I can only express that the last 2 weeks have been such an amazing cultural learning adventure! I never thought it could be possible to gain such an experience or knowledge of a place in the small time frame of 3 weeks. My work placement is in AEC - the Cantanhede Business Association it has been an extremely pleasant event, the women I work with are exceptionally kind; teaching me how they oversee their administrative duties, guiding me on Portuguese language, culture and etiquette as well as becoming my friends. I can't really compare this Erasmus experience with anything else it's beyond words to try and explain everything you see and feel being here. Myself and Emma went to Lisbon the first weekend it was both magnificent and terrifying! The city is massive and we felt a little out of our depth at first spending a good portion of our first day trying to figure out the transport system. I stopped a woman who low and behold was a very nice police officer who literally walked us through the process of getting the all day travel passes (€6.30 and they are good for 24 hours) these are used on the tram train, bus and metro then preceded to get on the metro with us so we'd know how to use it! This ended up saving us quite a bit of money from then on. We got a tuk tuk (like a little personal tour) to save us from all the hill walking, this was normally €70 for an hour but we haggled him down to €40 for the hour. This was brilliant he told us about the city, the buildings and stopped along the way for us to take pictures it was well worth the money and history lesson! The Sunday we went to Belém and is home of the famous pastel de Belém these wonderfully yummy pastries from the area but are sold all over Portugal. We seen the sights such as the Torre de Belém, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, and Padrão dos Descobrimentos. This was completely different from Lisbon and just as stunning. The following Friday my friend from work took me to Praia de Mira, Costa Nova and drove the four of us to Aveiro on the Saturday morning to spend the day sightseeing, here we took a Moliceiro boat ride, along the way we seen where the salt is made and then tried the famous ovos moles from this area (Portuguese love their desserts). We have eaten in many different cafes and restaurants trying all local dishes such as bacalhau which is salt cod fish and known as the faithful friend ( a normal Christmas Eve dish), Francesinha known as little French woman(because they are the hottest) it is like a "souped " up ham and cheese sandwich only the ham was swapped out for steak, chorizo and the cheese surrounds the bread and the sauce around it is juices from the meat, beer and piri piri seasoning with French fries in it......best dish ever!! I'm actually sad the 3 weeks are nearly up this was an out of this world chance that I got to participate in and I will be forever grateful! -Nicole Grant
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It was an early start. Meeting everyone at the bus station in Galway for 5am. I was so tired as I didn’t sleep with excitement that night so I ended up sleeping for the whole bus journey. When we arrived at the airport we met up with Pat and his wife Emily. Pat and Emily were going to travel over with us and give us a hand until we found our feet. We hung around for awhile chatting before checking in our bags and heading for our gate. Before I knew it we were landing in PORTUGAL.
We then had to get a train from Oriente to Coimbra B. The man at the desk who we got the tickets off was more than helpful. He spoke good English so that made it all the more easier. We were on the train for an hour and a bit. It wasn’t like the trains back in Ireland so it was difficult trying to find out where our seats were. The train doesn’t wait for anyone so you have a few minutes to jump on otherwise it goes without you! Finally after a flight, train journey and taxi ride, we arrived in Cantanhede. We met the lady who was to give us the keys for our apartment and then we just settled in before going for a walk and exploring our new home for the next 3 weeks. Before I knew it, it was Monday. We all meet Ana outside our apartment and she then brought us to our different work places. I was doing my work placement in “Junta de Freguesia”. I met the president of the town and two other ladies. They were more than welcoming and made me feel at ease instantly. I was nervous starting work Tuesday morning. I didn’t know what to expect and the language barrier was difficult. But it wasn’t long before I was sorting out files and typing in Portuguese. I’ve met different people who live in Cantanhede as they would be in and out of Junta. Although I’ve got a few stares, I think the town is used to seeing me around now! I’ve gone to different villages around Cantanhede with the president and another lady I work with. I’ve even gone for coffee breaks to a little cafe across the road. The women I work with have tried to teach me some Portuguese and although I wouldn’t be the best at languages, some words have started to stick! It wasn’t long before the first week of work was over and myself and Nicki were heading off to Lisbon for the weekend! We had to make our way to Coimbra and then onto Lisbon. When we got to our accommodation, we had to climb up 62 narrow steps to the very top of the house. Our “apartment” was more like an attic that was converted into a few rooms but it done the job for the weekend and we had a blast. We spent most of the Saturday trying to figure out how the transport works. We met a lovely police woman who helped us get the all day pass in the metro station and there was no stopping us then. I enjoyed using the trams and the metro because it was so different than back home. We went on a tour around Lisbon in a “tuc-tuc” and also went to the castle. On the Sunday we went to Belém. Belém is famous for these little Portuguese tarts and I was dying to try one from there. We walked around site seeing and taking loads of pictures. Despite using suncream, we both got a little burnt! The second week of work flew by. The weather wasn’t as hot as the first week but it was still really warm. Along came Saturday and the four of us were heading to Aveiro. We done some well deserved shopping and then had some food. We tried “ovos moles” which are famous to Aveiro and we also went on a “moliceiro” boat ride. Aveiro was beautiful and I think anyone coming to Portugal should go and visit it. Now I’m on the final week of this amazing experience. I’ve learned so much from the way of life here, being even more independent and living away from home and I’ve even learned bits of a new language. My expectations have exceeded themselves and I’m sad this journey is coming to an end. I feel a lot more confident coming home and know when I do get a new job that I will be well able for it. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone and I think every student that goes to GTI should apply for Erasmus as it’s the best thing I’ve ever done and an experience I will never forget! -Emma Egan |