Erasmus Report for Aveiro

I have never heard of Aveiro before I was offered an internship there by my teacher. I was excited to try something more extraordinary than just working at a company everyday in Denmark. By studying abroad I would not just learn about working at 3D environment, but also learning about another country and culture there as well. And since I still live with my parents I would also get the taste of being independent.

But before my journey everything was a mess. The teachers from my school kept saying that the Portuguese university would find a place for me to stay at, and everything would be okay, and the answers from the teachers from the university varied from person to person. Even the last day before my journey it was still not decided whether I should sleep at the streets or not. It was like everyone didn’t care about me, and was only interested in having this transfer as a proof that both of the schools had an international connection. When I arrived I and my Erasmus buddy searched for a rooms rent the all day. I was walking around from 3PM to 23PM with my luggage on the streets until we finally got a room! And the room I got was more expensive than usual, and all the problems with the room where hidden very well. First at night when I wanted to turn on the heater I realized that they didn’t work or smelled burned. One of the rooms had ants if you left anything sweet there, and the toilet seems to be very loose if you sit on it. I was pissed, but it’s hard to complain to an old woman that don’t speak English, and who apparently don’t need her stick to support her poor little legs the next day you see her at the streets. Manipulating bitch!

When you go to such a trip you realize how much everyone juts tries to take advantage of you in every way they can. While writing this I remember how much I had to mail my teachers all the time to get things signed and arranged. You most do everything yourself, if not you can just forget about it. Nobody cares for you. I don’t feel like answering the question: “Were you well welcomed and informed” if you know what I mean…

But when you finally are up and running at Aveiro, and you are not depended on the lazy teachers and manipulating old ladies then everything is nice at Aveiro. Just don’t go at February and March since it cold and rains A LOT! The grant + SU is not enough even though the prices on groceries are a little less than in Denmark, but if you save some money before you go, you should be okay. The only things you spend your money on at Aveiro are food and beer.
Aveiro is a city of students, and every Tuesday to Saturday students are at the city having fun, even though they have classes. “The Erasmus students stick together” that was one of the first words I heard at the Erasmus meeting with all the new Erasmus students. They have some different arrangement for Erasmus students where they visit different places around Portugal. They even have a Facebook group.

The people here love the social life. Aveiro is full of cafés with you people doing homework and some of them just hang around. The cafés all have free internet, so don’t worry about it, if you room like mine doesn’t have any internet access. Of course you will have to buy at least one drink for being there. But being at the café is sometimes hard to have a video conversation with you parents, so if you wish to do such you can go to the university and find a empty room to talk to your girlfriend, friends, parents etc. Video conversation is highly recommended, since I think it seems to be more personal than just texting to them. Then they can see you are fine and still living…

People hug and kiss when they say hi, even though you don’t know them. Obviously you don’t kiss a male, if you are a male. Some of the Portuguese are much opened, so don’t get any weird thoughts if you get invited to some family dinner or so. That is a big cultural difference for me, since my generation in Denmark are very embarrassed about our parents, but here they really appreciate their parents…

Thoughts on the overall experience
I did not have any expectations, since I had so many troubles at the beginning. I was close to give it all up, but I’m glad I did not. It was really worth visiting Aveiro, the city of students, and being a part of the young life there. Too bad I did not really get into the Erasmus community that well since my teacher didn’t care much about me, and never gave me my student card and signed me up for the Erasmus community, but I had a great time with them, and even joined some of their arrangements.

I would recommend everyone to study in another country since it really is an indescribable experience, and many of those I have met can only recommend staying abroad for at least one year. Six months is not enough! And what I can I say with my silly two month?!

I really love my life as an Erasmus, Jeffrey Lai

Ps. while writing this in Aveiro just one week before leaving, really makes me miss the city even though I’m still here…

Day44 - 16-03-10 Tuesday

At the morning I introduced the new software that I found on the internet. They were very happy about it, and we decided to use that instead of wasting any more time on Mr. Planet. We got it to work with multiple patterns, and use animated models too. I have seen that it is possible to get the models to interact with each other, but we are not sure how to do it. We think that we have to add some codes to our models before we import them to our Augmented Reality software.

Day43 - 15-03-10

Today we worked at the university from 10 to 19. The professor wanted to Augmented Reality for the building plans for the coming extension for the school, and had found a program called Mr. Planet to do the task, but of course the program did not work very well with our devices and the software we use. While making the building plans in 3D, we also tried get Mr. Planet to work. At the evening we gave up, and decided to continue our work the next day. While I was home, and I really should relax instead of being at the computer, I found a new program called BuildAR which is a prebuild of ARToolKit. It’s very simple and intuitive, though I miss some of the advance settings, but at least it works.

Day42 - 14.03-10

This was the last at the mountains, and the day started by having lunch on a fine restaurant with a lot of the family members. It was nice to meet them, even though it was a little bit weird for me. I have never been welcomed that much to a friend of mine before in Denmark. But it might be the cultural differences or something in that matter. And speaking of cultural differences the youth culture almost never “hang out”/introduces their family to the friends since we are shy about our “oldies”, or think they are annoying… Here it’s totally opposite of what I’ve experienced, and that really confirms the warmness of the Portugal people. But hey, at the cities they are all busy and fuc#”¤ up…
After the lunch we went to Europe’s 2nd biggest mall (according to Hugo, I’m not sure). It was big, and had a lot of shops (of course). They even had ice skating at the top floor, where we spend an hour having fun…

Day41 – Saturday – 13-03-10

At the morning (8.30AM) we prepared us for the trip towards the top of the mountain Serra Da Estrela ['Mountain Range of the Star']. The mountain is 2000m high and is covered in snow on the top of the mountain. People ski up there, and you see a lot of people and tourists. It’s basically impossible to get a parking spot if you go there too late at the day. We didn’t ski or anything, but we had some fun with the snow.
After the mountains we went to Hugo’s God parents, located at the other side of the mountain. It was a really nice place they had, and the view from their backyards is just indescribable. That would be my only reason for ever considering the urban life…. Anyway we had lunch, we and played some games there (table tennis, food ball and guitar hero).
When it was getting dark we went home, because it can be dangerous driving on the mountains at the night. Very soon the twilight were over us, and something weird came out of the bushes and scared the hell out of us. It was 3 meter high, very furry and wasn’t human…. Oh my god, it must have been Bigfoot! But before I could take a picture of it, it was gone… LOL
We were all pretty tired when we finally arrived home, and we decided to take a nap. After the nap we had some dinner, and we talked and saw what Hugo’s portfolio. I really think they learn a lot more about multimedia here than at my school, but I’ve never been that fond of my school anyway. I think it’s too incompetent at many points.
The home culture at their place is a bit different than the ones I’ve experienced. I’m not sure if it’s general for all Portuguese, I really doubt that, and I’m not sure if I have understand it correctly, but the girls learns a lot of their mother’s in the kitchen. It’s not because they are preparing themselves to be housewives, but for their personal sake. Everyone is giving a hand there if needed, and that’s really nice to see that the traditions about housewives are still fading.

Day40 – Friday – 12-03-10

From the morning to the afternoon we were trying to fax our application to the next institutions we finally had decided to study at. At first we went to the post office at the school, and she wanted 18Euroes for faxing 6 pages! I didn’t know it was that expensive to fax… it so stupid that the institutions don’t allow attached e-mails! Anyway, we went to our department where they helped us for free, but the problem with that was we always got an error when we tried to send it, except for the course that my mate wanted to sign up for. We tried several times, but all of them failed. Finally we decided to send it to another department own by the same institution in hope that they will help us send it to the right department. It was basically the last day we could send it, because the deadline was on Monday.
After too many hours we finally went home to pack our things for our next little journey. Hugo drove us to his little village at Seia which is located at the highest point in Portugal. The ride upwards the mountains were very beautiful, but also very tough (for the car). The ride lasted for about 1 hour I think, and it was nice to finally feel the ground again. The air up there is much colder and contains much lesser water than at Aveiro.
We had dinner there with his family, and even though they were busy his parents went home to meet us and serve us dinner. It’s not every day you experience that kind of a welcome! We also met his grandparents who are really nice, and have been a lot of places.
At the evening we went to the local cinema to watch Sherlock Holmes, which was quite a disappointment, but it was cheap! After that we went around the city, and finally ended up at a café to have a beer and some food.

Day37 – Tuesday – 09-03-10

We caught the train to São Bento at Oporto that morning, even though we only had slept for a few hours... After 1 hour we were finally there to start our sightseeing. People have told us a lot of positive things about this place, and I can fully understand why. It is a very beautiful place, especially if you go down to the river and look up at the many bridges. The bridges themselves are very beautiful, because of the simplicity and the design you see from the old days.
According to Google Earth and the user uploaded information most of the attractions where close to the river, and why is that? As far as I remember Portugal had a trade relation with England, this might be the harbor where they traded Port wine. The wine is named after the city.
The historic centre of Porto was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, and you can really see how well preserved the town is itself. You can really feel the past if you have an insane fantasy. I was told that the Knights Templar was once expelled from France because they had gained more wealth that the French king. They conquered some earth at Spain at the beginning, and kept conquering from what is now called the north Portugal to the south Portugal. That is why you see so much old history in the north part of the country, and in Oporto, but even though Lisbon is in the south part of the country they also have a lot of old monuments. Lisbon and Oporto are the biggest cities in Portugal.
Even though you see all the old stuff here in Oporto, they also have some new buildings etc. We visited the Casa da Música “House of Music”, which is a concert hall build like a giant spaceship from Star Wars…
Oh yea, I almost forgot, the metro system is a bit weird at the beginning. We asked a guy to explain it to us, and he basically took advance of us that son of a bitch. He tried to explain the system, and we thought we wanted to help us. He gave us some cards, which you can buy for 50 cent. He had so many in his pocket, so we thought he would give it for free. He explained the zone and tile system, and how much money we should put into the machine, and soon he started to explain that he needed 1 euro for each card (we knew it wasn’t that expensive), and that he had reloaded money in one of the cards, he also showed us that he had. He required some money, and I thought it was okay, maybe we lose 1 or so, but he took his time to explain the system for us. I did not have the exact amount of money, so I asked him if he could change. Of course he could, but he forgot to take my 5note, and I did not say anything, because as soon as he thought he had note on his hand, he started to explain that we had to pay for the cards and the money inside.
We went away, still with the 5 note in my hand, we knew he cheated us, but he forgot to receive the 5euroes. So all in all we have received the cards for a small amount, but then the motherfucker found us in the metro, and claimed the money… I did not know what to do, and I saw no other option than paying him the 5 note which he did not deserve. It really feels like shit when people takes advance of you, and you can do nothing about it!

Day36 – Monday

At the evening we where planning our trip to Oporto, and we stopped our research doing the morning, because we also had to get up to catch the train.

Day35

It was just a boring work day as usual.

Day34 – Saturday - 06-03-10

If I said people in Portugal smells out of their mouth I’m not sure they would do anything about it. Some of them really smell bad, and I’m not kidding, and as far as I know, I’m not the only one of that opinion. I think the more away you come from the big cities people care less about the “superficial things”, but more about the core value like “having fun”, and “having a good time”.

We went to Retail Park which was recommended by people we know, and it was really a waste of our “precious” time. We went there by taxi, because it appears there are no busses after 1 o’clock... We should have been thinking twice before heading there, because they sell stuff for people that really lives here or lives her for a longer period. The mall (Aveiro Shopping Center) where just really small, and did not worth the title Shopping Center at all!

The way home was worse, because everyone that comes here has a car (of course). It’s not a place where you can find a taxi around the corner, so we went from place to place to find a cab with no luck at all. So finally we found an information desk who could speak a little bit English. We explained and helped us to call a cab to take us home. The taxi driver was an old guy, and he basically cheated the money out of us by driving a detour to Aveiro… Luckily it was not that expensive after all, but still… The taxi drivers here are not to be trusted!

Later we went down to have a cup of coffee at the popular café mostly visited by students. The Portuguese coffee are served in small cups, if you can call it that, it is actually almost smaller than a shot glass... Everything is smaller here in Portugal. Many people drink the small beers of 20cl, because they basically say that they can’t drink it fast enough… they say the normal size beers gets warm and boring before they have emptied it… haha.

Day33 – 05-03-10

We went to the meeting today and were introduced to some “new technology”... I’ve seen it before and it’s already used commercially. Playstation has a game called Eye of Judgment that uses this “technology”. Basically it’s a webcam that can recognize some patterns on a surface and load a specific 3D model. Because the algorithm can detect the pattern and the angles in which the pattern is seen from the camera, it’s possible to rotate the pattern and make the 3D model to spin too. You can see an example here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsQ-YGgVUT0.The professor has another group of student that will explore this option for our 3D project.

Later we went to Estação Da Luz (Disco far away from the town), because we got some “V.I.P” tickets at Praca the other night. It was quite empty compared to the first time we went there, and I think that’s why they were sharing the free “V.I.P” tickets. It seems like all the clubs hands out flyers and other promotion stuff at Praca every Thursday night, because people go out that day, and because the bars and clubs are afraid of having empty houses when the students go home for the weekend. I think the promotion is okay, but I don’t think it has that big an effect since people already know what the different places are like…

Day32 – 04-03-10

Nothing special to mention, it was Tuesday and we had the usual Erasmus party, but we didn’t went inside. I know and everyone knows it, it’s basically too boring to hang out there now… and we have been to any corner at Aveiro. In that way I understand why the Portuguese people hang out outside the bars… the music is too loud to have a conversation and the people (the Portuguese) often hang out with their buddies and no one else, and if you try to have a conversation with them sometimes they basically say: “I don’t speak English”… I think it’s too weird that it is possible NOT to learn English AT ALL doing your high school period in 12 years. Doing the school period you have to choose at least 1 foreign language. You can chose between Spanish, English and French (correct me if I’m wrong), but if you wish to study at the university you have to at least pick up 2 foreign languages.

Day31 – Wednesday

So my computer is running again, and I have to start thinking about working again on the next doorway. The day has been going on with installing the software that I use for my work, while my mate has been making pizzas all day. I’m grateful that he cooks every day, because my food doesn’t taste that good all the time… Writing this makes me think about the EU-report that I have to write soon in connection with the Erasmus grant which I got for coming here. I cannot remember exactly what to write about, but I think it was something about the cultural differences and that kind of stuff. Even though when I’m home, I have to deal with the cultural differences. I myself am originally from China and my mate if from the eastern countries. Even though we both are born in Denmark, you can see we do things differently in matter of washing, cooking and cleaning. I’ve gained much more insight knowledge about another culture than I ever would, if it wasn’t for this trip. As an Erasmus student you learn a lot about cultural differences. The students often live with 4-3 other people with different backgrounds in apartment. They pay around 125Euroes for a room, and it appears that some of them dinner at the cantinas at the school, because it’s cheaper than cooking yourself. They spend around 2,15Euroes for a meal, and we who cook at home spends like 5euroes pr. Person on a meal (does not include gas and power).

Oh yes, speaking about the report, my teacher has still not sent me anything about the criteria for my other report that I have to hand in to my school… I wonder if it ever will happen… and speaking of “incompetent” administration, I wonder what happened to my student card here in Aveiro. I’ve already notified them some times, but things just never happen…

Day30 – 02-03-10 – “how are you?” – I’m bad

Finally I’ve obtained the Windows 7 image file from Microsoft; it only took like 3 days to get a proper version… We tried to burn it down a couple of times, but it seemed to fail every time resulting that it cleaned my computer without installing windows, which means I couldn’t use my computer for a couple of days. But finally we achieved to burn it down on DVD without failures, oh yea, the mac computer mad the worst DVD example of the DVD ever. It was burned “that well” it was stucked inside the mac computer for quite a time haha…

Well the last copy was good, and ready to be installed on my computer. We went down to buy some groceries, and on the way down there I asked if my friend had brought his keys, because I forgot to bring mine this day. “OH SHIT!”
The situation was: no one had the keys, I was the only one with a cell phone, and the number to the owner was inside the apartment. We tried to figure out how to get in, and we decided to get into our backyard in hope that one of the windows was opened… So we knocked on the old neighbor’s door, but she wouldn’t open the door and kept talking Portuguese. Luckily our neighbor from the upstairs was home to speak explain our situation and plan to her. She let me in, and I jumped over the fence to get to our backyard… and the shits were of course closed and locked from inside…

I knew my window was not locked, because the lock is broken, but it was on the front side of the apartment. We tried to get some ladders from the different store under our apartment, but all of them were too short. One of the owners knew our landlord and had her number, but when I tried we tried to call her, she did not answer her phone. The next time we called her my phone was out of credit.

We decided to go to the fire station in hope to borrow a ladder, which they wouldn’t… they said we had to go to the police station to report our problems… it was already getting dark outside, and going to the police station and reporting in English to someone who doesn’t get a damn of what you are saying is like telling something to a dog, and hope it can tell the same story to another person…

We decided to go back to the old ladies house to wait for her to come back. Oh yea, do you believe me if I’m saying it was pouring down all the time we were locked out? Well, I can’t remember what time it was, but eventually the old lady came outside to talk to my mate, I stood at the bus stop and waited more than half an hour for him to get out again… it appears that the old lady wanted him to pay last month’s bills before she would follow us home with the extra key to our apartment… and my friend told me that he had to calculate all the bills himself, since she wasn’t able to do that…? Well, finally they came out of her house, and it took ‘ages’ to get back home with the old lady…

We were that tired that we decided to go to the restaurant everyone in Aveiro is talking about, and of course it was closed that day… even people we met at the street said it was first time they have seen it closed… what an awful day to be honest, I can’t even look back at from any bright sight’s point of view… it really was the awful!

And when we came home, my mate ruined one of our two glasses… now we have 1 glass, two plates and some silverware….

Day29: 01-03-10 – Monday - Marts month

My multimedia education is soon over, and I will have to pick up something to continuing my studies. Due to my laziness I think I will find a school close to me this time, and that’s why I’ve decided to study at KEA which is located in Copenhagen. I’m not sure what which education to take, but I know I want to get the PBA. I think I might pick up the E-concept education as my first priority, because I think the web development branch is too crowded already, and because everyone knows how to make a website. I already had a website since my first computer…

The E-concept is like marketing, and I’m sure that branch is very well crowded as well, but at least you won’t expect to meet any amateurs in this branch, since no one would study this on the internet…

We went to Jumbo to buy a big beef today. It looked very big, and so did the price. We thought it would last for quite some days or even weeks, but when we brought it back home we realized it would only last for 4 meals.

Day28: 28-02-10

It has been raining and storming all day long, so we haven’t been able to accomplish much outside. The only thing I’ve managed to do is to get a bland DVD from the one of the china stores further down the street, because my Windows complains about the test period is expiring, and that I have to get a new copy of it. I already have a copy of it on my computer, but it seems like the back up of the CD is damaged, so I have to get a new copy from Microsoft. I’ve been downloading all day, while working on the 3D doorway for the museum, and it seems to fail every time the download seems to be finished…

Day27: 27-02-10

That evening we were invited at Hugo’s and his friends’ place. We went to the mall for groceries at 9pm, John was late, but I think some Portugal people eat a bit late. We bought some salmon and some liquor, went to his place and grilled the salmon, which turned out to be very good. We played some games and had some fun, too bad we went out of things to drink, and the ladies were too… I don’t know if it’s the right word, but “boring”… It went that well that we agreed to see make something the next week.
Seen from at theoretically point of you, you could call this little event for what crazy people call “teambuilding”… I think we really got to know each other, well considered the time we have spent together…
Oh, and it seems they have a game called the “freaky freaky” haha, it’s like the one I know called “James Bond” which really screws your head, because of the alcohol, the reaction time, and the thinking.