MY EXPERIENCE IN ATLANTIC – HIGHER INSTITUTION (PORTUGAL)
My name is Ekho Ojo, I arrived in Portugal on February 16th, and classes began on the 19th of the same month. This was our last country in the IMM program.
In my opinion, the most important topics to talk about are transportation, work, accommodation, and the teaching method.
First of all, I’ll talk about accommodation. Honestly, compared to Italy and the
Netherlands, finding a place wasn’t complicated at all, as we found it on Airbnb in less than a week. I do not recommend Idealista because many students in the course had their bookings canceled for various reasons. I lived in Caxias, which was about 10 minutes by car from the university, but many of the course participants also lived in Lisbon. If you need the contact of the person who hosted us, feel free to write to me, and I will gladly provide it.
Regarding transportation, if you don’t have a car, living in Portugal is quite complicated. My roommates and I had a fairly comfortable stay because we brought the car from Spain. The problem was that even if you lived in a busy area, all the shops, supermarkets, and even pharmacies were very far from everything, and it was very difficult to get to places on foot. Firstly, because everything is uphill, and secondly, because the sidewalks are almost nonexistent. The people who lived in Lisbon used “Bolts,” a type of cheap taxi that also exists in other countries, but there they are used very regularly. Another option is the trains; you would need to get a train card, and each trip could cost between 1 and 4€, depending on the distance, but for trips around Lisbon, it is quite cheap.
Talking about work, we were made aware that it would be very difficult to find a job, and they were right. We looked for work before and during our stay, and no one was successful. Although it is said that English is spoken in Portugal, everywhere we went, they asked us to speak Portuguese, so none of the nearly 30 students found work there.
Finally, I’ll talk about the teaching method at Atlantic University of Barcarena. In my opinion, Portugal was my worst experience in IMM, and most of us agree on this. Not only because everything was far away, but because the teaching method was quite poor. Classes were from Monday to Thursday, and the schedule was from 2 PM to 6 PM, but many times the professor wouldn’t show up, and we weren’t informed, so we wasted time waiting. The way of teaching was quite poor compared to Spain; some classes consisted of watching long videos, and the professor wouldn’t speak throughout the lesson, which didn’t help us learn at all.
In conclusion, I do recommend the IMM program. Obviously, everyone may like one country more than another; for example, the Netherlands was my favorite, and Portugal the least due to various difficulties. I learned a lot about other cultures, and thanks to IMM, I now speak Italian and understand Portuguese perfectly. It is a unique opportunity in life to be able to do this. That’s all I had to say. Thank you very much, and I hope you are truly motivated to study IMM. Remember, you can contact me in the future for anything you need.
