from farewells to Faro: settling into a new home abroad
Following a week-long marathon of goodbye/birthday parties at the end of August, I packed my bags (super last minute) and boarded my flight to Faro, Portugal, where I’ll be living and studying for the next 4 months. Aside from briefly losing (and thankfully finding) my phone in the Dublin airport, my 24-hour journey across the world went pretty smoothly. I arrived to a beautiful sunny day and took a quick (and cheap!) Uber into town.
Aside from the weather forecast (28 degrees & sunny), the thing I was most excited for leading up to my departure was the one-bedroom apartment I’d be calling home for the semester. It’s right in the centre of the city, has huge bright windows and high ceilings, a private patio, and all the necessities (i.e. a Nespresso machine). The charming front entrance is full of character, fitting right into the colourful streets, while the inside is newly renovated and tastefully decorated. I hung up some photos that were thoughtfully printed for me as a going-away gift and purchased an orchid from a flower stall at the local market to make the place a little more home-y.
I had a whole week to settle in and explore Faro before classes started. I started out by walking to the local supermarket, which is conveniently located 5 minutes from my front door.
I love grocery shopping, especially in a new place, and I was delighted to find lots of food and treats I’d never seen before, like speculoos flavoured white chocolate, Hellman’s truffle mayo, and “peasant woman from poland” flavoured chips (a questionable google-translation I was later informed would be better described as “farm style”). Of all the items I’d never seen before though, my favourite had to be the 8-foot high shelf filled with jarred hot dogs. Those haven’t made it into my shopping cart quite yet though. . .
One of my grocery hauls from the supermarket & local market stalls, which sell fresh fruit & veg, seafood, meat, flowers, honey, cheeses, nuts, olives, traditional fig & date treats, and fresh bread. This cost me almost exactly $100 CAD (so cheap compared to food prices back home)!
The best thing about living in Faro is how close everything is (especially because the local transport is not as reliable as I’m used to). I spent most of my first week just wandering around the cobbled streets, browsing the shops, checking out some of the local art galleries, bars & cafes, and visiting the local beaches! So far, its been relatively easy to get by with my very limited Portuguese - olá (hello), obrigado (thank you), and bom dia (good morning).
Faro is situated right on the edge of an expansive lagoon, with long sandy beaches located just past the waterways that wind through the wetland area. The best way to access the main beach (and surrounding islands) is by hopping onto a passenger ferry that goes directly from downtown Faro to the dock at Praia de Faro.
I packed extra light for this trip since I knew I would want to buy things along the way. Faro has some cute tourist-y shops for handmade ceramics, jewelry, and things like that, however I struggled to find clothing shops that matched my style. . .until I stumbled into an absolute gem of a boutique about 2 minutes walk from my house. It’s super tiny, but well curated with brands made in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and around.
During my second week in Portugal, I officially started my masters program and met the other 21 students who are here for their first semester. We’ll be taking 6 courses together: Marine Ecology, Marine Genomics, Oceanography, GIS (geographic information systems), Quantitative Methods, Marine Policy and Governance, and for my elective I’ll be taking Coastal Ornithology (aka birds!).
I’ve met people from New Zealand, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia <3, the USA, Israel, Georgia, Finland, Belgium, the Philippines, and a couple Canadians too!
The international student network plans weekly activities for students, one of which was a “sunset party” hosted at one of the local rooftop bars. I had a great time getting to know my classmates while enjoying a drink and looking out at the Ria Formosa Natural Park.
Thanks for reading my little life update!
I’m still figuring out how I want to structure future blog posts, so I’m not sure what I’ll write about next or when it will be up. . .anyways, I hope you’re all doing well in your own corners of the world!