I am Alina Eisenmann and I am studying primary education. I decided to do a semester abroad in Lisbon in my 7th semester. My friend and fellow student Sophia also decided to do a semester abroad in Lisbon. We spent a lot of time together in Lisbon and were living together in a shared accommodation. It was great to have such an amazing friend by my side during my great adventure.
We took part in the following courses at ESELx: Pedagogia e Curriculo, Nurtico, Motricidade e Segurance Infantil, O Meio Social como Recurso Educativo, Educacao para o Ambiente, Desenvolvimento em Contextos de Risco, Regular Portuguese language course, Educativas/ Educational Practice and Educação Física II. We can recommend all the selected courses. Basically, all of our courses were in Portuguese and the professors would translate the most important content into English, so we were quite happy that we have chosen to take part in the Portuguese Language course. Besides we did an internship in the PaRK international school. That was a great experience and very interesting for us to work in an international school! We learned many new methods and approaches in teaching. Teachers are way more loving in Portugal compared to our country, we liked that a lot and were reminded what teaching is all about – a cordially relation.
Lisbon is an amazing and trendy city. We found Portuguese people very open minded, friendly and relaxed. This is exactly the kind of people and atmosphere we appreciate a lot. Lisbon was the perfect choice for us. Moreover, it’s a very diverse country and we were able to travel through it a bit. I can highly recommend to and see the Azores, some breathtaking Portuguese Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
I can absolutely recommend doing a semester abroad in Lisbon. The receiving institution, including its professors and students were very nice, welcoming, friendly and interested in us. Moreover, they were always happy to help us, if we needed anything. Because of the bachelor thesis and its needed guidance, I would recommend doing a semester abroad within the first three years of studies though.
