When the third year of my joint philosophy/Portuguese degree at the University of Glasgow rolled around – the year I was inevitably going to spend abroad – the memory of my high school exchange, which I had also spent in Portugal, seemed much like a distant dream. I remember from back then that we exchange students were told this grand, clichéd phrase about the exchange being not a “year in a life” but a “life in a year”. Which in retrospect, admittedly, it had been. The notion of finiteness always hovering around in the back of one’s head was, perhaps, what later enchanted the memory of it all with said dreamlike quality. Four years later then, when I was crafting my UCAS application and decided to additionally study Portuguese alongside philosophy. I had already conceived that I would, during my eventual Erasmus, go back and tie up the loose ends I had left in Europe’s westernmost country.

3 Students in a Camper van

Two German friends came all the way to visit me in their camper van

Loose Ends

As so often, things didn’t go quite as expected. What I ought to have anticipated beforehand was that, obviously, my old Portuguese social circles would have disbanded six years on. By the time I came back, all my old friends had long ago finished their secondary education and moved to different cities around the country, forging their own paths in life. At least, my prior host family was still where it had been, and I did get to reconnect with them in the most endearing way. Yet, where I was now based, studying at the University of Porto, none of my old friends were in my vicinity; I had to make new ones. Quite ironically then, the process led me to another set of loose ends, one I had not expected to uncover here in Portugal.

Study Abroad Students with a polaroid

Little Brazil

A brief interlude first: Before leaving my home country of Austria to study in Scotland, I had spent a year abroad in Brazil, working as a museum guide in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Now, at the time of writing this, more than 90% of the people I hang out with here in Portugal are Brazilians. I am surrounded not just by Brazilian people, but also by Brazilian music, food, and memes. Ever since I arrived, I have slowly yet steadily been drawn to and found myself integrating into Porto’s Brazilian expat community. Most of my quest to revisit Portugal and the places I had first gotten to know as a teenager six years ago has been alongside my beautiful and wonderful girlfriend from Rio (reading over this text, she insisted I must call her beautiful and wonderful in it), who I met here. She has in a way woven together the loose ends I left in Portugal with the loose ends I left in Brazil into a firm rope. A rope with which now I am climbing up the metaphorical mountain that symbolises life and the quest for self-exploration.

Brazilian Students in Portugal

 Brazilians get very excited about football 

Reflections

Living and studying here has been deeply fulfilling on a personal level. I have made connections that will stay with me for the rest of my life, my grasp of the Portuguese language is tighter than ever before, a lot of loose ends have come together, and this year abroad has turned into one of the most meaningful endeavours of my life so far.

Academically, I have had the chance to pursue my interest and deepen my knowledge of linguistics and art history. On top of that, I was able to dive deeper into continental philosophy, which is more prominent at the universities here in contrast to the focus on the analytical tradition back in the UK. All that in a different academic culture as well, one which tends to hand more liberty in teaching to the individual professors (admittedly, a double-edged sword).

On weekends and holidays, I have been travelling. Next to rediscovering places I had seen a long time ago, I have also discovered new ones. Porto per se is an overwhelmingly charming city with its hidden alleyways, hilly terrain, and the jaw-dropping sunsets to be enjoyed by the riverside or in one of its many green parks. Life has been treating me kindly. For my two cents’ worth, I have always believed in using every opportunity to go abroad. Every time I left my comfort’s confines, be it to Portugal, Brazil, or Scotland, I have learnt new things about myself and the world. And I would urge every other student who’s considering doing so, to actually do so.

 

First published: 17 April 2023

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