Life in Portugal From Ali Burak Serin

Ali Burak Serin
Aug 30, 2017
3 min read

About accomodation, does the university have any dorms for students or do students have to find accomodation on their own? If the university has the accomodation opportunity for students, is it easy to get into the dorms? If the student has to find on his/her own, is there any easy way to search it such as site, application or anything else.

In regards to accommodation, the university unfortunately did not have any student dorms which meant we students had to arrange our own. Despite that we were given a PDF of the places we could look into from the CEMS office, the language barrier sometimes made it difficult to communicate with the landlords. More guidance on this area could have been helpful, in matching the students with the right accommodation.

After getting off the plane, what is the easy and cheap way to get to the centre?

It was easy to get to the centre of town after getting off the plane as there are a lot of transportation options available from the airport. One can take the metro (1.45 Euro), or a taxi (8-10 Euro). Please note that local taxis can charge high prices and rip tourists off if they notice you are new to the country. In this case, my recommendation would be to take an Uber which is hassle free not to mention very cheap.

For students, in order to have no problem while they are going to university, which places would you recommend them to find room?

I would recommend them to be around the Sao Sebastiao and the Saldanha area which is where the school is. Both of these locations are on the red line of the metro and are close proximity to school. Despite that these places are half an hour away from the city centre, I would recommend students to be closer to university than the city centre because it takes a long time to get to university during rush hours from town.

As a student who live in the city that the university is located, how is the life around the city?

As a student who has the privilege to live in Lisbon for 4 months, I would say the city is very nice to live in which has everything you can ever ask for. Contrary to many contemporary European capitals, Lisbon I would say has remained very traditional with its historic architecture yet the capital has that artsy energy and vibe which makes it exciting to live in.

How much a student need for a month to live? (With accommodation or without)

With accommodation around 1000 Euros, and 500 Euros without.

How much the accomodation were when you were staying? Could you estimate a range that may vary depending on where you live in the city?

The accommodation I paid for was around 500 euros and I believe this should be the maximum monthly price that should be paid for anywhere in Lisbon.

Is there any bank automat in the campus? What does a student do if they wanna have bank account? Does it necessary? Do locals in the university area mostly use credit card or cash? Is it necessary to bring some cash with us?

The school did not per se have a bank in campus but had a Multibanco ATM which makes it possible to take cash our without having to pay interest. I would recommend students to either use an international bank account or use local Portuguese banks as some restaurants only accept local cards.