Day 1 in Portugal

Since i am bit late on starting this blog . let me recount my experience of my day in Portugal. it was Oct 14th i landed on Portela Airport, Lisbon . my intial feeling was odd. i never felt that i was in Europe. Although i was in awe of Lisbon when the flight was descending .. the sight of Rio Tejo joining Atlantic Ocean,Ocean itself the connection of Lisbon with Setubal with the longest bridge of Europe.. Vasco Da Gama Bridge.. it was all stunning overview from 1000 ft above the ground .. but the moment i landed . it felt an odd feeling that Lisbon was unlike of what i had in mind.. It pretty much resembled Delhi.. and NCR region a bit , probably because the airport was on the modern part of city .. Airport itself was not very big .. and unlike Milan it was also not crowded.. the first thing i noticed was .. there was no security personnel in the whole airport!!! .. was i dreaming ? is this an international airport or a shopping mall?everyone was moving so freely.. there were no security checks.. no stoppage of baggage at all and withinseconds i was out of airport .. waiting for Antonio ... it was in complete contrast with Delhi Airport where i was standing in line for hours in the middle of the night . Maybe thats why this country is ranked one of the safest and peacful countries in the world...

Newayz.. coming back where i left i was out of Airport waiting for Antonio to pick me up.. It was all arranaged.. AIESEC would be picking me up at tha Airport and then we head to coimbra directly to my accomodation , which was also arranaged... thanks to them it all went hassle free.. newayz.,..soon Antonio and Hugo picked us up .. me and Sridhar ( other trainee from Hyd .. who came wid me ) moved seperately as Hugo´s car did not have enough space to put our luggage..and so we split.. me and Antonio went near the taxi stand and soon a merc came in .. yes. merc are taxis.. here...the meter starts at 2€. and it changes to 15 cents .. it was expecting we were going to Bus station (Alto Carro) or Train Station . but i was wrong .. we were travelling across the streets of Lisbon.. and soon entered the University of Lisbon and tats when i came to know AIESEC was having a Natl Conf today.. and so my first day itself.. i met all aiesecers from portugal . they came from porto, coimbra, other aiesec lcs of lisbon, faro .. it was nice experience.. i would say breaking the ice with the people arnd. Noticed the spirit of AIESEC is same just it as was in India.. i called back home to my parents and bro to say i reached safely.. and then i just sat in @ office.. using net and meeting other @ers who were busy in their conf..

the conf ended late at 10pm ..then all @ers left to their respective places.. we and @ers from coimbra headed towards Bus station as bus is one of the cheapest options to goto Coimbra.. It was literal running with luggage as the tat was the last bus of the day.. we managed to catch the bus in time.. bus journey was boring.. could not see any landscape of Portugal as it was nite .. just noticed.. lisbon shines at night and its quite beautiful city..tried to sleep in bus but could not .. by the time we reached coimbra i was completely exhausted.. started at 8.30pm the day before from Noida,, and it was midnite GMT time.. completely tired wid journey.. met Luis at the bus station .. he is my landlord and my buddy .. took to our room.. it was grt apartment fully furnished ..nice and cosy..the first thing i did was hit the bunk.. it was 12.30 am .. and the next day at 9am i was to be at office.. It was amazing first day in new country .. loads of experiences.. meeting people.. it was great exp overall..

Looking forward at Perth

The last 72 hrs has been one of the most dramatic times for cricket. never imagined that rivalry between countries could go so intense.. and irony is both these teams are not playing to their arch rivals but are playing to themselves. I always liked Aussie style of playing cricket- dominating , aggresive and ruthless ... i still remember the punchline which Ponting used in 2003 world cup - Intent and Intimidate.. but the recent test match against india would be in his minds for long time. 2nd test between India and Australia would be regarded as a cricket match with worst umpiring. even the attitude of aussie was not up to mark which is expected from a champion team. Bhajji getting ban was unfair and it showed how immature mike procter continues to be.. even after his showdown with indian team in south africa in Jo'Burg few years ago.. Bucknor was shown the door..tour was in jeopardy .. finally after dramatic set of events unwhirled themselves .. india proved its point about harbhajan ban and pathetic umpiring . and hence.. bhajji is back at Perth .. and so is Bowden ...


Perth , being one of the fastest pitches on the planet throws up a mouth watering contest between two teams who are heated up and it looks like Ponting would love to make a record of 17 vics and also prove kumble´s men that his bunch of blokes do have some ´spirit´. while kumble and his boys would try to erase the the sydney nightmare and try to win at venue which can be considered as a nightmare for indian batsman... Hoping perth pitch lives up the bill..

even though series is over .. the remaining two tests will still continue to attact crowds.. thanks to the events of Sydney.. waiting for 16th jan ... the only sad part for me is the match at my place will start late night and i gotta do night outs to watch it .. lol... i guess.. i mite do it ....

me signing off now... gotta do few things now...

cya... tchau ....

Portugal.Europe´s West Coast

Portugal , westernmost country of Continental Europe is also one of the smallest European country . with size as big as coastal Andhra and population of 10 million which apparently is less than the population of Kolkata . it can be righteously said that it is a small country. Also the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores are also part of Portugal. Though a small country it boasts of high standard of living and quality of life with economist ranking of 19th in world as the "country with best quality of life" ascertains the fact.
Presenting few facts about Portugal because country is so small that it is not even noticeable on map .. so here are few things about this amazing country.

Facts about Portugal

• Capital and the largest city is Lisbon with metropolitan population of 3.3 million .
• Lisbon in Portugal is called as Lisboa and the people as Lisboaetas
  
• Whole of portugal can be covered at a stretch from northern city of Viana de Castelo to southern city of Faro in few hours.
• It follows GMT time. only country in Mainland Europe to do so.
  
• All the webportals are maintained as .pt .. yet to see a portuguese website which has .com
• Calling code is +351
  
• the language spoken is Portuguese. Many mistakenly think it is like spanish .. Although they are similar to some extent . portuguese is completely different from the way it is spoken. But it is possible that a spaniard be understandable with spanish if he speaks very slowly.
• Portuguese spoken in Portugal is different from
  
• Does not have mediterranean climate although the southern province of algarve does posses similar characterstics .
  
• Have got of some of the most beautiful beaches in the world .
  
• Warmest European Country . temperatures in lisbon feels like you are back in India.
  
• North Part of Country is fertile with one of the greatest appellations region in the world present at Douro valley. Centre is filled with plateaus and mountains with Portugal´s only ski resort present in Serra da Estrela Mountains and South is enchanted with plains, wineyards and beaches.
  
• All the major cities of the country are situated next to river . Lisbon is on the banks of Rio Tagus (Tejo in Portuguese), Coimbra on Rio Mondego and Porto on Douro River.
  
• Azores and Madeira mosty are mountanous regions with highest mountain peak in Portugal situated in Azores.
• Portugal is famous for wines and corks. It is the world´s largest producer of cork and it has given to the world some of the finest wines including the Port wine.
  
• Football Crazy Nation with Cristiano Ronaldo holds a demi god status just like our Sachin Tendulkar.

According the legislation of EU . portugal divison is done the basis of the regions . and it contains following regions .
Mainland Portugal Divisons

Norte . -- North Portugal ( Porto is the main city )
Centro - Central part of the country ( Coimbra is main city .. city i live..:))
Lisboa - National Capital region
Alentejo - some of the best wine yards of portugal are situated here
Algarve - southern part of the country

The biggest cities of the country are Lisbon , Porto, Coimbra , Faro, Setubal, Evora, Braga and Aveiro.

Now it is time i tell about the place where i live.

Coimbra ( Cidade dos Estudantes)

Coimbra is the third biggest city in Portugal . It serves as cross roads of Portugal being situated midway between Lisbon and Porto. Coimbra is a University Town. It is often known as Oxford of Portugal. Home to one of the most important universities - University of Coimbra , coimbra is truly vibrant and youthful city. Its heart beat - the 35000 students which live their life in a true blue coimbra style.

My first impression of the city when i landed here are the narrow street lanes which gave the true European Flavour which i read in books and saw in discovery programmes. Another interesting thing about coimbra is nature and the lifestyle of the people here . It truly gives you the experience of living in rural European society in an medieval yet urban life of coimbra .

The biggest attraction of the city no doubt is the university of coimbra . Founded in 1290 by King Dinis , It is one of the oldest universities in continous operation in the world. The picture shows the main courtyard of theUniversity. University was originally started in Lisbon but was later moved to coimbra first in 1308. It moved back forth between Lisbon and coimbra in 14th century before in 1537 it was definitvely moved to coimbra during the reign of Joao III. University main governance is lead by Rector,Senate and University Assembly. University has 8 faculties (Letters, Law, Medicine, Sciences & Technology, Pharmacy, Economics, Psychology & Education Sciences and Sports Sciences & Physical Education). University also houses a famous library called Joanina Library, a baroque library which houses more than 250000 volumes of priceless books which are dated from 13th century onwards. It is one of the famous monuments in the university. If you ever visit coimbra, you must visit this place.

Another thing which i liked was the monumental stairs. it is series of 125 steps which is at the entrance of the university . It is one of important spots whenever any revolt or strike has to be made by the students . And it forms great help for seniors when they rag their juniors by making them run those steps. Quite imposing stairs i must say it holds its name.

One of the main things which you will observe when you live in a student city is the student community itself. Coimbra is no different . The student community be it the local university students or Erasmus Students makes it melting pot of discussions and community socializing . Two of the biggest student festivals of Europe happen in Coimbra. They are Festas das latas (Latada) and Quiema das Fitas. I will tell about these two festivals later coz i am no mood to type anymore at the moment.

Right now enuf of info gyan . it is time. i get back to my work. will tell you about coimbra , its traditions and my impressions in future posts ..
I would like to thank Teresa (Aiesecer who is rite now experiencing her exchange phase in India ) for creating an urge in me to write this blog .. i would say reading her blog kinda inspired me to write my experiences in Portugal..Thank You Teresa. Hope u have a blast in Jaipur . Ok me signing off now .. I guess you wont be too botherd abt my spelling , grammatical and tense mistakes in the blog coz i dont proof read it . i hope i would be conveying my point if sentence is grammatcially incorrect. Newayz.. will write later .. have fun .

Até Logo ... Tchau..

I am back

Finally i am here after long time.. not very regular .. still getting used to world of blogging ..

Its been 84 days since i left india. and boy ! i cant imagine it happened so fast .. it went like a flicker of a second . these 84 days have been one of the best days i have ever lived in my whole life... u get real different experience when you are put in such different place .. the lifestyle of which u have never even experienced and living with people whose attitudes are so different from what u have seen ...i can say it has been a very satisfying experience so far and i am completely enjoying the whole ride which i am riding...

Living in Portugal taught me to live my life freely and independently and at the same time it taught me to love my life. I understood the importance of " Quality of Life" which Europeans believe and live about .. I understood the most important thing in life is not money or materialstic pleasures but the way we lead our lives... Portugal also taught me independence.. and now i am trying to learn all things which my parents used to do for me .. its been great experience doing all things myself.. from cooking .. cleaning rooms. buying groceries.... washing utensils... paying bills myself ...each time i have learnt some things .

Living in a foreign country also gave a chance to know about their culture from a different perspective. having travelled across the country in these 84 days . i learnt quite a few things about portuguese culture . In the next post i will give brief introduction about Portugal and the city i live .. Coimbra ..