Heyyy, Christian here! I’m proud to present you with a short story from my Erasmus at the University of Aveiro:)
Starting with school, the level here is lower than in the Netherlands, which does not mean it might be super easy, but for sure less interesting and engaging. I was taking a total of 5 courses, 2 of which from the tourism bachelor and 3 from the master program. The courses were: Hotel Management, Tour Operators and Travel Agencies, Public Urban Space, Development and Planning of Tourism Destinations, and Tourism, Management, Heritage and Real Estate. The courses were taught both in Portuguese and English which was quite funny. Other than that, the uni is a beautiful campus located next to salt plains filled with flamingos which made the breaks great.
Nevertheless, now the important fun stuff which is basically the majority of Erasmus. Aveiro is a cozy city close to the Atlantic Coast and several bigger cities, which enabled me and other students to travel a lot and do all kinds of activities (surfing, hiking, going to football matches). Travelling in Portugal is endless. I was fortunate enough to travel to Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Serra de Estrela (highest mountains of Portugal), Azores Islands, Nazare, and many other amazing places.
Currently, I’m on Madeira with friends, and I can tell you it’s a paradise here. Besides the travelling, the student life in Aveiro has been treating everyone very well. The local ESN is extremely active facilitating a great meetup spot for all 400 erasmus students. I’ve met here some of the nicest people ever, and will never forget this place.
