Let me show you around (part 1)

Now as we know how to travel to and in Portugal, I can show you the first impressions about Porto after arriving there. I can tell you if you go there, you will definitely walk a loooooot! So prepare your best comfy shoes, not the high heels girls! Whenever I saw a Portuguese girl or somebody walking in high heels, I admired them, but wouldn't sacrifice my feet for the look, sorry (not sorry). :D The streets are full of cobblestones, even the roads for cars yes.. The whole city is full of steep roads as well.
So, let me show you where I lived first. You already know how to find an accommodation, so this is what I found, and I really liked the result! ;)

Q: How many packages can you see in the picture? :D

This is the thing I got at the airport for 5 euros.. :'D
And this was my breakfast on the first morning.

Oh, sorry for the mess, that's how a room looks like when you move away for a few months, maybe you know it already. So here you can see that we had our own door for the balcony, which was super cool. In the winter sometimes it was warmer to stay outside than in the house because in Portugal there is no central heating in most houses. I think I never felt this cold for such a long time, just in Portugal XD And you would think that it's warm, but no, not always. I slept with leggings and fury pajama pants on me, and I was still cold LOL

The balcony

The living room, the best place for sleeping

The area

The area close to the main street

When I was younger and I traveled somewhere my dad always told me to take pictures of everything, and that includes bathrooms/toilets as well haha This time I'm not gonna show you that :D

In the first day me, my roommate J, and our friend, B went for a walk to look around in the neighborhood. In that day we walked around 8 km, which was super tiring because in Porto everyday is a leg day, as B would say. While looking around, we found the first cafe shop with pastries, and we stopped for a moment to try the very famous Pastel de Nata. It's the best with a lot of cinnamon on top! ;)

Pastel de Nata

Typical Portuguese tail walls

We were lucky to live in this neighborhood because pretty close to use there was the best football stadium in Porto, Estadio do Dragao. I also went there twice, even if I'm not a big football fan. It is an awesome experience!
On the other hand next to the stadium, there is a big mall with a lot of shops, cinema and also a supermarket called Continente, which is the most famous one in Portugal. In the first days, we needed time to think about what we need for living, so when we decided we went prepared. It turned out hilarious and awkward, so that story is going to be in a next article ;)

Inside the mall

How to travel and get around in Portugal?

You have been wondering about how can you get to Portugal for as little money as possible?

You may get the answer ;)

From Hungary, the easiest way to get to Portugal is with Wizzair or Ryanair. Wizzair is the only airline from Hungary which offers direct flights to Porto. To Lisbon, TAP Portugal airline can take you directly. You can find pretty cheap tickets if you book it at the right time. If you are traveling from another European country, check out skyscanner.com for the best prices.

Let me tell you a story about how I got to Porto.

When I traveled to Porto, I went with my friends and with Ryanair,  and some weird things happened before departure.

The flight was already delayed and when it departed, after going a small circle on the runway it needed to go back to the start because there were some problems with the engine. Well, then after more than an hour of waiting in the airplane, they told us to go back to the gate and wait for more information. In the end, we ended up waiting 8 hours in all for the flight, and meanwhile, they gave us 2 food coupons to buy food as well (even if you could buy a menu for that 5 euros in McDonald's, they just gave you one hamburger haha).

Instead of arriving at 9pm on the 7th of September, we arrived on the 8th at 3-4am, and because the delay, the house's contact person needed to come and pick up us from the airport to get the keys. He had a super small old car, and we were 5 people, so we needed to decide who goes first, and we also needed to pay 10 euros each. You can get to everywhere in Porto for 2 euros from the airport by metro during its work schedule, or you can call an uber/taxify anytime, which would be around 10 euro as well, or you can also use the night buses for the same price as the metro.

Tip: Download the Moovit app for your phone!

In Lisbon and Porto, there is an electronic system, where you can get a rechargeable card, and upload the zones that you want to use. Be aware that you can have one type of ticket on your card, so sometimes I had more cards. Also, most of the travelers think that they can use one card for more people, but no, it's individual! If you go to Lisbon the best option is to buy a 24h ticket which can be used for every public transport. It costs 6,50 euro, and after each additional day, it's 6 euro.

If we talk about Porto you need to purchase a rechargeable card as well as in Lisbon, which can be used in every public transport. You need to validate the ticket every time you change lines. The system workes a bit weird in my opinion, it was not my favorite part of Porto haha. The city is divided into zones, and you can buy the tickets for different zones, just one at a time as in Lisbon. The most used zone is the Z2, as it's going into the city center, but the first ticket you will buy at the airport if you use the metro is the Z4 ticket (the number means that it's going through 4 zones). The Z4 ticket costs 2 euro, but first, you will get the electronic card which is plus 60 cent. It takes around 30-40 minutes to get to the city center. If you stay a long time and need more ticket, you can buy daily passes or you can buy 10 pieces of Z2 tickets. If you buy 10 tickets, you get +1 ticket for free.

As I was a student, I was entitled to get a monthly pass. Even if I was studying there the monthly pass was pretty expensive, and you could get it for zones. For example in the first month, I got 4 zones, and I paid around 40 euros (because for the monthly pass you get a plastic electronic card, which is a bit more expensive than the other cards). One zone is around 9 euros. In Hungary the monthly pass for students is 11 euros.. so you can imagine how shocked I was XD And you cannot even go everywhere... If you accidentally go one stop more than your zone, you can be fined ;) Be careful there! It can cost you 100 euro, and they are serious about it.

If you are traveling by train, the system is pretty much the same. You will get an electronic card when buying a ticket, and you need to validate your train ticket before getting on the train. That's pretty much it!

I hope you find it helpful, and if you have any questions, I can write more about this topic, for example, my experience with the conductor when I didn't have a ticket haha

How to find the best accommodation for your Erasmus

This article can be a help for future Erasmus exchange students.

Whenever I go somewhere new, I get super excited about it, and I start to get some knowledge of the place beforehand. This time it was a bit different, I didn't really learn a lot about Portugal, especially Porto before moving there. I probably thought I will have enough time to explore it.


One of the first things that will get into your mind when you receive the acceptance is the accommodation. Hmmm.. You need to find a cheaper accommodation in order to do some fun stuff with your scholarship money.  

How to do so?

• Check every Facebook group with accommodation offers in the area
• Read the reviews of the houses from former residents
• Calculate your monthly input so you can see how much you are willing to pay for your  accommodation
• If you have any friends in the city, ask them to help you find places or check them out
• Check out the offers from ESN (https://esn.org/accommodation)
• You can also contact the ESN section of your future city

I found my house on https://studathome.com/, which is one of the best solutions if you go to Porto. They have a lot of houses for a very good price, so definitely check them out.

Another tip if you wanna pay less is to find a person who shares the room with you. I, fortunately, found Judit, and even if our room was the most expensive in the house, we paid the least amount of money (the room was 320€).

You should look for a house which is between the city center and the school, or close to the public transport. We were lucky with this as well because the house was totally in the middle, and I could go to school by metro, and also to the center in 20 minutes.

The story begins

I was, and I am still just a regular university student, but I have something in my genes that tells me to always move forward and grab the opportunity. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone with this, but every story is different, and this is my story.

After graduating from high school, I needed time to think about my future, to get to know myself better, and to decide to go to university or what to do. I took a year off and went to Finland to be a babysitter for 7 months. It was a very eye-opening period in my life. Before moving there, I was afraid to speak a different language, afraid to move out of my comfort zone and afraid of a different life.

After I've returned to my country, I went to South Korea with my sister for a month just to travel and enjoy the time, and it was also a huge experience for me, especially because Korea was always my dream, and I'm so grateful for it.

In the upcoming years, I started the university in Budapest, but I had this urge in me, what I couldn't satisfy with my normal life. What I did was that I joined the Erasmus Student Network (shortly ESN), and I became a mentor for the international students, so even if I was at home, I had an international environment around me. Later on, I moved one step forward, and I applied to be the PR Coordinator in ESN. I became a full-time volunteer, and it surely made my university semesters better. I organized a trip to Venice and a trip to Croatia during the semester, and it was all free for me, just needed to take some pocket money, but that's all. Those were amazing times next to a hard semester in school.

And then it was time. I heard a lot from others how Erasmus changed their life, and it's an unforgettable experience, so I grabbed the opportunity and went with the flow. It was a rough application procedure but I got the email that I can go to Porto for Erasmus. 

That's where my story begins now!