Welcome session in Porto

On Friday, we had an official greeting event for all the international students of the Universidade Católica in the whole country. The Universidade Católica has several universities in Lisbon, Braga, Viseu and Porto. The welcoming was done in O Porto and was for all the participants for free.

We left at seven o’clock in the morning at our university in Lisbon and took the bus for four hours to arrive in Porto. There, we got a t-shirt of the university with our logo, an apple and an identity card with our names. We all had to wear the t-shirts for the better image on the pictures. The first part was an informational event about our university and the country. How amazing Portugal is. What we know. That is the reason why we came here. But, even though it is so cute how proud the Portuguese people are about themselves, their country and its achievements. Everything that only the slightest bit related to Portugal, is made a big thing. Portugal has a good climate, a rich history, beautiful beaches, fantastic cities and so on… Portugal is the first European country of having official borders, Portugal discovered Brazil and knew before anyone else about the existence of America. Portuguese is spoken in all the countries and is one of the most spoken languages in the world. Portugal is the current European Champion in soccer. Harry Potter has his origins in Portugal as J. K. Rowling lived a long time in Porto and was inspired by the uniforms of the Portuguese student associations, the idea for the corridors in Hogwarts came from a library in Porto. Portugal invented the automatic toll station in the streets… The headmaster didn’t stop talking about Portugal and its achievements. Then, we were sent to take the group picture. Everyone had to stand in neat rows to be seen on the picture taken from above.

Luckily, we got some food afterwards. Lots of small snacks, more and less typical food and lots of deserts. We all took something to eat and then sat on the grass with our plates. We even got a small fado performance. A group of boys were playing many instruments, including the traditional fado guitar, singing and performing with dances and flags. We had nice weather and everything was very just relaxed and easy.

In the afternoon, we got invited on a boat trip on the river Douro, where we could admire the beautiful houses of Porto, all decorated with azulejos in different colours.

For an end, we went on a Porto wine tasting, which was very interesting. We learnt a lot about this special wine. The grapes are cultivated in the hilly region at the river Douro, called the Douro Valley, and is kept there for many years until it will be transported to Porto on trucks. Earlier, they transported the barrels on floats down the river and until now, they still find old barrels on the rivers grounds, which have been lost many years ago. The red Porto wine is the most famous, but there are also white wines and since shortly, also a rosé wine, which combines the rosé and the Porto wine. The wines are, as normal ones as well, made from green and red grapes. The difference to the normal wines is the fermentation process, which is stopped by adding brandy or similar alcoholic essences and so creates the typical sweetness of the wine. Mostly, several wines from different years are mixed and only rarely, only if they are very singular good, a harvest is sold pure as a vintage. The last time this happened, was in 2010 and they are positive that maybe 2016 could also become one. It depends on the climate and a very mild summer and warm winter is needed. The taste of the wine depends furthermore on the duration of fermentation and in which barrel it ripens: big or small and what kind of wood is used for the barrel. It was too many information for me and I still have no idea about wines, but the Porto wine tastes good, in my opinion, even though I already forgot, which one we got to try. In the evening, we drove back the four hours to Lisbon. It was a nice and full day with lots of experiences and without any costs.

One day in Porto is not enough to see everything, but it was enough to make us interested in seeing more and I am sure that I will come back to explore more of this city.

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