Details

• Portugal
• MAEXINT-24
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

For preparing it is only necessary to follow the guidelines provided by both WU and Nova. A crucial thing that is often underestimated is to start early to look out for a place to stay. With a rent higher than 100% of the local monthly income, Lisbon is usually more expensive than Vienna and if you have no connections and are dependent on Uniplaces, Idealista, etc., you might end up paying 800 Euros or more if you do not reach out early enough. Apart from this, there is not too much to do - maybe check out for the best regions to live, which would be Baixa, Principe Real, Santos and Anjos (in my opinion)

2. Accommodation

Usually, you will have to use Idealista or Uniplaces to find accomodation. Further, there is (expensive) student housing available in both, Carcavelos and Lisbon (Milestones), but I would recommend living in shared apartments, it helps to connect really well. The best areas are Baixa, Santos, Principe Real and Anjos/Arroios. All those neighbourhoods are really nice and from there it is always easy to reach Nova - either because the green line brings you directly to Cais Do Sodré, where the train to Nova leaves, or because they are already close to a stop of this train. An area to avoid would be Martim Moniz and everything to far outside and not connected to the green line.

3. Academic life at host university

The campus is amazing, as new as the WU campus and located right at the ocean. Everything is bright and with a lot of glass. There is a direct connection to the beach and even storage for surfboards is available. The teaching style is based on a lot of group work, which took place in basically every course. Further, there is always an exam to write in the end of the course, which usually accounts for 30-70% of the final grade. I would say that it is easy to pass. To reach 17 or more points (1.0 in WU), some courses require more studying than others, but overall the workload is absolutely fine and comparable to WU in my opinion. Regarding the content and the teachers, I was really happy at Nova, the teachers were amazing and hands-on. You will take a lot of courses with the Master students from Nova, so your connections will mostly be with people who are either there for already one year or those who will stay longer than you.

5. Every day life in the host country

There is the possibility to get a monthly public transport ticket for 40€, which is useful to get to Nova and back. The process of getting it can be annoyingly hard, so it is best to get it at the ferry station at Cais do Sodré, since they do it on the very same day there. Depending on where you live, you will either have to commute a lot with the metro or not at all, so choose your location wisely. Bolts and Ubers are insanely cheap, so if you take the with 2 or more person, everyone is usually ending up with not even 2 Euros per ride. Drinking and eating out can vary in pricing. Bairro Alto and other places have big beers for 2,50€, but there are also expensive bars and rooftops everywhere, so there is something for everyone. In general, the culinary situation in Lisbon is outstanding. Regarding sports options, there is a free running club twice a week, starting from Cais do Sodré, as well as a gym on the Nova Campus. Further, Padel is a huge thing in Lisbon.

6. Testimonial

Lisbon was an amazing experience overall. Nova offers interesting courses, taught be great professors, on one of the most beautiful campuses you could ever imagine, right next to the Atlantic ocean. Further, I met absolutely amazing and interesting people that made my semester abroad a full success. In general I had the feeling that people that go to Nova/to Lisbon are super open and internationally oriented, which makes it really easy to connect. On average I would say that I have never been to a city where it was so easy to make new friends as in Lisbon. The city itself has so much to offer: Beautiful architecture, an infinity of amazing restaurants and bars, beautiful sunsets every evening that you can watch from one of the many miradouros and a big amount of great cafés. The weather was great during the whole stay and within 30-40 minutes by car, you will be at the most amazing beaches you can imagine (Praia do Guincho, Caparica, Praia da Adraga, ...). Within 1-3 hours, you will be in Nazaré (the highest waves in the world), Porto, Coimbra, Guimaraes, Braga, Algarve and more. I also highly recommend to visit both Madeira and Azores. Madeira is already well-known to be absolutely stunning: Beautiful landscapes, great weather, unforgettable hikes and more. Azores is a bit under the radar but if you are not absolutely unlucky with the weather, the islands (that have a volcanic heritage) are a green and calm paradise in the middle of the Atlantic ocean - really worth visiting. To summarize - there is so much to do, probably 4 months is not even enough to see everything, but try to do as much as possible! Therefore I highly recommend going to Nova and to Lisbon, you will have the best semester abroad you could imagine.