The Student Residence

I really enjoyed the place that I lived, the student residence, which is where I met the majority of my friends. The residence was located on the second floor of an old Portuguese monastery. The building was very large and beautiful, with well-trimmed hedges and a fountain in the center of it, traditional Portuguese azulejo tiles, a nice and spacious room, a kitchen and eating area, and a laundry room. The residence was a very social place, especially during meal times. The only draw back to this was the fact that it was often difficult to prepare a meal when ten other students were trying to do the same. Usually weekly we would hold a movie night and project a film onto a big ceiling in a common area, which was a lot of fun as well. The wireless internet in the building was slow to very slow, which made talking with Camilia via Skype very frustrating at times due to unexpected dropped calls and delayed response times. I was blessed to have a kind roommate from Seville, Spain named Emilio. We got along very well, never having any confrontations. We joked around a lot, and always had a good time together. The only drawback was that he was the loudest snorer I have encountered in my many days, and he enjoyed speaking very loudly in Spanish both on Skype with his family and when he watched soccer games on his computer. All in all, I loved my experience in the student residence and am glad I was able to meet so many good people from so many different parts of the world. I thought that I would be living with Portuguese students, but it ended up being mostly international students from different countries all over the globe. I will always treasure the memories I made there, but more importantly the lifelong friendships that I built.