text by: Iuliia Demchuk
Portugal… You will hardly find a person who doesn’t like it! This country is charming and most probably you will fall in love with it from the very first sight. Like it happened to me . Although I lived in Lisbon only, that city made a wonderful impression about the whole country 😉

First of all, the nature! It’s just amazing! There are palm trees everywhere and the sun is shining all the days long. So, there are millions of options what to do at you free time : go for a walk, go off the beach and do surfing, or just simply stroll in the city center.

When the weather is not so good ( which happens rarely), Lisbon can offer you many interesting museums, exhibitions and places of interest.
There are also many bars, pubs, clubs, shops , malls, bla bla bla…
However the most wonderful thing for me was local architecture – it is completely different from everything that you can find in Europe. Lisbon has its own style, which was influenced by African colonies and closeness to the ocean. So each time you hang out in the city center, you will always find something new and charming.

But the most important thing and the main aim of my trip were studies and international experience. And I’m 100 % satisfied that I chose University of Lisbon for this purpose. Professors at the department of chemistry ( especially Ricardo Silva, Maria Filomena Camoes – thank you again for everything!!!!!) are highly qualified and professional teachers. On the other hand, they are the most welcoming, friendly and cooperative teachers that I’ve ever met. They are always glad to help you – with your studies, with courses selection or even with everyday affairs.

During my Erasmus semester in Lisbon, I was studying a subject called “Quality in Analytical Chemistry” and doing a project “Assessment of the metrological performance of the identification and quantification of food dyes in aqueous solutions”. About the subject – it was very interesting, and it is practically very important for people dealing with measurements and analytical chemistry. It gives a deep and very detailed overview about development an validation of the analytical procedures, and I can personally say that I’ve learned a lot about the validation process . About the project – it was more practical, I had to do many measurements and deal with a lot of data, but it was interesting at the same time. All necessary equipment and chemicals were provided by the university, so I didn’t have any troubles with that. Also it was my first serious report in the field of analytical chemistry, so I didn’t have much experience and didn’t know how to organize it optimally, but thanks to Prof. Ricardo Silva and Prof. Maria Filomena Camoes, I managed to do it very well.

All in all, but the semester in Lisbon fished very quickly, but it was one of the best times in my life and I will never forget it.
Portugal, I’ll be back 😉