lørdag den 27. februar 2010
Day26: Big washing day
The title says all says everything. And I also looked up some information about the interaction possibilities in Unity (the game engine we are going to use for our 3D project).
Day25
We got our new tasks, and my job is to look for some textures to our models, and to figure out how to open the doors on my model in Unity.
In the evening we went to see Shutter Island at the cinema at Forum. 5Euroes for the ticket (student price) and 1.8Eures for ½liter soda that cheap compared to the prices I’m used to in Denmark. We pay at least 13Euroes for the ticket and 4Euroes for the ½liter coke. The film was okay, at the beginning I thought it was boring until I realized what the movie was all about in the end of the movie. Hope I didn’t spoil too much already :P
After that we went to Praca, of course, it was Thursday, and that the night you go out. We met some Erasmus students and had a great time.
In the evening we went to see Shutter Island at the cinema at Forum. 5Euroes for the ticket (student price) and 1.8Eures for ½liter soda that cheap compared to the prices I’m used to in Denmark. We pay at least 13Euroes for the ticket and 4Euroes for the ½liter coke. The film was okay, at the beginning I thought it was boring until I realized what the movie was all about in the end of the movie. Hope I didn’t spoil too much already :P
After that we went to Praca, of course, it was Thursday, and that the night you go out. We met some Erasmus students and had a great time.
Day24:
Today I finished the first door way, and had to help my friend with his last work in order to reach the deadline the next day. I think the result is okay, not too bad, but neither great.
Thelma stopped by that evening, it has been a while since we have seen her, but she is okay now, and the injuries seem to heal very nice.
Thelma stopped by that evening, it has been a while since we have seen her, but she is okay now, and the injuries seem to heal very nice.
Day23:
So this night we went out with our new friend Hugo. We are going to help him with his master project about the life as an Erasmus in Aveiro. He needs us to get into the Erasmus community so he can interview them, and learn about the Erasmus. We talked a lot before going to Santos bar, the place where the Erasmus people hang out every Tuesday night.
Hugo definitely loves to talk, haha, and that’s fine since we got a lot of information about the Portuguese people and their passion for soccer. Not that I haven’t realized that since every place with a television is tuned on some soccer game.
So we went to the Erasmus party, but we hanged out with most of Hugo’s friends outside the bar, yes, Portuguese people love to hangout outside the bars at Praca. They basically go to some bar, buy a beer, and go outside again…It seems that 1Euro for a beer is expensive, since you can buy one for 20cent at the supermarket… hmm, I think a Portuguese would have quite a chock if he wanted to buy a beer in Denmark… we pay like 5Euroes for one at the bars in Copenhagen.
New words that I learned:
Tu és muito bonita = You are very beautiful (useless I think…)
Vai-te foder = Go fuck yourself (maybe a bit harsh, don’t you think?)
Hugo definitely loves to talk, haha, and that’s fine since we got a lot of information about the Portuguese people and their passion for soccer. Not that I haven’t realized that since every place with a television is tuned on some soccer game.
So we went to the Erasmus party, but we hanged out with most of Hugo’s friends outside the bar, yes, Portuguese people love to hangout outside the bars at Praca. They basically go to some bar, buy a beer, and go outside again…It seems that 1Euro for a beer is expensive, since you can buy one for 20cent at the supermarket… hmm, I think a Portuguese would have quite a chock if he wanted to buy a beer in Denmark… we pay like 5Euroes for one at the bars in Copenhagen.
New words that I learned:
Tu és muito bonita = You are very beautiful (useless I think…)
Vai-te foder = Go fuck yourself (maybe a bit harsh, don’t you think?)
tirsdag den 23. februar 2010
Day22 Monday: We have ants 4sure!
Sometimes we see some ants walking around our apartment, and we know we have an ant issue. We have told the owner of the apartment about the issue, but because she is old and Portuguese, and probably evil, I think I will spare myself for further troubles and just ignore the ants walking on my table next to my computer, cloth and my sweets… Actually it’s because of the sweets we really found out that we had a problem. We bought some coke from the Mini Preco (supermarket) down stairs, and I decided to have a cup of coke. I put it next to the window where I also had put some candy. At the evening when I was practicing my network security skills my mate saw all the ants around my cup of coke and the sweets… I don’t know what to do about it, I could tell Thelma to contact the old lady, but I don’t want to bother her all the time about this shit hole, and I don’t want to buy any anti-ant spray, because I don’t think it’s my responsibility to do that… Well as the asshole I am, I’m just going to leave it like this haha.
Oh yea, since we are talking about problems at our apartment my mate told us that we had some sort of mould above the ceiling of the bathroom. Great… I think they are toxic, and therefore you shouldn’t stay too long in the bathroom… I should probably lay a note for the next stupid students NOT to rent this apartment…
Oh yea, since we are talking about problems at our apartment my mate told us that we had some sort of mould above the ceiling of the bathroom. Great… I think they are toxic, and therefore you shouldn’t stay too long in the bathroom… I should probably lay a note for the next stupid students NOT to rent this apartment…
søndag den 21. februar 2010
Day 20 – 20-02-10
That night we went to Estação da Luz (disco far away from our home). We had to take a bus to get there, and we had some problems finding it. At our map it said the bus station was quite far away, but in fact it was really close to Forum. When we finally found the bus, people were smoking inside. The Portugal people smoke everywhere, I wonder if they know that smoking can kill (like everything else)… Some of the people inside looked quite young, but I’m not really good at judging peoples’ age, but as my friend say: “they must be 18 to get in, right?” Well I guess so…
We had some problems getting in, because no one has told us that we have to be signed up on some stupid list, and that you have to bring some girls too… It was raining and we couldn’t get home until the bus arrives at 4.30am…it was only 2am, and we had already given up, even the group next to us, who didn’t have “enough” girls tried to pull some girls into their group. We had no chance at all, and everybody there always excused themselves that they did not speak English… We gave up, and found a cab. The driver wanted 89Euroes for driving us back to Aveiro, yeah right! It shouldn’t cost that much, so we decided to make a walk around the little city. There was nothing to see except for expensive houses. We went back, and we took the chance to get in again, and finally we passed the guards and they let us in.
It was a quite big place dominated by some electronic club music. The disco was separated in the middle, but with no walls or whatever, saying that which part you may smoke in… You could also just look at the floor, if you were in doubt of which part you where at.
People or the ones I’ve met knew how to speak English, huh, what are the odds for that if no one at the entrance knew how to speak English… Seems like some people don’t want to be bothered, so they use that for an excuse… Well, I spoke with some people there, and got a lot of information about the Portuguese people and things I should experience while I was here. I should definitely try old traditional dishes, and something else that I have forgot.
We went at 6am, because that was the last bus home. I think we had a great time there even though we had some problems at the beginning, and oh yea, I found out that a cab to Aveiro shouldn’t cost more than 10Euroes…and that you could enter the disco without being on the list and having a girl, but you have to pay 90Euroes…like anyone is that stupid…
We had some problems getting in, because no one has told us that we have to be signed up on some stupid list, and that you have to bring some girls too… It was raining and we couldn’t get home until the bus arrives at 4.30am…it was only 2am, and we had already given up, even the group next to us, who didn’t have “enough” girls tried to pull some girls into their group. We had no chance at all, and everybody there always excused themselves that they did not speak English… We gave up, and found a cab. The driver wanted 89Euroes for driving us back to Aveiro, yeah right! It shouldn’t cost that much, so we decided to make a walk around the little city. There was nothing to see except for expensive houses. We went back, and we took the chance to get in again, and finally we passed the guards and they let us in.
It was a quite big place dominated by some electronic club music. The disco was separated in the middle, but with no walls or whatever, saying that which part you may smoke in… You could also just look at the floor, if you were in doubt of which part you where at.
People or the ones I’ve met knew how to speak English, huh, what are the odds for that if no one at the entrance knew how to speak English… Seems like some people don’t want to be bothered, so they use that for an excuse… Well, I spoke with some people there, and got a lot of information about the Portuguese people and things I should experience while I was here. I should definitely try old traditional dishes, and something else that I have forgot.
We went at 6am, because that was the last bus home. I think we had a great time there even though we had some problems at the beginning, and oh yea, I found out that a cab to Aveiro shouldn’t cost more than 10Euroes…and that you could enter the disco without being on the list and having a girl, but you have to pay 90Euroes…like anyone is that stupid…
Day 19: 19-02-10
I had a hair cut today at a barber where no one knew how to speak English. It went very well, and luckily I’ve been noticing how my barber at home makes all the work so I could guide the Portuguese guy in what I wanted. 7 Euros for a haircut wasn’t bad, and even though the guy used more time in “nursing” my hair I think he did a good job. He was quite careful compared to the one who does my haircut in Denmark; he really took it easy haha.
Day 18: Thursday – The trip goes to Lisbon.
At the morning (7.30am) we caught the first train leaving to Lisbon. It took 2.5 hours before we were at Lisboa (sta. Apolónia) where we caught the Metro towards Colobombo (West Europe’s biggest big). After visiting the place we head backwards to the city (Restauradores st.). It’s nothing like Denmark/Copenhagen at all. On every 10th corner you would find a homeless man/woman, and you could see that they really were poor, not like the homeless in Denmark with Nike shoes etc. (some homeless in Denmark are fakes). They basically lived at the streets with their blankets. It makes me wonder what happened to those peoples’ family. Did they just abandon their old mother? Well Danish people aren’t much better… It happens that they just leave their old ones at the rest home, which is by the way financed by the government and our taxes.
I don’t know why, but we saw a lot of African-American people at the street that day. They were talking in big groups at the city, and it seemed like they knew each other very well. So I suppose they do it often.
At Lisboa we also visited the ‘Elevador de Santa Justa’ which is an elevator made by Raul Mesnier du Ponsard who was trained by Gustave Eiffel (known for Tour de Paris of Paris).
While walking the streets of Lisboa we found an old church, a simple edition of the Notre Dame at Paris. It also had an exhibition part inside where you could what they have been digging op from the garden behind the church. It was quite cool to see that.
After that we headed towards the city again, and my mate asked a girl where to find any malls. She told us how to take the bus, but it was so ridicules close that a real Aveiro’nese would laugh the distance… At the way home we walked the way, and it took us like 15-30 minutes to walk the way.
After that we went towards ‘Oceanário’ which should be Europe’s biggest aquarium. Unlucky for us they just closed, but then we took a ride on the air carriage (I’m not sure what they are called, but it’s basically a cage tight to some wires in the air that you can use as transport).
At the evening some hours before the last train departure, we went to one more mall next to the Oriente Station. It was a quite nice looking mall, and it matched the train station very well.
I don’t know why, but we saw a lot of African-American people at the street that day. They were talking in big groups at the city, and it seemed like they knew each other very well. So I suppose they do it often.
At Lisboa we also visited the ‘Elevador de Santa Justa’ which is an elevator made by Raul Mesnier du Ponsard who was trained by Gustave Eiffel (known for Tour de Paris of Paris).
While walking the streets of Lisboa we found an old church, a simple edition of the Notre Dame at Paris. It also had an exhibition part inside where you could what they have been digging op from the garden behind the church. It was quite cool to see that.
After that we headed towards the city again, and my mate asked a girl where to find any malls. She told us how to take the bus, but it was so ridicules close that a real Aveiro’nese would laugh the distance… At the way home we walked the way, and it took us like 15-30 minutes to walk the way.
After that we went towards ‘Oceanário’ which should be Europe’s biggest aquarium. Unlucky for us they just closed, but then we took a ride on the air carriage (I’m not sure what they are called, but it’s basically a cage tight to some wires in the air that you can use as transport).
At the evening some hours before the last train departure, we went to one more mall next to the Oriente Station. It was a quite nice looking mall, and it matched the train station very well.
Day 17 Wednesday:
Nothing happened except that we bought a lot of groceries, and Ahmad made some pizzas.
Day 16 Tuesday:
Today we are going to have a big Erasmus student party at the usual bar. I’ve pestering him all day to make him buy a costume, but he still did not want to. I’m going to be a joker, and have bought a nice hat and some face paint. I have to say it’s quite hard to apply it to make it look good, and Ahmad did also help me around the eyes. I’m excited to see the result with the hat and the paint, and to see if the other Erasmus students have dressed up like the Portuguese people.
So we went to the bar, and some of the Erasmus students had dressed up but not all of them. Joana, who said she would bring her mask, did not bring it because she thought nobody would dress up for today. It seems like the carnival was quite over. The tents were empty, and nobody was at Praca. It rained a lot, so it didn’t surprise us that we wouldn’t expect to see that many people at the bar. At first I felt quite stupid as I was the only one that was dressed up when we were heading towards the bar, but luckily we met Zoro, a gipsy, school girls and more at the bar. It was quite okay, that the bar wasn’t that full, because it was quite easier to find someone to have a conversation with. Unluckily we did not find any Portuguese people we could bother the Portuguese lessons we have been taken from youtube - yes you can learn everything from youtube… I bet you could learn how to rob a bank if you searched for it…
Well anyway, we had a great time, and we met some other Erasmus students too.
So we went to the bar, and some of the Erasmus students had dressed up but not all of them. Joana, who said she would bring her mask, did not bring it because she thought nobody would dress up for today. It seems like the carnival was quite over. The tents were empty, and nobody was at Praca. It rained a lot, so it didn’t surprise us that we wouldn’t expect to see that many people at the bar. At first I felt quite stupid as I was the only one that was dressed up when we were heading towards the bar, but luckily we met Zoro, a gipsy, school girls and more at the bar. It was quite okay, that the bar wasn’t that full, because it was quite easier to find someone to have a conversation with. Unluckily we did not find any Portuguese people we could bother the Portuguese lessons we have been taken from youtube - yes you can learn everything from youtube… I bet you could learn how to rob a bank if you searched for it…
Well anyway, we had a great time, and we met some other Erasmus students too.
Day 15: Monday
Today and tomorrow are the official days for the carnival, all the schools are closed.
At the evening we went to Praca to see how the nightlife was. A lot of people were celebrating the carnival and they were all dressed up like the other days. The big tents where still there, but this time with people dressed up as Rambo, Avatars, lambs, bees, police women, nurses etc. People had puked different places, and the place stank like shit everywhere we went, so we went home quite fast.
At the evening we went to Praca to see how the nightlife was. A lot of people were celebrating the carnival and they were all dressed up like the other days. The big tents where still there, but this time with people dressed up as Rambo, Avatars, lambs, bees, police women, nurses etc. People had puked different places, and the place stank like shit everywhere we went, so we went home quite fast.
Day 14 Sunday:
Today they had a carnival procession on the streets next to us. It was quite amazing to experience, and all the people was dressed up and threw candy everywhere to the children. They dress up like the Danish children at the Shrovetide.
Thelma told us that the carnival will officially start at Tuesday, but people can dress up for the carnival as early as they want, that’s why I’ve seen so many children dressed up like ironman and superman.
We paid a visit to Thelma today, it appears that she “also” went into a glass door, but she got injured much more than me. Actually she cut her face around the nose and mouth pretty badly on the broken glass door, and now she must eat soups and milkshakes all the time… Luckily for her “Portuguese people like soup” (you can get soup everywhere in Portugal, even at McDonald), but she said she was getting pretty tired of it already. Well, it’s probably because she is not a real Portuguese. She is from Arizonans which is a Portuguese island two hours from the main land.
It sounds like people don’t pay taxes here, and that’s also why Thelma must pay 8Euroes every time she goes to the hospital. She has already been there twice since the accident, and must go to the doctor at Tuesday… it’s a lot of money for a student, and you will first be able to collect the insurance money at the end of the year…
After company with Thelma we went out to crap a pizza. All the places were celebrating Valentine’s Day, and I think it was pretty embarrassing to eat at Pizza hut with all the couples around you, making you and your friend look like a gay couple… we should have asked some girls out, obviously Thelma could not come since she can’t eat, and it would be too weird to call some of the girls you had met once or twice just before dinner… so we ate, and went out as fast as possible…
Thelma told us that the carnival will officially start at Tuesday, but people can dress up for the carnival as early as they want, that’s why I’ve seen so many children dressed up like ironman and superman.
We paid a visit to Thelma today, it appears that she “also” went into a glass door, but she got injured much more than me. Actually she cut her face around the nose and mouth pretty badly on the broken glass door, and now she must eat soups and milkshakes all the time… Luckily for her “Portuguese people like soup” (you can get soup everywhere in Portugal, even at McDonald), but she said she was getting pretty tired of it already. Well, it’s probably because she is not a real Portuguese. She is from Arizonans which is a Portuguese island two hours from the main land.
It sounds like people don’t pay taxes here, and that’s also why Thelma must pay 8Euroes every time she goes to the hospital. She has already been there twice since the accident, and must go to the doctor at Tuesday… it’s a lot of money for a student, and you will first be able to collect the insurance money at the end of the year…
After company with Thelma we went out to crap a pizza. All the places were celebrating Valentine’s Day, and I think it was pretty embarrassing to eat at Pizza hut with all the couples around you, making you and your friend look like a gay couple… we should have asked some girls out, obviously Thelma could not come since she can’t eat, and it would be too weird to call some of the girls you had met once or twice just before dinner… so we ate, and went out as fast as possible…
Day 13
Nothing special to mention except that I finally had enough knowhow to hack a wireless net that was using WEP encryption and how to protect against that. Too bad WEP encryption is not used anymore, but of course you should never hack other peoples’ network without permission. I rather pay my 1Euro to have a stable connection at the café where I can enjoy my coco or something like that.
Day12
At the morning we started to wash again, and I tried to hand wash some of my jeans. It took forever to get the soap out of it, so I think I will let the washing machine do the work in the future. When I was finished washing my friend was gone. His phone was turned off, and he had not left any note. A little frustrating because I didn’t know when he was coming back. It appears that he went to the university, and had a little trip himself. Well of course I didn’t stay home waiting for him, so I took a walk around the city and ended at the mall where I tried a local dish as for dinner. It was a pork meal with a really nice champignon sauce.
At the way home I experienced a turn out from the fire station. It appears that they use some sirens that sounds like the ones used at war, just before the trucks get off the fire station. It was quite a special experience.
At the evening my mate came home, and we tried to boost the wifi reception for the computers by wrapping an internet cable around my phone. We even built a little satellite dish out of tin foil, but unfortunately it didn’t work… it actually made it much worse… after the failure we went down to the café to surf on the internet.
Oh yea, almost forgot to tell you about what I saw today: A dog and its owner was walking while a homeless dog was following them the whole way, I think it was quite a funny to see that Oh yea, by the way there are a lot of homeless dogs just walking around in Portugal.
At the way home I experienced a turn out from the fire station. It appears that they use some sirens that sounds like the ones used at war, just before the trucks get off the fire station. It was quite a special experience.
At the evening my mate came home, and we tried to boost the wifi reception for the computers by wrapping an internet cable around my phone. We even built a little satellite dish out of tin foil, but unfortunately it didn’t work… it actually made it much worse… after the failure we went down to the café to surf on the internet.
Oh yea, almost forgot to tell you about what I saw today: A dog and its owner was walking while a homeless dog was following them the whole way, I think it was quite a funny to see that Oh yea, by the way there are a lot of homeless dogs just walking around in Portugal.
Day11 – Thursday 11-02-10:
We went to the museum that morning at 9.45am, because the appointment was at 10am. In Aveiro everyone comes 15 minutes too late, that’s what the professor told us haha… Anyway we went inside and it appeared that our meeting would be delayed because the director was busy. Not good for our professor, because he had a meeting at 11am… so when the director finally had time to see us they had to make the conversation in Portuguese in order to make the conversation faster… great…
Well, anyway we got a little tour at the museum to see what we would be modeling those two months, and I can tell you for sure we are not going to sit down on our asses and do nothing
Later I went to the university to get some modeling issues solved, and when the time finally past 8 and 9pm you could see and hear people at the street going to Praça. It appears to be that this Thursday, is the “Académic day” or something like that (I think they are celebrating the start of the semester, and why a Thursday? Because that’s the day most people go out). Joana, the girl I was talking about who moved out when she was 17, told me that, but I didn’t get it for sure, because of all the noise at Praça. They had live music inside the two tents they had put together, and some of the people were dressed up as different things. It was really crowded and both young and older people had showed up, even though it was past their bedtimes…
After that, at 3am we went to Club 8 where I went into a glass wall, and hurt my nose pretty bad… and the funny thing is that I and Joana was heading towards the dance floor when it happened, it couldn’t be more embarrassing… luckily all those embarrassing things happen here in Aveiro, and not in Denmark haha.
Well, anyway we got a little tour at the museum to see what we would be modeling those two months, and I can tell you for sure we are not going to sit down on our asses and do nothing
Later I went to the university to get some modeling issues solved, and when the time finally past 8 and 9pm you could see and hear people at the street going to Praça. It appears to be that this Thursday, is the “Académic day” or something like that (I think they are celebrating the start of the semester, and why a Thursday? Because that’s the day most people go out). Joana, the girl I was talking about who moved out when she was 17, told me that, but I didn’t get it for sure, because of all the noise at Praça. They had live music inside the two tents they had put together, and some of the people were dressed up as different things. It was really crowded and both young and older people had showed up, even though it was past their bedtimes…
After that, at 3am we went to Club 8 where I went into a glass wall, and hurt my nose pretty bad… and the funny thing is that I and Joana was heading towards the dance floor when it happened, it couldn’t be more embarrassing… luckily all those embarrassing things happen here in Aveiro, and not in Denmark haha.
Day10 – Wednesday 10-02-10:
Today was a modeling day, and we basically stayed at home until the evening where Thelma called us, and wanted us to join her at the student bar. The student bar is located across the long bridge next to the school, so from the starting point at the cheap heavy metal bar at Praça, we walked those 45min to what happened to be a trance party with a lot of cheap beer. 60 cent for one, that’s the cheapest yet.
When we arrived at 2am you might say that it was almost half crowded, but when the time past 3 or 4am people start showing up because all of the bars at Praça close around 2am. Unlucky for us you might say so, we left when it was most crowded, because we had this meeting the next day at the Museum of Aveiro.
When we arrived at 2am you might say that it was almost half crowded, but when the time past 3 or 4am people start showing up because all of the bars at Praça close around 2am. Unlucky for us you might say so, we left when it was most crowded, because we had this meeting the next day at the Museum of Aveiro.
Day9
Today we really had a modeling day, and I was fighting with some of the weird modeling techniques that should make life “easier”… yeah right… We worked pretty much that day, but I can’t say that I’m satisfied with the result. It looks like I have done nothing the whole day, but it took me forever to adjust the models. After school we went down to Forum, and rent some bikes. It’s pretty cool that’s free, and we biked around the city. We didn’t see anything special, but it was nice to bike again instead of all the walking. It’s probably the government/city that has made this service available in order to let the tourists see what Aveiro has to offer. I’m not sure of how many tourists actually choose to visit this place, but because of the many international students that come to study one semester/6 months at the university you could probably count them as “tourists”. You might imagine that’s the only tourism they have here in Aveiro… You can’t really say that this city has that much to offer compared to bigger cities. You can actually see all what Aveiro has to offer in one day or two depending on how lazy you are, but even though is a small city and it’s nothing compared to the bigger ones, it’s a place like nothing else. It has something indescribable, I’m not sure of what it is, but it feels okay to be here, even though it has been a long trip to finally feel “home”.
At the night we went to Praça, notice it’s a Tuesday which means we are going to have five parties doing this week… Sometimes it makes me wonder how it’s possible for students to concentrate about their work with all those parties. Our neighbors are a good example. They study at the university, and every night they are having some sort of a party above us. It’s just unbelievable… How can they even afford it? Speaking of money - I met two girls at a bar at Praça and it appears that they moved out at the age of 17. I forgot to ask them about if they had any job, maybe I will do that later. Oh yea, if you didn’t know mostly the parents pay for their children to read at the universities, I wonder if those girls parents are paying for their apartment too… I wouldn’t surprise me after all…
At our way home we met more Erasmus students, some French and some from Poland. They were quite nice, we should have asked for their numbers… They say, well the school said that Erasmus students stick together, and we would be having a lot of arrangement together, and since we don’t have any internet connection at home, it would be sweet to have to friends that could inform you… Hey, don’t get me wrong about that, having friends for friendship is also important down here.
At the night we went to Praça, notice it’s a Tuesday which means we are going to have five parties doing this week… Sometimes it makes me wonder how it’s possible for students to concentrate about their work with all those parties. Our neighbors are a good example. They study at the university, and every night they are having some sort of a party above us. It’s just unbelievable… How can they even afford it? Speaking of money - I met two girls at a bar at Praça and it appears that they moved out at the age of 17. I forgot to ask them about if they had any job, maybe I will do that later. Oh yea, if you didn’t know mostly the parents pay for their children to read at the universities, I wonder if those girls parents are paying for their apartment too… I wouldn’t surprise me after all…
At our way home we met more Erasmus students, some French and some from Poland. They were quite nice, we should have asked for their numbers… They say, well the school said that Erasmus students stick together, and we would be having a lot of arrangement together, and since we don’t have any internet connection at home, it would be sweet to have to friends that could inform you… Hey, don’t get me wrong about that, having friends for friendship is also important down here.
Day8
Today we have been at the university to the project. We have each received some tasks to do to Thursday. My job is to model a door of the museum of Aveiro. We have also received some DVDs with 3ds max tutorials.
In order to get a better perspective of what I was going to model I went down to the museum to take some pictures of door. It’s not going to be an easy task, especially because I haven’t used the program that much and several editions of 3ds max has been published since last time I used it.
In order to get a better perspective of what I was going to model I went down to the museum to take some pictures of door. It’s not going to be an easy task, especially because I haven’t used the program that much and several editions of 3ds max has been published since last time I used it.
Day6: 06-02-2010
Today was just like any other relaxing day. The only that differs was that I went down to the café and ordered a drink, in order to get access to the free internet down there. I just went there to talk to my family and respond to some of my mails, but didn’t have enough time to really enjoy my time there, because the battery on my laptop isn’t that good.
We also started our first wash that day, and I’m “excited” to see if it is “wearable” again… before I started the wash I met the Italian guy from last night, it appears that he feeds some of his friend’s cat upstairs.
What I forgot to tell you guys is that it appears very few Erasmus students have a job in Aveiro. It’s not because it’s hard to get, but because the pay is too bad. Who wants to earn 5Euroes an hour anyway? Even for the Portuguese people it’s not much, but if you live at your own place you can survive without a job… Thelma told me that it was a very common low wage to earn 400Euroes a month… How can people surive with that kind of wage?
We also started our first wash that day, and I’m “excited” to see if it is “wearable” again… before I started the wash I met the Italian guy from last night, it appears that he feeds some of his friend’s cat upstairs.
What I forgot to tell you guys is that it appears very few Erasmus students have a job in Aveiro. It’s not because it’s hard to get, but because the pay is too bad. Who wants to earn 5Euroes an hour anyway? Even for the Portuguese people it’s not much, but if you live at your own place you can survive without a job… Thelma told me that it was a very common low wage to earn 400Euroes a month… How can people surive with that kind of wage?
Day5
At 10 o’clock we went to the school for the Erasmus meeting. We thought that we had entered a wrong meeting, because Thelma said it was near the church at the school, which meant it couldn’t be this meeting. So while the meeting was on, we left the room, and went towards the church. We found a sign saying Erasmus, so we entered that room. What I’m telling you now, must be the most embarrassing experience I ever had. In the room we have 6 people behind a table, and next to the table was a lady presenting something from her power point, I guess. Some girls might have been friends or family was just looking at us when we sat down on one of the many seats in the room. I was pretty sure it was the wrong room, when I realized the people behind the table might have been external examiners… Ahmad keep whispering me we couldn’t leave the room, it was too embarrassing, and one of the girl just keep looking at us. Finally we left the room very quiet, and we never looked back… haha
Luckily we found a girl wearing a t-shirt saying “Erasmus”, and she gave us a map of the university point towards the meeting we were attending before we got the SMS from Thelma… So embarrassing, I swear to God, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life “except for the time when I…” (A typical punch line from Family Guy, which we watched when we were bored)
Well after the meeting we had a little tour at the school, and a bus trip afterwards. They showed us some of the city, but we had already seen most of the city the first day while we were searching for an apartment. The only thing we haven’t seen on the little tour was the ‘Casa Nova Breche’, which is a nice place to surf. They have some awesome waves down there, and Europe’s second biggest lighthouse.
After the trip we went to Jumbo and bought some glossaries, and we made some weird pizzas, before going to the dinner at Thelma at 9 o’clock, which I think is late for dinner… We couldn’t start the gas oven, we don’t know why, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t work too… So we tried to make it on the pan, it didn’t go well, so we used the microwave as our last option… not that tasty, but at least we didn’t have to starve before going to Thelma.
At Thelma we got some fine dinner, with beans, rice and some vegetables. A little different from Danish dishes, but it was nice. After the dinner she showed us some weird kind of mouth organ made in Vietnam, and the sound from that was quite surprising. It makes some sounds like you would expect from a computer.
The time past twelve, and we went to Praça, and we met some of her friends and some of our new friends too (that we have met in at the past night). I think it was a typical night at Aveiro where people go to a specific place to start, and then goes to another depending on when they close. When the whole praça is closed around 2am people go to either Club 8 or Performas, which is a place that plays different music depending on what day it is.
Luckily we found a girl wearing a t-shirt saying “Erasmus”, and she gave us a map of the university point towards the meeting we were attending before we got the SMS from Thelma… So embarrassing, I swear to God, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life “except for the time when I…” (A typical punch line from Family Guy, which we watched when we were bored)
Well after the meeting we had a little tour at the school, and a bus trip afterwards. They showed us some of the city, but we had already seen most of the city the first day while we were searching for an apartment. The only thing we haven’t seen on the little tour was the ‘Casa Nova Breche’, which is a nice place to surf. They have some awesome waves down there, and Europe’s second biggest lighthouse.
After the trip we went to Jumbo and bought some glossaries, and we made some weird pizzas, before going to the dinner at Thelma at 9 o’clock, which I think is late for dinner… We couldn’t start the gas oven, we don’t know why, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t work too… So we tried to make it on the pan, it didn’t go well, so we used the microwave as our last option… not that tasty, but at least we didn’t have to starve before going to Thelma.
At Thelma we got some fine dinner, with beans, rice and some vegetables. A little different from Danish dishes, but it was nice. After the dinner she showed us some weird kind of mouth organ made in Vietnam, and the sound from that was quite surprising. It makes some sounds like you would expect from a computer.
The time past twelve, and we went to Praça, and we met some of her friends and some of our new friends too (that we have met in at the past night). I think it was a typical night at Aveiro where people go to a specific place to start, and then goes to another depending on when they close. When the whole praça is closed around 2am people go to either Club 8 or Performas, which is a place that plays different music depending on what day it is.
Day4
In the morning we were keeping the accounts of our usage doing the 3 days in Aveiro. It didn’t come to our surprise that we had almost spent 200eEuroes in 3 days, because of all the things we had to buy to our apartment, and all the junk food we have been eating doing our “establishment”. But I think it is a healthy reminder that we need to save some money when it’s possible. I’ve already built up some kind of a psychological skepticism for things above 1Euro, hah… Because that’s what a beer cost, just joking No, but really… we have to have in mind that if we buy too many things for 1Euro, and we don’t really need it, it will be an expensive journey.
In the evening we went upstairs to our neighbors, I’ve established some kind of a friendship already the second day I was here with our neighbor. It’s quite a funny story: It happened in the evening when our Portuguese neighbors from 3rd floor accidently dropped their laptop from their window – I think they were trying to catch the wireless net from the café around the corner, yes, sometimes you can catch it, but mostly not – They came downstairs to us, because the totally smashed up laptop landed on our balcony. No chance it would have survived that fall… They went upstairs with the “dead body” and I was thinking that maybe they knew a password for some of the other wireless networks that you can find around here. So I went upstairs to talk to them, apparently none of them spoke English, so they went to the 2nd floor (we live at 1st floor) where they knew a girl who spoke English and Portuguese. Apparently that girl just left the apartment and the pajamas wearing guy in the apartment was totally unaware of the situation. He looked like a big question mark when the two Portuguese guys were trying to explain that they were looking for the girl whose name I cannot remember… Luckily the guy, Sebastian from Slovenia, talked perfectly English so I explained what happened and my theory of their internet access.
Even though he couldn’t tell me how to get internet from the apartment, we developed some kind of nice friendship. So that evening we went upstairs, and go some beers where after we left to Praça where all the bars are located in Aveiro. We went to a club with a lot of other Erasmus students like us, and it was actually quite nice a place, just weird it already closed at 2am. It appears that many of the bars do that except for 2 big ones.
The next day he left the country, because he had his last finals that day.
In the evening we went upstairs to our neighbors, I’ve established some kind of a friendship already the second day I was here with our neighbor. It’s quite a funny story: It happened in the evening when our Portuguese neighbors from 3rd floor accidently dropped their laptop from their window – I think they were trying to catch the wireless net from the café around the corner, yes, sometimes you can catch it, but mostly not – They came downstairs to us, because the totally smashed up laptop landed on our balcony. No chance it would have survived that fall… They went upstairs with the “dead body” and I was thinking that maybe they knew a password for some of the other wireless networks that you can find around here. So I went upstairs to talk to them, apparently none of them spoke English, so they went to the 2nd floor (we live at 1st floor) where they knew a girl who spoke English and Portuguese. Apparently that girl just left the apartment and the pajamas wearing guy in the apartment was totally unaware of the situation. He looked like a big question mark when the two Portuguese guys were trying to explain that they were looking for the girl whose name I cannot remember… Luckily the guy, Sebastian from Slovenia, talked perfectly English so I explained what happened and my theory of their internet access.
Even though he couldn’t tell me how to get internet from the apartment, we developed some kind of nice friendship. So that evening we went upstairs, and go some beers where after we left to Praça where all the bars are located in Aveiro. We went to a club with a lot of other Erasmus students like us, and it was actually quite nice a place, just weird it already closed at 2am. It appears that many of the bars do that except for 2 big ones.
The next day he left the country, because he had his last finals that day.
Day3
Day3
Today is our “resting” day. We have been all alone without Thelma. We have been looking for some internet options; yes we do not have internet or television at our apartment. Even though we live so close to the cafes with free internet service, we can’t access them from our apartment. It’s too far away… but if you go down to the street, you can access the internet, so it will be there I will be blogging to my blog…
It seems like many students are going to the cafes after school to hang around and do their home works together. I think the student life is nothing like Denmark at all. People hang around with each other much, and the libraries are full of young students studying and helping each other.
We have been down at the centre of the city, which is called Forum. They have some shops and restaurants there.
In the evening we will be going to the city. It seems like people are going out Wednesday and Thursdays, because some of the students live far from here and will be joining their families in the weekends.
All the pubs are located at the ‘fish market’ which is I find very weird. It smells like very much of fish there, but it seems like people hang out there…
We went to different bars, and the first one was a little expensive, but compared to Danish prices it is cheap. We paid 10Euros for 2 Jack Daniels, which is the same price for one in Denmark. But if you are student and have spent a lot of your money on food and accessories you are a little broke… After that we went to some cheaper bars, where we bought some local beers for 1Euro each. Their local beer ‘Super Bock’ and ‘Sagres’ taste like regular beer, nothing really special about them, I think. I’m not really a beer guy… It seems like the Portuguese people eat some yellow beans to their beers. It looked very oily, but I wonder what it takes like... After that we went to one of the discos in the town – Club 8 where we had an expensive drink and went home for some sleep.
Today is our “resting” day. We have been all alone without Thelma. We have been looking for some internet options; yes we do not have internet or television at our apartment. Even though we live so close to the cafes with free internet service, we can’t access them from our apartment. It’s too far away… but if you go down to the street, you can access the internet, so it will be there I will be blogging to my blog…
It seems like many students are going to the cafes after school to hang around and do their home works together. I think the student life is nothing like Denmark at all. People hang around with each other much, and the libraries are full of young students studying and helping each other.
We have been down at the centre of the city, which is called Forum. They have some shops and restaurants there.
In the evening we will be going to the city. It seems like people are going out Wednesday and Thursdays, because some of the students live far from here and will be joining their families in the weekends.
All the pubs are located at the ‘fish market’ which is I find very weird. It smells like very much of fish there, but it seems like people hang out there…
We went to different bars, and the first one was a little expensive, but compared to Danish prices it is cheap. We paid 10Euros for 2 Jack Daniels, which is the same price for one in Denmark. But if you are student and have spent a lot of your money on food and accessories you are a little broke… After that we went to some cheaper bars, where we bought some local beers for 1Euro each. Their local beer ‘Super Bock’ and ‘Sagres’ taste like regular beer, nothing really special about them, I think. I’m not really a beer guy… It seems like the Portuguese people eat some yellow beans to their beers. It looked very oily, but I wonder what it takes like... After that we went to one of the discos in the town – Club 8 where we had an expensive drink and went home for some sleep.
Day2
In the morning we went to the university to see the professor. It was quite easy to find even though we had no idea where we lived. Thelma could not find the street name for our apartment. We asked about, and luckily we found one that could guide us.
The university was quite big and the professor introduced us to the project in which we will be working on the next two months. He also talked about a little about Portuguese traditions and other stuff…
We had rabbit for lunch, which was “cheap” according to the professor… It almost cost 5Euroes! Seems like everything in Aveiro cost 1Euro or 5Euro… It appears that the Portuguese people like to eat rabbit and squids… I’m not a fan of both..
After the meeting with the Professor we met with Thelma, and she guided us around the city. We went to a mall to get some of the stuff we needed back in the apartment. The apartment did not have any dished or casseroles. We had to buy everything; it was like starting a new life in another country.
Luckily again Thelma could help us by providing some casseroles and ingredients. What should we do without her? Without her I think we wouldn’t have made it… Thanks Thelma!
It appears that the Portuguese people are a very social and warm people. Even though they don’t know you they kiss and hug like they have known you for years. Even at the training center, Ahmad was looking for one; people seem to be very friendly. The only one I’ve met which gave me a negative attitude was the old cripple lady who apparently was not cripple at all. We saw her this morning without her stick from one of her expensive cars. I’m not sure if she is false or what, but I just can’t stand the look of her, and when we were paying for the rest of the rent, she charged us for the gas bottles which were empty when we came to the apartment. Of course I can understand we have to pay for our usage, but isn’t it a standard that everything should be working from the beginning? Maybe this is what people call a “cultural shock”…
The university was quite big and the professor introduced us to the project in which we will be working on the next two months. He also talked about a little about Portuguese traditions and other stuff…
We had rabbit for lunch, which was “cheap” according to the professor… It almost cost 5Euroes! Seems like everything in Aveiro cost 1Euro or 5Euro… It appears that the Portuguese people like to eat rabbit and squids… I’m not a fan of both..
After the meeting with the Professor we met with Thelma, and she guided us around the city. We went to a mall to get some of the stuff we needed back in the apartment. The apartment did not have any dished or casseroles. We had to buy everything; it was like starting a new life in another country.
Luckily again Thelma could help us by providing some casseroles and ingredients. What should we do without her? Without her I think we wouldn’t have made it… Thanks Thelma!
It appears that the Portuguese people are a very social and warm people. Even though they don’t know you they kiss and hug like they have known you for years. Even at the training center, Ahmad was looking for one; people seem to be very friendly. The only one I’ve met which gave me a negative attitude was the old cripple lady who apparently was not cripple at all. We saw her this morning without her stick from one of her expensive cars. I’m not sure if she is false or what, but I just can’t stand the look of her, and when we were paying for the rest of the rent, she charged us for the gas bottles which were empty when we came to the apartment. Of course I can understand we have to pay for our usage, but isn’t it a standard that everything should be working from the beginning? Maybe this is what people call a “cultural shock”…
Day1
The trip to Aveiro at Portugal was a bit rough. When we were leaving Denmark it was snowing heavily, and we were unsure whether the plane was flying or not. The metro which we took to the Danish airport was stucked at many train stations, and we were a little bit late even though we left in good time.
We middle landed at Barcelona and took the plane to Oporto where we took the metro to Campanã to take the train to Aveiro. It was easy, but to our surprise people did not speak English, even the young generation did not speak English or did not speak it that well. More about that later…
When we arrived at Aveiro we met Thelma, our Erasmus Buddy, and we explained our situation about the offers we have made with different hotels around the university. 2000euroes for two months were too much, and could be done much cheaper so she made some calls at her home to some of her contacts. Everything was rent out to other people, we were too late.
To my defense I’ve been asking my teacher about where I would stay doing this internship, and they kept saying that they would take care of it. The last time I asked them about the situation, which was one week before the trip, they told me that they could not help me, because they apparently did not have a contact in Portugal. I then contacted the professor in Portugal which had arranged the internship with my teachers. He could not help me either, but he said that we would be contacted by an Erasmus Buddy. She contacted me one day before the trip… While everything was “taken” care of I and my friend had made some deals with different hotels around the university just in case everyone could not hold their promises… But it would have been an expensive trip if it wasn’t for Thelma. Luckily for us she was contacted 11 o’clock in the evening while we still were looking for any rentable apartment on the streets. We walked our legs off that day in search for a place to stay! We walked almost every corner of the city…
We got an apartment for 900Euros, but we only had the half on the money in cash. It was okay with the old cripple lady, and we were able to loan some sheets and blanket from her which apparently was not included in the apartment.
When we finally were alone and ready to sleep we realized what a shit hole we have rented… The toilet is loose, and you have to be careful not to fall over when you are “making business”… The warm water was not working, even though the old lady tested it in front of us and said it worked.
When we went to sleep it was getting pretty cold, seems like the temperature is dropping quite a lot in the evening. We were close to freeze to death, because none of the radiators were working…
This is of course the simple version of the worst day of my life, but I don’t want to bother you with my endless complains…
We middle landed at Barcelona and took the plane to Oporto where we took the metro to Campanã to take the train to Aveiro. It was easy, but to our surprise people did not speak English, even the young generation did not speak English or did not speak it that well. More about that later…
When we arrived at Aveiro we met Thelma, our Erasmus Buddy, and we explained our situation about the offers we have made with different hotels around the university. 2000euroes for two months were too much, and could be done much cheaper so she made some calls at her home to some of her contacts. Everything was rent out to other people, we were too late.
To my defense I’ve been asking my teacher about where I would stay doing this internship, and they kept saying that they would take care of it. The last time I asked them about the situation, which was one week before the trip, they told me that they could not help me, because they apparently did not have a contact in Portugal. I then contacted the professor in Portugal which had arranged the internship with my teachers. He could not help me either, but he said that we would be contacted by an Erasmus Buddy. She contacted me one day before the trip… While everything was “taken” care of I and my friend had made some deals with different hotels around the university just in case everyone could not hold their promises… But it would have been an expensive trip if it wasn’t for Thelma. Luckily for us she was contacted 11 o’clock in the evening while we still were looking for any rentable apartment on the streets. We walked our legs off that day in search for a place to stay! We walked almost every corner of the city…
We got an apartment for 900Euros, but we only had the half on the money in cash. It was okay with the old cripple lady, and we were able to loan some sheets and blanket from her which apparently was not included in the apartment.
When we finally were alone and ready to sleep we realized what a shit hole we have rented… The toilet is loose, and you have to be careful not to fall over when you are “making business”… The warm water was not working, even though the old lady tested it in front of us and said it worked.
When we went to sleep it was getting pretty cold, seems like the temperature is dropping quite a lot in the evening. We were close to freeze to death, because none of the radiators were working…
This is of course the simple version of the worst day of my life, but I don’t want to bother you with my endless complains…
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