My Erasmus Experience in Porto, Portugal by Cedric

What's Porto like? What's it like to live there? Do you recommend it?

It's a really nice city to live in and the people are really friendly. The city centre is pretty small compared to Rome, or Paris, or Madrid which means that it's really easy to get to for a night out.

Source

Important things for Erasmus students to know:

• There's a lot of accommodation on the market to choose from and for really great prices too, around 150-200€ a month to rent.
• Porto is a great starting point to go explore, as Ryanair has flights to all over from this destination, like other parts of Portugal, Spain, Italy, France etc...

What's the student vibe like in Porto?

Enormous! You couldn't dream of a better host country! The atmosphere is happy, relaxed, and there's a good student-teacher relationship. The studying conditions are excellent and it's really easy to wind down in the evenings at one of the many nights out organised by ESN and WeLovePorto. The university I attend is Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administracao do Porto (ISCAP) aka the 'Superior Institute of Accountancy and Administration of Porto' in English and 'Polytechnic Institute of Porto' (IPP).

What are living costs like in Porto?

Between 600-800€ per month including rent, going out, food, transport. (I wrote this in 2011).

Was it hard to find accommodation in Porto?

Absolutely not, in the majority of cases, the university is responsible for finding you a home. If you want to search yourself, take a look at the ESN website which has a big list of Spanish style private hostels.

What's the city's food like? What are your favourite dishes?

Cheap and cheerful! A 'pastel de nata' with Porto Tawny wine are a great combo. You'll find some really good things in the bakeries. For your main meal, you need to try a churrasqueira, a Portuguese BBQ, it's a massacre!

And what places do you recommend going to see in Porto?

• Mosqueteiro da Pilar (Vila Nova de Gaia)
• Ribeira (Porto)
• Palacio de Cristal (Porto)

And to eat in Porto? What are your favourite places?

Cais de Ribeira or Piolho (Café Piolho).

Where do you recommend going out in Porto?

• More CLub
• Pitch Club
• La Movida
• And of course Ribeira!

Any advice for future students going to Porto?

The best advice the university gave me was to "take it easy! "