“It’s a pleasure to see so many new and different faces at Técnico”, said Professor Zita Martins, the Vice-President of Técnico for International Affairs, to the international mobility students at the opening ceremony of the Orientation Week held on February 9 at Técnico – Alameda Campus. The Orientation Week consists of a series of initiatives to welcome the 355 students on international mobility programmes who have chosen Técnico as their study destination in the 2nd semester.
“Técnico is the top engineering, architecture, science and technology school in the country,” continued Zita Martins. “Naturally, we have achieved this thanks to you, both national and international students. Thank you very much for being here.” According to the Vice-President, the approximately 60 nationalities of students that make up the Técnico community are a “great source of pride”, since she believes that “nowadays, ‘being international’ and strengthening ties with other countries and companies is very important”. Zita Martins left a final appeal to those present – “Have fun!”.
The Orientation Week included training sessions and activities to help these students integrate in the best possible way – walks around the capital, a Sintra tour, a welcoming dinner and a surf baptism.
Anna Awestberg, a 4th-year Environmental Engineering MSc student at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) in Sweden, chose to study this semester at Técnico because of the contact she can have with the city of Lisbon. “I’ve never been here and I thought it would be a good experience”, she says. “I want to explore the city and the country, meet new people, enjoy the good weather, experience the culture and try to learn how to surf.”
Ingeborg Aunsmo, a Norwegian student who attends the Master’s Programme in Civil Engineering, shares her enthusiasm for the surf event. She’s talking to Julie Jepsen, a fellow Danish student who is keen to get involved with Portuguese culture and is engaged to a Portuguese citizen. She wants to learn the language and is looking forward to going to Sintra on the weekend. “I really like Sintra,” she shares. “I miss that contact with nature.”
A few days earlier – and suddenly – dozens of paper airplanes tore through the air of the VA2 amphitheatre.
Each one contained various pieces of information about one of the people sitting in the audience. One by one, the students stood up and chose one of the paper airplanes randomly, and started the ice break activity.
In addition to their names and countries of origin, the paper airplanes included fun facts about the students, read out to the sound of their favourite song (with more than one student choosing this one). And there were facts as diverse as these students’ origins – “I once had a pet crab”, “I can speak four languages” and “I’ve been stuck in Lisbon lifts because I didn’t know I had to close the safety grille doors” are just a few examples (the latter shared by two students).
“I’m from a small town in Italy and I wanted to experience a big city”, says Pietro Sonzogni after the event. The student from the University of Bergamo says that after some research into international mobility programmes, “Técnico seemed like the right choice”. With a smile on his face, this Italian Civil Engineering student doesn’t hide the fact that studying in English for the first time “can be a challenge”, but he has found the right place to boost his future – and like Pietro, 354 other mobility students from 41 different countries have trusted Técnico to maximise their skills in the 2nd semester.
