In 2012, I decided to visit Portugal for three months as part of Erasmus+, a European Commission program that supports education, training, youth, and sport in Europe. Upon arriving at the airport in Lisbon, a bus with representatives of the Polytechnic Institute of Beja were waiting for me and students from other European countries. One of the other students on the bus had brought a guitar. As he played along the way to Beja, I knew this exchange would be another adventure.
That summer there were about 40 students in my group from different countries across Europe including Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, and Latvia. During the course of the exchange program, we lived in local dormitories in the Beja area. We adapted our school work so that we could both study and explore the wider area as much as possible.
Studying was not difficult. Since most of us studied the same program, we helped each other to finish individual tasks to complete the exams. Later, instead of taking the Portuguese language test, some fellow students and I traveled to Morocco, a North African country bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. We visited the Sahara Desert and slept in tents, ate traditional couscous, and enjoyed the local matte tea, which was brought to Morocco by French sailors many centuries ago.
During those three months, I also explored the Portuguese cities of Faro, Sagres, Maritimo, Porto, and Lisbon and visited the Andalucia region of Spain during Easter. Andalusia is a large autonomous region of hills, rivers, and farmland bordering Spain’s southern coast. It was under Moorish rule from the 8th-15th centuries, a legacy that shows in its architecture, including such landmarks as the Alcázar castle in Seville, the capital city, as well as Córdoba’s Mezquita Mosque-Cathedral and Granada’s Alhambra palace.
I passed the exams in school and also learned how to cook and prepare some local dishes during my stay in Portugal. My experiences there once again proved that I was able to succeed in another environment. Being an exchange student taught me to take care of myself and my dreams, goals, and plans, which later helped to shape my mindset as a coach.
