My Erasmus experience in Porto

"A muito nobre, sempre leal e invicta cidade do Porto"

This is the slogan of the city of Porto, which means “the very noble, always faithful, and invincible city of Porto”. Nowadays they also call this city "a Cidade Invicta" (“the invincible city”).

Dear travelers, ex-Erasmus students, Erasmus-students-to-be, adventurers, I would like to share with you my Erasmus experience in the amazing city of Porto, the 2nd biggest city of Portugal. Not only would I like to tell you about my own experience, I also would like to give you some useful information about the culture, the people, the city, the food… Sit back, relax, and let me take you on adventure!

2014, the 1st of February: the day that my twin-sister Martika and me departed from Eindhoven (The Netherlands) to start a new chapter in our lives. The flight to Porto was only 2 hours and 50 minutes, and the tickets were very cheap. I went to Porto to do my Master internship (in Psychology&Law), and my sister was going to do several subjects for her 3rd bachelor-year (in Psychology).

We studied at different universities (me at Fernando Pessoa and my sister at the Universidade do Porto) but still in the same city. The plan was to stay for 6 months and to come back to the Netherlands before the summer holidays.

Let me start with a funny experience that happened on a Thursday night in one of our favorite clubs, Rivoli. Rivoli is (actually ‘was’ because the club is closed now) a very fancy club on the last floor of The Municipal Theatre Rivoli located in the city center.

That night there was a special party, but since we were used to go almost every week, we didn’t really check the details of the event. We were having a lot of fun. At a certain point, a nice guy approached us and asked if we would mind to take a picture with him (we are identical twins, that might have been the reason). We looked at each other a little bit annoyed (because it happens frequently, and we don’t like it that much), but agreed in the end to make the picture. In the meantime, people stopped dancing and started to stare at us. We were both noticing it, but we were like “What is going on? It’s just a picture? ”. The guy thanked us for the picture and walked away, to the VIP-room. We continued dancing.

People started to come to us and say things like “Wow, you are very lucky, girls! ”. We obviously were not realizing what was going on. Apparently this guy was a famous actor in Portugal. Everybody knew him, except us. Of course, we are not from Portugal so how could we know. It was funny, and at the same time it showed something typical (at least in my opinion) from the Portuguese people: it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, if you are famous or not, people are most of the time humble and they don’t act like they are more important than you. Below you can see the picture:

Surfing in Porto

My sister and me took surf classes, which are very cheap for Erasmus students. It’s a fantastic sport, it requires a lot of strength and energy. It’s something you must experience, it’s an incredible feeling when you manage to stand up from the board and catch some waves. It’s not easy, and you need some force to push yourself from a lying position to standing on the board. But with the help of the skilled surf-teachers and with practice you are likely to succeed. Below you can find a picture of our first surf-lesson with one of our friends.

Must visit:

• Ribeira: the part along the Douro river. Here you can find lovely terraces and on the other side is Vila Nova de Gaia, another city.



• Wine houses: most of these wine houses are located in Vila Nova de Gaia. Here, you can try the typical Port wine. You can reach V. N. de Gaia by metro, by funicular railway, or even by foot.
• Ponte Dom Luis I: from this bridge you can have a beautiful view on Ribeira and Vila Nova de Gaia. It’s actually the bridge that connects the two cities of Porto and V. N. de Gaia. Gustave Eiffel (who also constructed the Eiffel Tower in Paris) was the responsible man for the construction of this bridge.



• Rua Santa Catarina: this is the main street in the city center with many shops, small cafes where you can eat and drink something, and a shopping mall.
• Matosinhos beach: great for surfing and to spend summer-days. You can swim in the sea but I would not really recommend it. The water is freezing!



• Livraria Lello: World's most beautiful bookstore. Want to read more about this? Please check my other blogpost for more pictures and information about this amazing bookstore.



• Jardins do Palácio de Cristal: these romantic gardens, located in the center of Porto, occupy 8 hectares. You can find statues, trees, rivers, playgrounds for kids, and so on. The park is maintained very well. It’s a very lovely place to relax and read a book, to have a good walk or pick-nick with family or friends. From the gardens you can have an incredible view on the city, on the Douro River and on V. N. de Gaia.





• Aliados: the huge square downtown, where you can find big buildings (e. g. hotels, banks), the town hall, a statue of the Portuguese writer Almeida Garrett and another statue of King Pedro IV.

Must eat:

• Francesinha: a typical dish from the city of Porto. It’s like a huge sandwich with different kinds of meat (sausage, ham, beef, etc. ), covered with (a lot of) melted cheese. The sandwich is surrounded by a sauce consisting of tomato, beer and piri-piri. On top of it they usually put an egg and around the Francesinha they put fries. As you can see on the picture of our first Francesinha, we asked to get the fries aside. The funny part of the Francesinha is its history: Daniel David Silva was the creator of the dish and he named it Francesinha ('Little French girl') because “The most spicy woman I know is French”. Curious how to make a Francesinha? Click here for my blogpost about the recipe!
• Pastel de nata: a pastry made from egg, originally created in Lisbon (where they are called Pastel de Belém). Very tasty and normally not so big in size. People are used to eat it with cinnamon on top or with cacao.



• Alheira: a type of sausage consisting of different kinds of meat (e. g., duck, chicken, veal, quail) and bread. The sausage is often fried and comes with fries or fried potatoes and an egg. It might not sound that appetizing, but I would advise you to try it without thinking of the ingredients. It’s a little fat, but it tastes really good!
• Bacalhau com natas: a dish of codfish (bacalhau), prepared with onion, fried potatoes and cream (natas). Simply delicious!
• Pão de Ló: a cake made of eggs, sugar and flour. The cake is very light, it’s like a sponge-cake.

Besides, you should definitely try:

• Churrasqueira: A Churrasqueira is a restaurant where you can eat various kinds of meat. I found a great Churrasqueira next to my home, it’s called “Churrasqueria Cidade”. They prepare the meat very well and the prices are actually quite low for the quality you get!
• Fish restaurants in Matosinhos: next to the beach you can find many high-quality fish-restaurants. Everything they serve is very fresh. For the common Portuguese people the prices might be a little bit higher than average, but the fish is extremely tasty, and for most tourists not expensive at all.
• “O Mercado”: a restaurant where the chef’s specialty is a hamburger whereby the meat is covered by pizza-dough. It’s an amazing invention. They serve it with thin fries and a bit of salad.



• “Low cost”: as the name tells, the food they sell is very cheap. But in Porto that does not mean that the quality is bad (as you might have noticed already). Actually they serve awesome fresh pastries of all kinds and you can have a big and good lunch. I used to have breakfast there after a night out, they would open at 7 am and bring the fresh pastries!

Parties

Since Porto is a city with a lot of international students, there are parties during the whole week. For example, on Mondays people usually go to Ribeira to have a drink and later they go to Villa Porto to dance. Tuesday people commonly visit a bar, Wednesday you can go to Eskada, Thursday to Plano-b, and Friday and Saturday every bar/club is open.

For these days I recommend Porto Tónico for Erasmus students (organized by WOP, which I will tell more about later). Even Sunday there are some bar/clubs open (e. g., Porto Tónico).

The night-life is fantastic! Nights out in Porto are very long. Usually people go around midnight to a bar like Piolho, Adega, and Espaço 77 or to Ribeira to have their first drinks. Around 2. 30 they start to go to the clubs, and they will stay until 6 a. m. or sometimes even later. There are after parties that start around 7 a. m. until approximately 12 p. m. It’s crazy!

Queima das Fitas

This is something you definitely can’t miss (as a student). Basically it’s a one-week lasting festival for students that takes place every year in May. They celebrate the end of the academic year. Buses are going during the whole night to bring and take people to the festival. Usually there is a lot of police and ambulances around, since students like to drink very much during this event. There are concerts of famous artists, there are different stands with music, DJs etc. It’s a huge party. You can buy a week-pass or buy tickets per day.

As the pictures show, students do crazy things on this day, like climbing fountains. They build their own carts and make a tour around the city. More information about this festival you can find here.

“3D magical arts”

In Porto they always invent creative expositions. When we were on Erasmus, there was a exposition called “3D magical arts”. One of our friends told us it was really cool so we decided to go. We bought a ticket at the entrance and went inside. At first we only saw paintings on the walls. Then we noticed the round spot in front of every painting, that said “stand here”. We found out that, to make the right picture, you had to be at least with another person. One had to stand on the spot and the other one next to the painting, trying to “interact” with the painting. It’s hard to explain here, but when you see the pictures you will understand it better. It’s such an original idea, we had a lot of fun!

Nightlife – my favorites

• Industria: a club near the beach (Matosinhos) with most of the time house and electro music. They usually invite known and international DJs. Great club and atmosphere!
• Galerias de Paris: a street in the middle of the city center were clubs and bars are located (like Plano B and Porto Tónico, the ones I already talked about before).
• Eskada: a very fancy club with commercial music. Sometimes they open an extra space where they play Brazilian music. The club and garden around it are very beautiful.

São João

São João is a national holiday that occurs every year on the 23rd of June in Porto. It’s a day full of traditions: people are carrying leeks, to carress (gently) against the heads or faces of the passengers. Leeks are traditionally the symbols of fertility.

Recently, they introduced the plastic hammers (that makes a sound when you hit them) to hit people with it on the heads (gently), which carry the same traditional meaning as the leeks.

Besides that, the people also launch hot air balloons, all at the same time and they make a wish. At midnight there are fireworks next to the Douro River and Ponte Dom Luís I. Concerts are all over the city and you can eat “sardinhas assadas” (grilled sardines). The party goes on all night.

When I attended São João for the first time they invited Bob Sinclar to play on the big square of Aliados. It was amazing. Everyone was on the streets: families, students, tourists. Just before midnight everybody gathers around the Douro River (Ribeira) to see the most fantastic fireworks I have ever seen in my life. And all coordinated with music! Afterwards people usually go to a club or bar. Want to know about my very curious experience during the second São João that I went to? Read it here!

The people from Porto

The people from Porto are very friendly and very helpful. For example, when they think you are lost they will come to you and ask if you need any help or where you need to go.

Besides, I noticed that even formal relationships (teacher-student for example) are not so formal. In the Netherlands, where I am from, relationships between people that work together are very distant. In Portugal, it is normal for students to have lunch with their supervisors or teachers, to talk with each other via text messages or on Facebook, or to even meet each other at the teacher’s home.

The Portuguese people work very hard for the little money they get paid. Therefore, most families are having a hard time to pay their monthly expenses, even if both parents are working. But everything written here is through Northern European eyes. I am comparing what I was used to see in the Netherlands with what I was seeing in Portugal.

In the Netherlands we are used to work less hours than the Portuguese people and to earn more. Obviously, everything is also more expensive in the Netherlands. The minimum wage in Portugal is around 500 euros per month, and in the Netherlands it is 1500 per month. That is a huge difference.

The Portuguese people often don’t really care about time. Don’t expect Portuguese people to be on time, even if you have a formal appointment with for example your teacher or colleague. Of course I am exaggerating, there are always exceptions to the rule.

FC Porto

People from Porto have a big passion for soccer, especially for their own club FC Porto. You can buy very cheap tickets to see a game in the “Stadio do Dragão”. It’s a nice experience, the atmosphere in the stadium is very exciting. What I like about this stadium is that people are excited and very cheerful, but they never really cause any trouble. I went a couple of times to see a match.

How it all “ended”

So goes a popular Dutch saying: There is a time of arriving and a time of leaving. After 6 months living abroad, getting to know another culture, and finishing our studies it was time to go back home. That was very hard for us, those 6 months were one big adventure and we actually didn’t want to leave. We fell in love with Porto. As we returned home, we received a message from a friend (a DJ) from Porto who asked if my sister and me were interested in working in his team. I answered with a big “Yes”, because I did not have any plans yet and to spend more time in the city I fell in love with. My sister decided to stay in the Netherlands to do her Master, which I found a good decision.

So after the summer holidays, at the start of September, I went back to Porto to start the part-time job. The DJ I was talking about is the manager of Wild Out Porto and plays music at the best Erasmus parties in Porto. WOP helps international students with integrating in Porto, helps them with finding a room or apartment, finding part time jobs and encourages them to participate in social activities.

My job is to promote the international parties, sell tickets and/or stay at the entrance of clubs to talk with the students about our parties. The parties of WOP have been a success for many years, so you are cordially invited to join us!

In the end of September I decided to apply for a PhD program, I got accepted and started in February. In the meantime, my sister was looking for a place to do her Master internship, and guess where she found one... In Porto of course! So my sister also came back and together we continued studying and working for WOP. Currently, we are still happily living in Porto, my sister has a full-time job and I am starting my 2nd year of the PhD.

I hope this information has been useful and amusing, and I hope you guys are very excited to visit Porto.

Cheers!

Ambra Marcucci

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