Portugal by the Spanish students

MOBILITY IN PORTUGAL - Erasmus+ KA226 ONLINE (Our New Learning Innovative Network for Education) Spanish blogs 

The Guimares mobility was the last one of our fruitful ONLINE project, and one I was looking forward to. I was not disappointed, but, on the contrary, amazed by the picturesque historic town, and keen on learning about its history. I was just blown away by the size of the school and its installations. It was also different to other mobilities since our team was made up of nine students and two of us teachers; we took as many pupils as we possibly could - I was concerned money would not suffice for eleven participants but it did in the end. In all, over twenty-five students of my school have participated in one of this project’s mobilities, some of whom had never gotten on a plane or been abroad before, so I consider the main goal of our project might have been achieved. We certainly tried our best. Huge cheers and thanks go to Romana, without whom none of this would ever have been possible, and Portuguese coordinator Helena, to whom [the Portuguese] we Spaniards acknowledge as family, and not just distant cousins but brothers and sisters, “irmãos e irmãs”. 

Mr Cruz

 All started with our arrival at Porto airport, where we hopped on a bus to Guimaraes. After settling into our accommodations and unpacking our essentials, we decided to grab a bite at a local commercial centre, satisfying our hunger with some delicious food. 

Wednesday took us to the charming town of Braga, just a short bus ride away. The town boasted abundant green areas that instantly caught my attention. Our first stop was the inspiring Bom Jesus Do Monte monastery, a true architectural gem. Though the climb up the stairs left us a bit tired, the beautiful church and the serene park made it all worthwhile. We even had a delightful encounter with a friendly cat, adding a touch of warmth to the experience. Exploring the town centre, we stumbled upon a vibrant Roman festival, giving us a glimpse into the local culture and traditions. 

The third day brought us closer to the Portuguese way of life as we engaged in activities organised by our hosts. Guided by their warm hospitality, we had the chance to visit the impressive school facilities, leaving us in awe of their scale. A delicious lunch at a nearby restaurant fueled us for the adventure ahead. We then embarked on a cableway ride up a hill, offering us breathtaking views and a rush of excitement. We did some activities organised by the Portuguese that I really loved. 

Saturday was dedicated to exploring Guimaraes in-depth. Our journey took us through captivating museums. We even walked on top of the town walls. A visit to a grand palace added an extra touch of grandeur to the day. As the sun set, we gathered for a small theatrical representation that captured the essence of mediaeval times. It concluded with a ceremony where we were presented with certificates as a token of our participation in the project. 

Sunday beckoned us to the vibrant city of Porto. We embarked on a delightful journey across the city. Later, we headed to a stunning beach, where we embraced the opportunity to learn how to surf. It was a day filled with excitement and new experiences, although bittersweet as we bid farewell to the friends we had made along the way.

 Our final day, Monday, was dedicated to shopping and exploring. We strolled through the city, crossing two distinct bridges that offered breathtaking views of the Douro river. As the evening approached, we reluctantly made our way to the airport, cherishing the incredible memories we had created during our time in Portugal. 

by Dominik Blog 

#1. Today we went to school despite traveling in the afternoon so as not to miss classes. Then we left a couple of hours before school to get ready and meet, then we headed to the subway to go to the airport, got on the plane and flew, there was some turbulence but nothing else. When we got off the plane we went to wait for the bus to Guimaraes since we are in Porto. When the bus arrived we settled in and in 1 hour we were in Guimaraes, we walked a bit when we met Felipe, a teacher who was on exchange last year in Malaga who took us to the hotel in his Mercedes Be 8744nz, then we arrived at the hotel and we rested in the rooms for forty minutes and then we went to the shopping center that we have nearby to eat, after eating we walked around the town towards the hotel and then we went to the rooms to rest. 

#2. Today we got up early, we went to have breakfast. When we finished we went to take a bus to spend the day to see Braga. Arriving in Braga we took a bus to Bom Jesus do Monte, the views were beautiful, I consider it one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, then we walked down to the center and passed many souvenir stalls, later we went to a square where a festival called Braga Roma was held and then we went to take the bus back to Guimaraes and we went to the supermarket and some others to the mall, we bought our dinner and went to the room, after a while we went to the lobby to All the classmates chat and then we went to sleep in the rooms. 

#3. During today we went to the institute and gave a basic Portuguese class, we separated into groups. We did interactive games prepared by the Portuguese, after a while we went to the cable car, and then we went to rest. 

#4. Today we went to the institute, we worked with the computers, creating games and surveys related to our countries, we ate and returned to the hotel, after a while the hosts picked us up and most of us went to have a picnic, others left for individual, we had a great time, then we went for a walk around the center of Guimaraes and after a while we went to the hotel. 

#5. Today we toured Guimaraes together with the Portuguese, we stopped in a downtown square to appreciate a dance that the Portuguese had prepared for all of us. After a few hours it was time to celebrate the international dinner at the institute, we ate, danced and had a great time. Then we went to the center and then to the hotel.

 #6 Today we woke up early to have breakfast and leave the Hotel Fundador. We took the bus to get to Porto, we did a tour and then some of us went to eat at the most beautiful McDonald's in the world, others went to another restaurant. We went to the beach to take a surf course. Then we had to say goodbye to the other countries and the Portuguese, since each country was going to stay in a different place. We went to the apartments to leave our things, we went to dinner and then to sleep.

 #7. The last one was only the Spanish, we had breakfast and we saw the city on our own, then we went to take the train to go to the airport and return to Malaga :( I have loved Portugal, especially Guimaraes, I have really wanted to stay longer and I will definitely return. 

Farah Aaoual Belhachmi, Spain. 

Hello! My name is Adriana and I'm an exchange student from Spain. 

Tuesday 16th of May, 2023. This is the day we arrived at Guimaraes, a beautiful and very small town in Portugal. After we left the airport, we took a bus to the city and it was nice. Everything was very green and full of vegetation, even around the hotel. Later, in the night, we went to a mall looking for something to eat. After that, we went back to the hotel and our day finished. 

Wednesday 17th of May, 2023. This was the first day of exploring the city! We woke up early to have breakfast and by 10:30 we went outside. The first place we met was Bom Jesus do Monte. It was a reaaaally beautiful place!! I recommend it a lot, unless you have poor resistance, because it is full of stairs and you have to walk. After that, we went walking to the center of Braga. It was more than an hour, but it was fun. We looked at the cathedral and a church, and while being in the zone we found a kind of festival called 'Braga Romana'. It seems that it was about celebrating all the cultural and material remains of the ancient city of Braga, which was a Roman territory. Then, to finish the day, we went to a supermarket to buy our dinner and we went ahead to the hotel. 

Thursday 18th of May, 2023. The activity of this day was meeting Francisco de Holanda Secondary School! We met the rest of the exchange student in the lobby of the hotel and we walked to our destination. They showed us the school through a tour and then they taught all the groups the basic knowledge for surviving in Portugal! hahahah. It was very fine, we did a Kahoot at the end and the winning price was a chocolate coin. How cute! After that, all the exchange people went to a restaurant to eat together. When we had finished, we went to the Penha through a cableway to play some typical games of the region. I enjoyed it soo much! And the place was just stunning, full of beautiful nature and big rocks. I will definitely visit it again!! When the visit ended, we went back to the hotel to change and rest, so we could go to a restaurant to eat together. And with that, our day came to an end. 

Friday 19th of May, 2023 Today we visited the school again to do some activities that prepared all of us! The only bad thing is that our activity wasn't prepared enough, but I think we kind of got it... Maybe. We played the games that the other exchange students had made too, and it was fun. We also went to an informatic class to take a quiz about the topic of our choice, and after that we had lunch! About 14:30 they called us to make another quizz, but this time we did it in groups. We made a Kahoot, but we didn't get to see the final result. After that, we went back to the hotel and at about 18:00 everybody had already met their host family! In my experience, it was amazing and I had a really great time talking with my host, Francisca, and meeting her dad and sister too. They all were very very sweet! I had a lot of fun and I feel very grateful for everything they did for me. With this, we ended the day. 

Saturday 20th of May, 2023 On Saturday we went to the school and, after giving us some indications, we had a tour through all the important places in the center of the city. We entered the castle and the palace, which were really beautiful and very well preserved. I love history and ancient stuff, so I'm glad I've got to see something like the palace of Guimarães. We did some quizzes in the "ActionBound" app too, and uploaded some photos of the places we visited that day. It was nice! After the tour, we rested a little in the hotel and spent some time with a group of Portuguese people. Then we went to the school again to ate an special dinner that everybody had made for us. We ate a lot and everything was really tasty, especially the desserts. After dinner, they turned up some music and all of us started dancing around, even the teachers! When everything was a little bit more quiet, the school gave their gratitude to all of us and gifted chocolate bars. That was really cute. On that night we enjoyed the music, played some games, spent some time with ours new friends and, by the time we realized, we had to go back to get some sleep. That's how we ended the night! 

Sunday 21st of May, 2023 Sadly, this was our last day participating in the Erasmus activities! We woke up early, and took a bus to Porto so we could spend a day in the beach. They gave us the chance of taking surf classes! All the people participated, but I didn't because I'm a little bit afraid of the beach water, and I felt uncomfortable too. Even with that, it didn't matter because I had fun too talking with other exchange students. When it was about 15:00 everybody got into the bus again and went out looking for something to eat and visited a little bit of the city. After that, we had to say goodbye to all of the people. It was very sad for some of us, but everybody was really sweet and we know we are going to see all of the group again. The bus left, and we (the Spanish group) just stayed alone again. We had to keep going, so we went to a new hotel and stayed there to rest a bit. After that, we ate dinner at a local restaurant and went to sleep. And, with this, we finished all the prepared activities and ended the trip! It was beautiful, and I hope I will be able to do something like this again. 

by Adriana

Day one. We were waiting for some classmates at the institute to go all together to the airport. Then we met the others and waited to board the plane. We chose the seats and it was an hour of travel and we had a lot of fun on the plane because some colleagues had never ridden a plane. Then we arrived in Porto and spent an hour sitting on a bench waiting for our bus to Guimaraes .Then we met at 9 at the reception to go to a shopping center for dinner. Everyone ate what I wanted and my friend Sofia had Italian food for dinner and it was very good. Then we went to the city center to see it a little and go back to the hotel because we were actually all tired. 

2nd day we got up at 8 over there and at 9:30 we went to breakfast all together. Then we went to take the bus because we would go to another city called Braga that we would see a lot of sites and included a heritage of humanity that was beautiful that was called Bom Jesús do Monte. It had a lot of stairs and we arrived Super tired and we had no food. After getting down from there and taking several photos we walked for an hour to get to the city center, in the end we ended up eating at the door of a supermarket with supermarket meals and the teacher bought a cake that I haven't tried but it looked.After we left the supermarket we went to the city center and saw a typical dance performance and some colleagues bought souvenirs for the souvenir. 

3rd day The first day at the institute they gave us a tour of their school and it was huge and super beautiful. I loved that experience since there were a lot of classes and people. After finishing the tour they showed us their game and it was fun to communicate with the others who came from exchanges. After that we went to eat all together and so we related a little more. I loved that day it was 

4th day We presented the game we were the day in the computer room playing a game about our culture since in the groups there were several nationalities, after we left the institute we spent a few hours free because at night we had all met with our host who for example ours took us to ride a horse and then we went to dinner at his house where we met his family and puppies we ate typical food from Portugal and it was very good. 

5th we went to the institute we arrived very early we separated in groups by countries to take a tour of the city and with the application they told us to do some exercises about the places we were going to visit and we met one of the most famous castles in Guimaraes 

6th day The last day we left all the groups went to the beach. They separated us in a group and taught us all the things to surf and then we said goodbye to all the companions because each country was already starting their way back home. 

by Rachel

Portugal Blog: 

Tuesday, May 16: Today was the day of the arrival in Portugal, so first we met with Mr. Cruz at the door of the school at 3pm, to take the train to the airport. Already at the airport we met with the rest of the group and took the plane. The journey went quite well and when we arrived we saw the hotel and rested a little, and then went to dinner at the mall. Then we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. Wednesday, 

May 17th: We woke up at 7:30 and got ready to have breakfast. Then we took a bus to go to Braga and visited the Bom Jesus Do Monte sanctuary. We ate at a supermarket, and then we visited the city center, it was very nice but we had to walk a lot. It was special because there was a type of Roman festival and there were many stalls selling things and we could see some dancers. Then we took a bus back to guimaraes and had dinner at Mercadona. Finally, before going to sleep, we all talked and met Bulgarian women, but they shut me up very badly. And finally we went to sleep. 

Thursday the 18th: On Thursday we get up, have breakfast and get ready to go to school for the first time. When some students arrived (my friend Dani among them) played 3 songs and it was beautiful, then we did several educational activities and they taught us a little Portuguese. Then we had lunch in a restaurant from all countries and then we rode on a chairlift to play more games in a very large and beautiful park. When we arrived at the hotel we changed our clothes and got ready to go to dinner. 

Friday the 19th: On Friday we went to the school again and we were doing technology activities. We had lunch and went back to the hotel. Then Rachel and I went with our host to ride a horse at sunset and have dinner at his house. And then they took us to the hotel. 

Saturday the 20th: On Saturday we took a tour of Guimaraes, and the Portuguese of the school did a typical dance and Dani sang a very nice song with the ukulele. Then we had lunch in a restaurant all together and went back to high school to play another game, but Rachel farah and I went back to the hotel because Rachel was sick. Then we get ready to go to the international dinner. It was very good and we all put on music and danced, and the Spaniards taught the macarena to the others, it was a lot of fun. When we finished, we went to go downtown. And then we went back to the hotel. 

Sunday the 21st: On the penultimate day we had breakfast and went by bus to Porto. We took a tour with the Portuguese and visited the city, and I had lunch with Dani, Xico, my host Ana and Eli. Then we took another bus to go to the beach and take a surf course. And when we finished we took another bus to the Porto apartment, and we had to say goodbye to the Portuguese, it was very sad since I took to them a lot and I would have liked to spend more time with them :( This was the best day, I would love to repeat it. Monday the 22nd: The last day we were only the Spanish, we went to have breakfast and we continued to visit Porto on our own, it is a beautiful city. Then we went to lunch and took a train to the airport. We took the plane and unfortunately we went back to Malaga :(

 by Sofía

My experience in Portugal Day 1 We have arrived in Porto and we are waiting for the bus to go to Guimaraes. While we wait some of us have eaten a croissant. Then the bus picked us up and we arrived at Guimaraes. When we arrived, Professor Felipe took us off at the hotel. We left our things there and went out to have dinner and get to know the city a bit. Later we returned to the hotel, some of us walked and later we returned to the hotel. We went to sleep.

Day 2 The second day we went to visit Braga. We visited the magnificent Bom Jesus do Monte, which impressed me a lot. When we finished our visit there, we went to eat and went sightseeing in a Roman fair that was in the center of the city at that time. then we took the bus back to Guimaraes, had dinner and went to sleep.

 Day 3 The third day we went on an excursion together with the international group to a very beautiful natural environment to which we had access thanks to a cable car. There we carried out very entertaining activities and I made very good friends that day. Then we went to dinner and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Day 4 The fourth day was when we went to the institute to present the games of each country. Later I met Pedro Barroso, my friend who came to Malaga last year. We met his friends while he was teaching us about the Metaverse. After eating we went to see several very beautiful places. At night we had dinner with the pizza hosts in a beautiful setting and then we went to the city center to some squares with a lot of people and later we returned to the hotel to sleep.

Day 5 The fifth day was incredible. After breakfast we went to visit the Castillo de GUimaraes. From the outside it was quite impressive but from the inside it was completely perfect. When we went to eat, I tried the famous francesiña and I loved the taste. Then we were lucky to see the friends we made last year, Fabio and Tomás. At night we had a lot of fun and it was very special for me.

Day 6 The sixth day we were in Porto and we visited the city, which had the steepest roads I have ever seen. Even so, I really liked the city for its views and its food, which I enjoyed a lot. Then we went shopping in the city center and went to the airport at night to return to Malaga. I miss everyone I met on this wonderful journey and would like to return one day in the future.

Erasmus Portugal 

1- We left Malaga at 17'30 and we arrived at Porto airport at 18'00. Then we took a bus to Guimaraes from the airport. When we arrived we went directly to the hotel with the help of Felipe and we settled in our rooms

2- We had breakfast at the hotel with breathtaking views. Then we went to the bus station and we took a bus to Braga. In Braga we took a local bus to go to Bom Jesus do Monte, which is a world heritage site. In Braga there was the Greco Roman festival, and we watched some girls perform ancient dances. I bought a bow and arrows at that festival, everything was quite nice

3- The third day was Thursday and it was the first day of the mobility. First we went to school and we saw the installations. We had lunch at a restaurant near school and we went up the hill (Virgen da Penha) on a telepheric. In my opinion, I loved it since we did many activities that were quite fun

4- Friday was a work day. We even had lunch at school. 12 11 10 13 14 , my favorite part of the whole day was dinner, it was delicious although they took a while to serve since we were too many

5-On Saturday we did a guided tour of Guimaraes: we learnt about the history of the town through an app which Helena (the Portuguese coordinator) had designed. We went into several museums, palaces, we walked on the walls and they gave us the certificates inside Portugal's first castle. Filipe was dressed as a knight. In the evening we had the international dinner.

6-On Sunday morning we took a bus to Porto and to Matosinhos beach. There, SL 16 17 18 the students had a surfing lesson. In the evening, we said goodbye to our foreign friends and we took a walk. We had pizza or crepes for dinner. I liked going over the bridge since that was something I have never done in my life, it was fascinating

7- Monday was our last day. We did some shopping and some walking and by 19 19 155%/% 20 835 05/29/2023 we took our flight back home but while we were going to take the train to the airport it started to rain and we had to run

The: Moravia Valentina Camejo Alonso