REFLEXIVE PORTFOLIO Erasmus+

UNIVERSIDADE DO ALGARVE FARO, PORTUGAL

Michael Radl radl.michael@gmx.net SoSe 2015

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Portugal

The Portuguese people are very friendly and welcoming. You won’t find anyone who wouldn’t stop her or his car in front of a pedestrian crossing, for example. I didn’t feel as a “foreigner” a single time. I think it is much harder for people from other countries to go and live in Austria then in Portugal.

Portugal is a member of the EU and also has the Euro as the official currency. Life in Portugal is a bit cheaper than in Austria, people also earn less money. However, at Algarve prices are near-ly the same as in Austria, due to touristic reasons. Nevertheless, people don’t earn more money than in the north. In general, one can say that the more north you go, the cheaper Portugal gets.

Living is cheaper in Portugal than in Austria, I paid about 200,00 to 250,00 Euros per month for a room in a shared flat. However, water and electricity are not that cheap.

Faro

Faro, the capital of the Algarve region, is home to about 45 000 inhabitants. It’s located on the south coast of Portugal. Faro has no direct access to beach-es, it’s not a touristic hotspot. Faro has 3 beaches, Praia de Faro (Faro beach), which can be reached by bus, as well as Ilha Deserta (deserted island) and Ilha da Cultura (cultural island) which both can be reached by ferry only. Faro also has a harbor with many little fisher boats in the very city cen-ter.

The main touristic center of Faro is a Vila adentro (the old town) which is surrounded by an old wall. There are three main gates to enter the city cen-ter. The most known and most important is the Arco da Vila.

Due to the residence of the Algarvian bishop in Faro, the city is the capital of the Algarve. Therefore, the cathedral “Sé” is very important.

Faro also has the biggest shopping center of the Algarve, the Forum Al-garve. It contains several shops as well as a cinema, which shows movies in the original language with Portuguese subtitles.

As Faro is not that big, one can go everywhere by foot. To cross the city, it takes about 30 minutes by foot. There is also a bus service, which is nec-essary to get to the university, the beach and the airport, which is located in Faro.

Figure 2: Arco da Vila

Figure 1: Faro harbor

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Accommodation

I spent my time in Portugal in two different accommodations, due to some health problems. The first apartment was a single room in a shared flat. Unfortunately, I didn’t get along that good with my flat mate, a Portuguese guy. We didn’t talk that much. I paid 200,00 Euros per month exclud-ing water, gas and electricity, so I paid about 230,00 to 250,00 Euros per month. I stayed in this apartment, which I liked very much, as it was just 3 minutes by foot away from the University campus, for three months (February, March, April). Then, I had to move to another apartment.

In the second apartment I also had a single room in a shared flat, but all the other rooms where not hired out, so I had the whole apartment for myself. The price was 250,00 Euros per month, everything in-cluded.

Figure 3: My room in the second flat

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Universidade do Algarve

The Universidade do Algarve (University of Algarve) is divided into several complexes, with the two main campus called Campus da Penha and Campus de Gambelas both situated in Faro. They are connected with a bus, which takes about 20 minutes to get from one campus to the other. At Universidade do Algarve there are about 8 000 students of which about 500 are non-Portuguese citizens, mostly from Brazil.

A speciality in Portuguese Universities is the Semana Academica, the academic week, that takes place every year in May. It's a week full of party and music, where there are no classes.

For Erasmus+ students, there was a special organization, called ESN - Erasmus Students' Net-work. It offered some activities such as trips to Lisbon or the North of Portugal. Furthermore, every week there was a country-themed party in a bar in Faro downtown, once a month they organized a pub quiz.

We also got a lot of support from the University's Erasmus+ office. They were very welcoming and helped us as much as they could. I had for example to change my apartment, and they or-ganized two others of which I could choose within 3 days.

I participated in 4 different courses, which are the following:

Theories of contemporary pedagogy

In this course I was the only Erasmus+ student, so the main language was Portuguese. Howev-er, I understood most of it.

The main aspect of this course was to get to know the most important pedagogues from the past to the present. Starting from Johann Comenius over Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi up to Maria Montessori the pedagogues and their contribution to education where discussed.

To get a grade it was necessary to produce 4 wikis - articles with a circumference of about 8 pages, and two tests during the semester.

It was a very interesting subject and I'm sure I can have a profit out of it in my future life.

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IPP I – initiation into professional practice I

In initiation into professional practice, in which students from Portugal, as well as some other Erasmus+ students participated, the course was divided into a theoretical part which was held at university and a practical part in surrounding schools.

The theoretical input was not that much new for me, at it was very similar what we did at PH OÖ so far. In the practical part I went to a secondary school in Faro for 30 lessons. The school was called Escola Secondária Pinheiro e Rosa. The students were about 15 and 17 years of age.

It was extremely interesting to see the differences in pupils’ behavior between Austria and Portugal. In fact, there are none. Pupils in Portugal at this age behave pretty much the same as in Austria. Nevertheless, it was nice to get to know another educational system, to prepare some parts of the lesson in English and to join the classes with them.

To get a grade, we had to prepare a reflexive portfolio and present it in the last theoretical lesson of this course.

For me, this course was the one I benefited most for my future employment as a teacher.

Digital photography and image editing

There were some Erasmus+ students as well as loads of Portuguese students, so the professor divided the class into an English and a Portuguese part. As the Portuguese students already had a profound knowledge in photography – different to us Erasmus+ students –, the professor showed us the basics of photography.

We also edited the photos we made with Adobe Photoshop.

To get a grade, the objective was to shoot 12 pictures, that show the students' life at university. This was a group work. We also had to shoot another 12 pictures (as a single person working) to show some psychological aspects of a person.

I learned a lot about photography and got to know some useful new tools in Photoshop as well. From now on I can say that photography is one of my new hobbies.

Production of website content

Inproductionofwebsitecontent,IwastheonlyErasmus+studentaswell.

ThemainobjectiveofthiscoursewastoprogramwebsiteswithJavaScript.Unfortunately,Ihadtogotohospitalaseveraltimes,soIhadtoquitthiscourse,eventhoughIreallylikedtheprofessor.

Figure 4: Escola Secondária Pinheiro e Rosa

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Travelling in Portugal

As an Erasmus+ student it is obligatory to travel a lot. Therefore, Portugal is a perfect place.

When travelling, don't miss to listen to Fado music at least once. It's the typical Portuguese folk music.

Algarve

The Algarve is with more than 9 000 hours of sun per year the sunniest region in Europe. There are so many great beaches to visit, such as Praia da Marinha, which was elected top 10 of Europe's best beaches. Some other im-pressive stone formations one can find at Ponta da Pie-dade. The "end of the world" can also be found at Al-garve. Cabo de São Vicente (Cap of Saint Vincent) is the southwest most part of Europe. Here you can buy the "letzte Bratwurst vor Amerika". It is recommended to hire a renting car to explore the Algarve, at it is difficult to get from one beach to another by bus.

Lisbon

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is a beautiful city. It's built on several hills, so be prepared to go a lot on foot. But don't miss to use one of the old trams or elevators, which are so typical of Lisbon. If you go to Belém on the north riverside of the Tejo river, you have to try a Pastél de Nata at Pastéis de Belém. They are the best all over the world.

Lisbon can be easily accessed from Faro by train, which takes about 3 hours one direction.

Figure 5: one of Algarve's beautiful beaches

Figure 6: one of the famous elevators

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Porto

Porto is a charming city. When being in Porto, one had to do a port tasting tour. I can recom-mend Graham's Port, which is located on the south riverside of the Douro River in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia. It's a bit far to walk, but one can't get a better view over the old town of Porto than from up here. The port wine is great, too! But Porto itself also has lots to offer, such as an old book store, which inspired J. K. Rowling to write her first Harry Potter Novel.

Porto is a perfect city for a daytrip from Faro, as there is a plane in the very morning, which comes back at about 11 o'clock in the evening.

Figure 7: old town of Porto

Acores

The Acores island can be accessed by plane from Lisbon. The flight takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The Acores are gorgeous green volcanic islands. There are also a lot of hot springs, where one can bath inside. It's a great feeling on a rainy day to sit anywhere in the wood in a hot spring and let the rain pelt on your head.

If you are on São Miguel, the biggest of the Acores islands, don't miss to visit the only two tea gardens in Europe. I can really recommend Chá Porto Formoso, which has excellent teas.

Figure 8: hot spring on São Miguel

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Conclusion

I'm so happy I had the opportunity to live in Portugal as an Erasmus+ students. It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I can recommend it to everyone who wants to do it. Just be prepared that there are some bureaucratically obstacles. I fell in love with Portugal and I'm really looking forward to going to the beautiful city of Faro again soon.

“Travelling.It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”

Ibn Bazulla

Portugal in my heart ♥ Portugal no meu coração

Figure 9: Praia de Faro