Mobility specification

Country:Portugal

Institution:Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon

City:Lisboa

Program:Erasmus+ for study

Activity type:Study

Academic year:2024/2025

MU faculty/department:Faculty of Social Studies / Department of Media Studies and Journalism

Study level abroad:Bachelor

🎓Hit the books! How do you rate the university experience?

Can you enroll in a course where you can learn the local language?yes

Does the university offer enough courses in English?neutral

Are your credits converted?no

Was there anything in the teaching methods that surprised you?Much more interactive than the usual MUNI classes, lots of group tasks. But I guess it was the nature of the courses and the fact that they were more or less made for Erasmus students. Plus the English courses were not attended by students from the school, only Erasmus students. I don't know why that was. But it's not like that at MUNI... and I was sorry that there was no opportunity to meet the home students at the lectures so we could get to know each other better. I know from MUNI that this is common, but not here.

Does the university offer international students' programs and activities outside of lectures and seminars to help them integrate more quickly?Maybe so, but I don't know. The university hasn't informed us of much of anything, so it's hard to say. But with the way it looked (teaching and organization), I think probably not. Or at least I wasn't anywhere.

In which areas does the university offer support for students with special needs and strive to be inclusive?I haven’t noticed

💸Did you have to rob the bank?

Try to take a guess at what your monthly expenditures were:17000 CZK/month

Did you stay in dorms?no

Do you have any tips on how to find private accommodation?SEARCH ASAP. Facebook groups are fine, but with so many people going to Lisbon to study/work, they are disappearing fast.
There are a lot of platforms that have various accommodation listings, everything is in English, so it's all well laid out. But these platforms want commissions for their service, and quite large ones. But again, they provide some security, there's a costumer service etc.... So you are paying for some reliability :/

What about unexpected expenses? Did anything surprise you?Accommodation was very very expensive. I was paying 400 euro/month, if I add all the fees (which were non-refundable), it comes out to 440 euro/month. Of all the students who were also on Erasmus, I paid the least (or 400 euros was the minimum).

Another unexpected expense was the furnishings for the apartment - according to the advertisement it was supposed to be fully equipped, but everything was either taken apart by my roommates or it was broken. So I was buying dishes, a new mattress, a bunch of cleaning products, mould spray...

And public transportation was pretty expensive. But I knew that ahead of time. And it's free in Lisbon until I was 23, so I only paid until I got all my paperwork done.

Do you have any tips on how to save money?definitely Lidl. A lot of food is often the cheapest there, especially meat. Meat is more expensive everywhere else. And the advantage is that the layout is the same as the Czech Lidl, so at least you can find your way around.

You don't need everything. I had most of my clothes in my carry-on. I washed every 7-10 days, so you really don't need that many clothes. In the big one, I carried medicine, extra shoes, a towel, a blanket, an extension cord... I tried to bring as much stuff from home as possible So I wouldn't have to buy it there. And what I needed to buy, I bought the cheapest (e.g. instead of one plate from IKEI for 1 euro, I bought 6 plastic ones for the same price).

🗺 Learn the ropes in a new city

How well did you manage to communicate in English?with gestures

How does public transport work in the city?mostly fine

And what about transport outside the city?I've seen better

Where to find connections? How to buy a ticket?I searched for transport via Google maps, they were surprisingly very reliable and accurate. Hopefully, I have never had a connection searched via Google Maps not go through.

Transport around Lisbon or Porto is great. On time, ticketing system is easy to understand etc.

With a Metropolitano prepaid card for Lisbon and the surrounding area, you can drive quite far on one card. You can go all the way to the ocean (multiple places) on that card, you can go all the way to Sintra, Mafra... The range of wherever you pay (if you have paid the monthly coupon) is quite wide.

I've taken the Flixbus everywhere else in Portugal. It wasn't until later that I tried RedeExpresos, which is a Portuguese bus company, and it's pretty cool too. It sometimes has cheaper tickets than Flixbus and goes to places that Flixbus doesn't always go.

The train network is very sparse and the trains are quite expensive, so I haven't used that in Portugal.

Did you deal with any health issues during your stay?yes

How do you rate the availability of healthcare?neutral

🤠Help create the perfect bucket list

What is a must-see in the city?Must sees are easy to find on the web. And the algorithm soc. The networking algorithm will start throwing it at you. Google Maps helps a lot, where the most important sights are marked. And after just a few weeks of living there, you'll know what the must-sees are.

- Definitely go to Sintra, definitely more than once. All the castles there are worth it, even if the entrance fees are more expensive
- Cabo da Roca - the westernmost pod in Europe
- Mafra - UNESCO, one of the largest royal palaces I've ever seen
- Costa da Caparica - sea, surfing
- take the ferry to the other side of the Tagus River for a beautiful view of Lisbon, especially at sunset (Almada)
- the big statue of Jesus - no need to take the elevator up, the view from the statue is perfect
- the main sights in Belém, the Royal Ajuda Palace and the Museum do Tesouro Real
- cathedral, castle, elevator, pantheon
- the mosteiro de Sao Vicente de Fora and the nearby Miradouro da Graca
- Alfama district
- all the cable cars are great, but the most famous is the Bica Funicular (and rightly so)
- Estufa Fria - on Sundays until 2pm
- my heartthrobs: Church of Saint Dominic and Convento do Carmo - MUST SEE!

What are the must-visit trip destinations?Is definitely a super UNESCO site help. I personally visited (and can recommend): Lagos, Évora, Sintra, Mafra, Coimbra, Porto (it's great), Nazaré, Batalha, Alcobaca, Fátima, Tomar, Braga, Guimaraes, Viana do Castelo + many people visited Madeira, Azores.

Share your best experience:Nazaré thanks to the huge waves. I spent 3.5 days there just watching the waves. But for those who aren't into that, just go there for a day and go home at night and especially Porto!!!

💅A nugget of wisdom to make the life easier

Did you need to handle a visa?no

How did you get to the place?Plane

Is there anything to watch out for before the trip?There's a metro right at the airport (and an information centre in the lobby to explain everything), so it's easy to get to the centre.

Can you pay by card?in most places

What not to forget when packing?Opal. And clothes that can be layered - it doesn't seem like it, but because of the humidity and a lot of wind from the ocean, it's very cold there in the evening - it feels like 10 degrees much colder than 10 degrees in the Czech Republic. Especially in the evening it always gets colder and windier.

🥳Summary

Whew, what a ride! 😮‍💨 Thanks so much for taking the time to complete our survey and for sharing your unique experience. Just one last thing. 🙏 How would you summarize your trip in one or two sentences?For me, Erasmus was mainly about travel. The teaching there was not demanding and there is a lot to see.