Erasmus in Łódź

Make a presentation of yourself

My name is Jorge, I’m 23 years old and I’m from Porto, the second biggest city of Portugal. I’m currently on the 6th year of my Medicine career in Porto and I always wanted to enter Erasmus Programme during my career since I started it.

I love to travel, to meet new people and new cultures everytime it’s possible and I am a very open-minded, adventurous and easy-going person.

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Describe briefly the place you are from

Porto is a very beautiful city, with lots of culture to absorb and with a very good nightlife.

Tell us how the city where you study is

Porto is the second biggest city in Portugal. It has grown very much as a cultural and touristic place in the last 5 years, bringing together more and more students to our University. The University of Porto is the biggest in Portugal, with almost 40. 000 students and receiving between 1. 500 and 2. 000 Erasmus students each year.

The city was mentioned as the 4th best nightlife in Europe and as the Best European Destination in 2012.

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What do you think about your home university? (Before you go on Erasmus) Be honest.

Porto has a very good university. We have very good conditions and, especially, we have a lot of different activities organized by the University and by each faculty itself. If it wasn’t that good, we wouldn’t get so many Erasmus students each year.

What encouraged you to decide to go on Erasmus? Reasons, etc.

The main reason that encouraged me to go on Erasmus was the possibility of living in such a different country from mine for a long period of time and the chance of living outside my parents’ home for a semester, since I’m living in my hometown since I started university.

Besides that, it always appeared as a great opportunity of travelling around Europe since Portugal is far from almost everything, as well as to meet lots of people from different countries, with different cultures and perspectives.

When you decided that, what countries or destinations did you have in mind and why?

First of all, I wanted to go to a country I had never visited before.

Secondly, I wanted to choose a country with a lower cost of life than Portugal, in order to get more possibilities of leisure during my stay.

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Once you knew definitely the destination:

How did you feel?

Happy. I managed to get the first country option I had in my mind, Poland, and together with one of my best friends.

What did you think about the place?

Lodz wasn’t the first option of the cities in the country I chose (which was Poznan), so I wasn't expecting that much because I never heard anything about that city before. Anyway, I was happy for the new adventure and sure it would be great!

What did your closest people (family, friends, colleagues... ) tell you or think about it?

My family was OK with my plans. My parents didn’t want me to go in the beginning but then they accepted it better since I was going to the same country my cousin was 2 years ago. My friends always supported me in everything and they were as happy as I was about my experience, saying that in the future I will look at it as one of the best experiences ever.

If you had a choice to choose another one, what would have it been?

Maybe if I had the economic resources to go to a more expensive country, I would have chosen Sweden or Italy. But Poland was always my first option of Erasmus country, so I wouldn’t change it for anything else.

For how long is or was your stay? Do you think that was or is enough? Would you have liked to have stayed or would you like to stay longer?

I stayed for 5 months and half and it definitely wasn't enough. Maybe if all the closest friends you met there also stayed for that short period of time and leave around the same time you do, it might be fine. But if they stay for another semester after you leave, it’s like the worst thing that can happen to you. I would definitely have stayed longer and I actually had the chance to do it. But due to difficulties between universities and scholarships, I didn’t.

How did the process of paperwork, formalities, etc. go? What is your opinion about all this?

Everything was OK. I had no problems since the beginning.

How is the city where you live or you used to live during your Erasmus?

Lodz is not a touristic place like Kraków or other European capitals. However it has a big student community and, thus, a great nightlife. I was lucky of getting the best mentor anyone could ask for since he knew LOTS about the city and he showed me places I would have never found or visited by myself.

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Where did you stay – residence, apartment, dorm? Explain how it is.

I stayed in the university dorm. I had a shared room with a Spanish friend and everything was perfect. We were very lucky since the dorm had been renovated the Summer before we arrived. Thus, almost everything in our bedroom was new and we were the first ones to use it. We were allocated in a student campus that had around 15 student dormitories where were supermarkets, bars, clubs and copy centers, so we had the chance to meet all together every time we wanted.

Well, what about the Host University? How is it? What is your opinion about it?

Totally different from mine. I study Medicine and in Poland they have an English Study Division for people that want to come there to study for the whole career. Something we don’t have anywhere in Portugal.

Compared to your home university, what advantages and disadvantages do you get when compared to the host university?

Advantages: it was easier because the studies were in English. Hence, we had less contents than the polish students. The university has a lot of different careers, which allows many Erasmus students to come there for their exchange program too.

Disadvantages: probably just the fact that the curriculum is a little bit different from the one in my home university, which made me ask a lot for making the subjects I really wanted to do during my Erasmus!

During Erasmus, it is common to make trips taking advantage of the staying in other countries and places. Did you already make a trip? Got one in mind? Where do you want to travel? Where have you gone?

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The most I could! I travelled around Poland to visit the major cities of the country and outside Poland I went to: Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Italy.

Finally, the most important. Tell us how Erasmus generally is in the place you are or were. How the parties, the other Erasmus students, social life, student organizations and Erasmus associations are and so on. The more you explain, the better!

Unforgettable – maybe it’s the first word that comes to my mind when I think about my Erasmus experience. I met friends that I’m sure that will be eternal for the rest of my life and we had the chance to do lots of things together. From partying all-over the city to making travel plans for 10 days around 3 or 4 different countries.

The student organizations were very good, they organised parties every week and travel plans almost every weekends, so that social life was very nice. If you are wondering about going on Erasmus or not, don't hesitate it if you have the chance. Go! The most you can, the longest you can, you definitely won’t regret it.

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