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This year, I was one of the first students from University of Liverpool to attend Universidade de Coimbra during my year abroad, what a great experience!
The start of my time in Coimbra was not ideal due to my late arrival, but I am really happy with how the three and a half months I spent in Portugal panned out.
Having the experience of first semester behind me made it fairly easy to settle into life in Portugal. I was already learning Spanish for quite a while before I decided to take up Portuguese, so I was slightly concerned about how I would cope with being immersed in the language.
Visiting cities across Portugal
Fortunately, I adapted well, and I can see the large improvements that I made from when I first started studying there. I also managed to do some travelling during the last few months, visiting cities like Porto, Braga, Lisbon and Aveiro, further improving my understanding of Portuguese language and culture as a whole. Exploring other cities in your country of study is something that I would really recommend to anyone who opts for this path in the future, as throwing yourself into the deep end is what ultimately strengthens your skillset most.
View of Lisbon's Main Square: Praça do Comércio
The biggest challenge I faced was in the final week in Coimbra, one final game of football between our friends before we all went back home ended in disaster as I managed to break my ankle and leg. Obviously, this wasn’t the perfect ending to my stay, but it did teach me a lot.
All in all, I couldn’t recommend Coimbra enough, here are some recommendations for anybody who decides to study in Coimbra:
- Stay as close as you can to Praça Republica.
- Try the traditional Portuguese restaurants around you.
- Use Flixbus to get to and from other cities, especially Porto airport.
- There are river beaches if you don’t want to travel to Figuiera da Foz. (Praia fluvial de Palheiros e Zorro)
- Try to speak the language whenever possible.
My only warning would be that the language buildings are one of the highest points of the city, so prepare for a lot of exercise when going to class!