The best way for me to meet local people is through school. Some of the students in my CIEE program have direct enrolled in university classes and have thus met several local and Erasmus students. Its through them that I have meet a lot of locals. Also, as mentioned in a previous blog post, CIEE assigns the group Portuguese buddies. These buddies are like “automatic friends” who are there to answer any non important questions such as giving advice on local restaurants. Through our buddies, I have been given the opportunity to meet and mingle with their Portuguese friends as well!
For a girl like me, shopping is my biggest downfall when it comes to saving money. I love having the latest fast fashion; therefore, I’m constantly purchasing new items to add to my wardrobe. Since I had been living with a host family, breakfast and dinner were provided to me. I only had to purchase lunch, which could range from 5-10 euros a day for a full course meal. The rest of my savings I would spend on either buying clothes or going on mini trips to other countries. I feel like it is easy to stay on budget here in Portugal because food is so cheap. If you live with a host family, that is already two meals guaranteed 7 days a week. Thus you only need to provide yourself with lunch. One could eat at the school cafeteria for as little as 2.75 euros for a buffet style lunch or you could splurge a little more and eat out at a restaurant without spending more than 10 euros. Unfortunately, the dollar isn’t as good when transferring to euros; but as mentioned before, it is very easy to stay on track with your (strict) budget if necessary.
