

How is student life in Lisbon?
It was good for me. Portuguese students have very interesting traditions, you can search for Praxe, which my classmates usually participated. They dress very formally, in capes and suits, one of them even carry a big spoon in their hand, it's all tradition. They do various tasks, and as far as I was told, it's usually an event that first year students participate in, to meeting with each other and get to know people in their departments. The upperclassmen also guide them, they follow the rules in the rulebooks, they even call the upperclassmen godparents and the older ones godparents, it was funny:D They care a lot about the uniforms they receive, and they even wear them at graduation.

There are always barbecue parties called as Churrasco at schools, I recommend you to attend, they socialize here. At first, when we saw a couple Churrasco poster, we didn't understand where this was, we thought it was a place name, but it was basically a barbecue invitation.

The university culture is deep-rooted, there are usually crowded and social student groups. As an Erasmus, it was a bit difficult to blend with the local students at the school, but I usually didn't go to the courses taken by local students anyway, since those courses were in Portuguese. Still, if you start the conversation, you can meet with them, and if your school has a Buddy system you should definitely get a Buddy, usually my friends in my department consisted of my Buddies and their friends, except for Erasmus students. Other than that, I can say that student life is great for Erasmus students. I thought it was one of those European cities where everything closes at 6 pm but it is not like that at all, it is a very lively city. If you follow these, there are concerts where a lot of celebrities come.

Do you recommend NOVA FCT  to other students?
I studied at NOVA FCT, if you are an engineering student like me you will study here. The school's campus is located in Caparica. It is about 25-30 minutes from the center of Lisbon by tram and ferry or tram and train. The best part of the campus is that you are 5-10 minutes away from the beautiful beach called Costa da Caparica with apps like Bolt etc. (only like 3 Euro), by bus it takes about 30 minutes. If you are studying here and you come in the spring/summer semester you can stay around Caparica, the room rents were more affordable than in Lisbon and you can go all the time because it is close to the beach. The dormitory is close to the campus. There is also the village of Monte da Caparica right nearby. Most of the students live in this neighborhood. There is Lidl at the bottom of the campus, you can find everything. Student life was generally good.

Now let's come to the educational part, generally attendance was compulsory and it was common to do projects as a group. While some of the professors were really nice to us and tried to help us, some of them didn't even provide English documents even though school didn't put Portuguese as a requirement for our study in there. But these are not problems that cannot be solved in your university at home, in NOVA FCT I met so many good people and had so many different experiences that I would go to the same school again. So I can recommend it, but because the city and my Erasmus was good, other than that, for example, in IST Tecnico, they had much more comfortable classes, they were given homework and they did not go to class. So you might consider another university in Lisbon, if you have the option. 

How was the food?
As a fish lover, I was very happy, but some of my friends didn't like it. Their traditional food resembled our home cooking, they had all kinds of stews with meat and vegetables. Their food was usually barbecue and meat-oriented. They adapted fish to many different recipes and it was good:) The desserts are also very good, there is a Pastelaria culture, you can try various kinds of pastry desserts.

Is it hard to find accommodation in Lisbon? Do you have any advice?
I was staying in Caparica, not in the center of Lisbon, but I know that there is an accommodation problem. However, I have heard of many people finding accommodation on sites like housinganywhere, spotahome. There are many ads but it can be expensive. You are lucky if your school arranges your dormitory, I preferred to stay directly in the dormitory. During the period I went (Spring 2022/2023) I stayed in Residencia Frausto da Silva, the environment in there was really nice, there were about 60 Erasmus students and about 200 Portuguese students, the rooms were in two groups; single and double. They'll send you a form to fill, try to do that on time. There is not much difference between single with shared bathroom and double ensuite rooms, because single rooms with shared bathrooms you only share the bathroom with one other person, in double ensuite it's still the same, you share the bathroom with your roommate, there is only about 30 Euro price difference with this room differences. I guess this dormitory will be closed for renovation until 2025, I hope the next ones can see our traces :) Explore the viewpoint of the dormitory somehow.

Did you pay to find accommodation?
I didn't pay any fees because my school arranged it.

Is their language easy to understand? Were there any Portuguese classes at the university?
I think Portuguese is an enjoyable language. I was trying to improve it myself through Duolingo (even though it's Portuguese of Brazil) and other sources I found on the internet, and since there were a lot of Portuguese people in my dormitory, I had the chance to ask them too. As you get involved in daily life, you start to understand it, but there were some of my friends who only learned hello and good morning. There was a Portuguese course at the main campus of NOVA University, but I couldn't take it because my school in Turkey didn't accept it as an elective course, and I didn't want to take extra credits because I was already taking too many courses. Some of my friends who took the course were satisfied and continued and some dropped out, I think it's more about your personal effort, I suggest you to give it a chance.

What is the easiest and most economical way to get from your city to Lisbon?
The easiest way for me was Istanbul-Lisbon flight with THY, but it is a bit expensive. We preferred THY because we had a lot of stuff and we didn't want to do a transfer, also we had 40 kg luggage allowance with THY's student campaign for Turkish. But one other suggestion is TAP Air, Portugal's own airline, it is the same flight with THY but can be much cheaper, maybe half of the price. These flights are made jointly, but as far as I know, baggage allowances are less for TAP. Apart from that, Pegasus now has Ankara-Lisbon flights, maybe it can be the cheapest if you buy it with a campaign.

Where do you recommend for nightlife?
I would recommend Bairro Alto as a night out neighborhood, there are a lot of bars in there, especially after Wednesday it's very fun and more crowded. Check out Erasmus Corner, the best part is somehow you come across friends everytime you go there. If you have an ESN card, there are free entrance to K Urban Beach on Wednesdays (it can change so check it always), they also have other days for other clubs. Then there's Pink Street, we think it's a tourist place and for more middle-aged, but it's worth a visit.

Where would you recommend to visit in Lisbon?
Belem Tower, Monastery, Cristo Rei, Praço de Comercio, Cascais, Baixa Chiado, Sintra, Setubal, Sesimbra, Elevators, Miradouros, Jardim do Rio.

Do you have any other advice for students going to Lisbon?
If you can, rent a car with your friends, you can easily go to many places in the country, it's a small country. Enjoy it to the fullest, surf, swim in the ocean, learn about the culture of the students and people there, learn some Portuguese before you go and when you are in there:) Eat lots of Pastel de Nata and Bacalhau. If possible, go for 2 semesters (I went for one semester and wished I could go for 2 semesters), If you are going there in the spring, summer comes in March, bring so many summer clothes, even if you have 2 suitcases full of clothes like me, visit a lot of second hand stores called as HUMANA the ones in Lisbon are so good with good products and campaign their days. You can bring your simple kitchen utensils from your home because you may not find it as you want easily, if you need stuff, you should search Chinese Market on Google Maps. Bring your cosmetics and makeup products as much as you need, because there is not much drugstore kind of stores, you are stuck with the cosmetics section of Continente:) If you wonder should you go somewhere else because it is far away from the other countries, all I can say is I don't know any Erasmus student who is in Lisbon and unhappy, this place will make you love it with its climate and other beauties, it is a colorful place even more colorful than the the photos :)