Sea life at Parque das Nações

Two lovely girls from NOVA who organized the Welcome Week for us Master's exchange students have kept organizing different trips and events for everyone to get together every now and then. Since people usually tend to find a smaller group of friends and stick to them quite quickly, it is really nice to have occasions that all exchange students can go to.  We are over a hundred students so you always still keep meeting new faces in these events.

One trip the girls recently organized was for us to go see Parque das Nações and visit the Oceanarium together. The area has a completely different vibe from the rest of the city - it was redesigned and built for the World Exhibition in 1998, and the modern buildings make you feel like you are not really in Lisbon at all. It is located northeast of the city center along the Tejo river and easily reachable with the metro's red line (an interesting fact to know is that this place is the starting point of Europes longest, 17.2 km long bridge, Ponte Vasco da Gama).  Even though in Parque das Nações you are surrounded with concrete pavements and high buildings, I had a really cozy feeling in the area and felt like it was a great place to relax and hang out for a day.

Visiting the Oceanário da Lisboa was pretty much the highlight of that day. A visit costs around 13€ which is rather high, but at least for me it is worth it to see one of the world's biggest aquariums. At the Oceanarium, there are not only different types of fish and water plants, but also birds, penguins and - my new favorite animal - sea otters. They are perhaps the most relatable creatures I have seen, spending their days just calmly laying and floating around in the water. The Oceanarium is built around a huge tank full of fish and other creatures which you can watch from every part of the aquarium, a scene I was completely mesmerized by.

If you feel like spending the day or some hours  in a part of Lisbon where it feels and looks completely different, I would definitely recommend visiting Parque das Nações. Apart from the Oceanarium, the day can be spent hanging around in the area's parks, shopping at the Vasco da Gama center, enjoying the feel of modern architecture or for example taking a ride in the cable cart that crosses the area.

Doctor's visits

Last week wasn't the funnest since it mainly consisted of gaining experience in going to the doctor's in Lisbon. I had an annoyingly persistent infection on my toe which needed medical treatment, and so in hopes of saving time and money I decided to try out a close-by public health care center instead of a private hospital. This not-so-great idea ended up being one of those "I miss home"-situations because back home you would at least know how things work and what you have to do, but hopefully some pictures of pretty Lisbon views will lighten up the mood of this post a little bit.

The view at Largos das Portas do Sol

Just walking into a health care center and getting treatment turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be. I got sent from the first center to a second, and then to a third which was in a completely different part of the city. Every time the answer was the same: "no, you cannot see a doctor and you cannot book an appointment, you have to go to another place". The European Health Insurance Card nor my private insurance card were of any help and mainly caused the ladies at the centers' counters to roll their eyes and shake their heads. Someone wiser could probably explain why the plan did not work, but to me it is still a mystery why I cannot just go to a doctor up the street of my house.

After some frustrating hours and long walks on a soar foot, I gave up and headed to a private hospital where I should have just gone in the first place. As expected, the price of services was very high (insurance should cover it eventually - never travel without insurance!), but what I was not expecting was a wait of more than two hours to see a doctor. However the service at the hospital was very good, friendly and all in English so I can really recommend it. Just be prepared to wait because even with a booked appointment it can take well over an hour before you get called in. As mentioned in an earlier post, waiting is just something to get used to here in Lisbon.

I was back and forth at the doctor's several times after the first visit last week. To top it off, a mixture of antibiotics, another doctor's appointment and lectures on Saturday left me in Lisbon for the weekend while many exchange friends made a road trip down to the shores of Algarve together. In order to not let the entire weekend go down the drain, I dedicated Sunday to sightseeing. I headed to Castelo de São Jorge, wandered around the surrounding Alfama district and took photos of some very picturesque views. In that area I would especially recommend going to Largo das Portas do Sol where you can enjoy drinks at the miradouro. The castle I also plan on revisiting to watch the sun set over Lisbon - with a view over the entire city and the Tejo river I imagine it will be quite amazing!

And by the way, my toe is now luckily almost healed. Lesson learned, but lets hope I don't get another chance prove that I now know where to go and what to do if something similar comes up. :)

Evenings and eating out

The great thing about spending fall in Lisbon is that the summer lasts so much longer than back home. While Finland is getting cooler and rainier by the day, Lisboetas are still treated with 30 degree weather - they tell me that if we are lucky, perfect beach weather will last until the end of October. The only time you feel that colder times are approaching is during the nights. While one night is as warm as daytime, the next night can be extremely cold and windy. You can't really tell how the temperature will be in the evening until the sun has set, so chances are you will either wear too much and be sweaty the entire night, or you are freezing because you decided that wearing a skirt and no jacket would be the best idea.

Friends and I have been out and about enjoying the evenings and night life in Lisbon quite a bit. Evenings tend to start quite late and people head to dinner after 9 pm. After a slow, plentiful dinner we have often headed to the Bairro Alto area around 11 pm, but when people have started to make their move towards clubs at 2 am to 3 am I am usually tired enough to just head home. Late nights that last until morning are a thing that I'm really struggling with getting used to, however in the morning both my wallet and not-so-hurting head usually feel quite happy about it.

What is especially nice here in Portugal is the price of eating out. While in Finland eating out is a seldom treat that doesn't necessarily fit into a student's weekly budget, here we have been able to try several different types of places in the past weeks. I have had everything from pastas to all-you-can-eat sushi (including drinks, for 15€... amazing!) and have also gotten to test quite many local specialties.

Arroz de Polvo, rice with octopus

Some have also tried steak - it often comes with an egg on top.

Before coming to Lisbon I heard that seafood is a big part of the Portuguese cuisine. It got me quite excited as I'm a true seafood lover - if it is available on a menu, I have a tough time choosing anything else. Many local Portuguese dishes contain fish, prawns, octopus or other types of seafood and I have been eager to try a variety of them. Especially fish dishes and octopus have been excellent! Some other dishes such as açorda de camarão, bread soup with prawns, have on the other hand left me slightly confused. That must be a cultural thing though - some foods just seem strange if you aren't used to them, and this I'm quite aware of since I come from the land of mämmi and lihapiirakka. But for sure I will continue the search for more great local Portuguese dishes and hopefully soon I'll be able to recommend places!

Açorda de Camarão before the waiter did his thing...

... and after when it was ready for me to eat.

Arriving to Lisbon

Welcome along on my exchange to Lisbon, Portugal! In this blog I will be sharing experiences about studying and living in this lovely city. I arrived in Lisbon a little over two weeks ago and until now have explored the city quite a bit and met a lot of new people. Some aspects of the life of Southern Europeans require some time to get used to but I am really enjoying the warm weather, late nights and other things that are a part of Lisboetas' lifestyles.

In this first post I will talk about how it was to prepare for the exchange and come to Lisbon. As Portugal is a part of the EU, going to Lisbon for exchange was quite a painless project. I did not have to worry about visas or anything else, there were with only a few deadlines to remember for the application process. In fact the only frustrating part was the long wait for any information from NOVA University - it was not until June that NOVA sent any information about the exchange, but the first package of guidelines was clear and easy to follow. On a side note, waiting in general seems to be something I have get used to here as there are lines just about anywhere you go in this city.

After receiving information from NOVA, I booked my flights. I flew to Lisbon with TAP Portugal and paid around 280€ for the flights which is a little expensive but I had a direct flight and so it was worth the money as I avoided any hassles or long layovers. Flying to Lisbon for exchange with TAP Portugal is great since they allow students to bring an extra bag of 10kg - I will definitely make use of this when I fly back home in December.

As I arrived in Lisbon quite late in the evening with a huge suitcase, I decided to take a taxi to the place I would be staying at. Taxis from airport to the city center cost well under 20€ although taxi drivers often charge extra for luggage and try any other tricks to make you pay a little extra. There is also a metro from the airport which is quite well connected to the whole city and costs only around 1,50€, so if you don't have too much to carry and know where you are going it is a good option.

I was lucky to have a recommendation for a great shared apartment which I already reserved in the beginning of summer so I went there directly from the airport. Getting a place to live in advance was very handy, but without any trustworthy recommendations I would not suggest making rental agreements or especially paying a deposit before seeing the place. From the stories I have heard, the descriptions of apartments do not always really match with the actual truth so it is better to go see the place yourself. There are quite many shared apartments available in Lisbon and all of my friends here have found nice places  to live quickly.

Until now Lisbon seems like a great place to spend an exchange semester. There are lots of things to do, people are friendly and the city itself is charming with its many hills, small alleys and old architecture. The apartment I live in is also great and I share it with fun roommates from Australia, Germany and Finland. So far I have really enjoyed my time here and look forward to the coming months of sunshine, good times and the occasional school work.