Erasmus, Internationals, masters degree and Ph.D. students: We’ll let you know the number of your apartment as soon as you get to Vila to sign your contract! 🙂
These are some tips that international students that lived in Vila wanted to share with you, so you won’t make the same rookie mistakes they made.
– First of all: create a WhatsApp group with your roomies. It’s really handy!
– Also, many students give their roommates’ phone number to their parents.
– Talk to your roommates to decide which things you are going to bring. There’s really no need to bring 5 mops, uncountable pans, cutlery, and thousands of cleaning products… What will you do with 5 brooms at home? You’re not in a Quidditch tournament… It’s better to talk about it beforehand and prevent buying/bringing things that you won’t need. SHOUTOUT TO THE ERASMUS/EXCHANGE STUDENT: If you fly here you won’t have much space in your luggage, right? So, when you get to Vila talk to your other roommates to see if they can lend you some stuff for a few months instead of buying every single thing that you need. Don’t buy a toaster, a kettle, pans, dishes, etc, before finding out if you already have them in your apartment. It’s really frustrating to spend money and time buying those things and then realizing that your roommates have already everything that you bought. They understand your situation, so they’ll be more than happy to share their stuff with you so you don’t have to buy them 🙂
– Create a cleaning roster and clarify everyone’s responsibilities. If you do so, everything will go smoothly!
– Same with the garbage: organize to recycle and when you’re going to throw away the garbage. Heads-up! Don’t leave trash bags in front of your apartment’s door, even if it’s just for a few minutes, penalties are applied.
– Buy your groceries altogether. Many students share goods like salt, oil, milk, pasta, rice… And also, they buy their food together through the Internet to share the shipping costs.
– Talk to each other. Be clear and honest- If something bothers you, it’s okay to talk about it.
These are some tips the students say to us every year, so … you’re warned!