KTH was my second university during my MSc. I had a higher attachment to Portugal and Lisboa because it was my first time living abroad and first time the freedom of living alone on my own. I was also affiliated with the Universidade de Lisboa for 7 years, 2012 - 2019, for my MSc and Ph.D. In comparison, I spent only one semester in KTH, the 3rd semester of my MSc. However, since it is an Erasmus Mundus double degree program, I also attended the KTH MSc graduation ceremony in 2015 in Stockholm, in addition to the one in Lisboa. In fact, the KTH graduation was really fun, in the Stockholm City Hall. It was huge and with all the friends, it felt very special.
Most universities deactivate your email address once you quit or graduate. I have been affiliated with 8 universities so far, and only Universidade de Lisboa and KTH did not deactivate my account after I graduated and left. Well, until now. Now I received this email from KTH.
Ditt KTH-konto kommer att deaktiveras / Your KTH account will be deactivated INFORMATION IN ENGLISH FURTHER DOWN Detta meddelande går till dig som har ett KTH-konto men ej är anställd eller studerar på KTH. Då KTH-konton är avsedda för de som för närvarande studerar eller arbetar på KTH kommer ditt konto att deaktiveras den 12 november 2024. Detta görs av såväl säkerhets- som resursskäl. Det innebär att:
Du inte kommer att kunna logga in på ditt konto
E-postadressen kopplad till kontot kommer att sluta fungera
Eventuell automatisk vidarebefordran av e-post kommer att upphöra
Om det finns filer, e-post eller annan information som du vill ha
kvar måste du själv flytta eller kopiera dem till din privata dator. De
kommer inte att kunna återfås efter deaktiveringen av KTH-kontot. Om du har behov av KTH-konto på grund av pågående arbete på/med KTH kontakta din uppdragsgivare som gör en bedömning och beslutar om en eventuell förlängning av kontot.
Informationen finns även publicerad på KTH:s webbplats:
Med vänlig hälsning KTH:s IT-avdelning KTH:s säkerhetsavdelning INFORMATION IN ENGLISH This message is for those with a KTH account but not currently employed or studying at KTH.
Your KTH account will be deactivated on 12 November 2024 as KTH accounts are intended for those studying or working at KTH. This is done for both security and resource allocation reasons.
This means that:
It will not be possible for you to log in to your KTH account
The email address associated with the account will stop working
Any automatic e-mail forwarding will also stop working
If there are files, e-mails, or other information on the account
that you want to keep, you will have to move or copy them to your own
computer yourself. It will not be possible to retrieve them after
deactivation of your KTH account.
If you need a KTH account due to ongoing work at/with KTH, contact your responsible manager/equivalent who will assess and decide on the need for an extension of your KTH account.
This information is also published on the KTH website:
This is sad. I like my KTH email address. It is short and sweet - kpr@kth.se. So, even though my real use as a student in KTH lasted only for the semester in KTH (Spring 2013), I have used it more after. In 2023 - 2024, I participated in the KTH Alumni Mentor Programme, mentoring an MSc student from KTH. Such requests came to my attention only because of this account. After 12 November 2024, I won't receive such emails.
Although currenly outdated (I did not bother to update recently), I also have a nice profile at KTH, which will go offline too, I figure. https://www.kth.se/profile/kpr
I wish universities stopped deactivating emails after graduating or leaving the university, as these university emails form a large part of our academic identities.
So I am 5 years with the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University this month. However, that is counting in the 7 months I spent in 2016, March - October. If not for that, my continuous 5 years would be on June 19, 2023. In both cases, I am reaching the 5 years soon. This is very long, especially for me as I consider myself nomadic with frequent migrations. This period also includes my 3.5 years of postdoc life since I defended my PhD thesis in 2019 July (ULisboa/Portugal) and 2019 August (UCLouvain/Belgium). The pandemic, travel restrictions, pandemic-related challenges, and other factors made the time go faster, I guess? The years 2020 - 2022 feel like a big monolith, rather than 3 whole years. It is not to say all the three years were same. But they kinda went fast. Really fast. Despite the 5 long years (or 4.5 years, if I do not include the 2016 stint), I was also working with different PIs over my time here. So it was not like I was working on the same projects or topic/domain for the whole time.
In addition to this Emory 5 years, this year feels special to me for two more reasons along the memory lane. First one is, it is 10 years since I left Sri Lanka for my grad school. Then it is also 3 decades since I turned 5. I started counting decades from 15, considering my earliest memories are from when I was 5 years old. So, this year, as I am 35, makes me 3 decades of memories (1992 - 2002, 2002 - 2012, 2012 - 2022). Surely, the last decade (2012 - 2022) was the most eventful and remarkable. I hope the next decade 2022 - 2032 will bring me interesting memories too!
I was interacting with my mentees who apply for gradschool this year. That made me recall my time applying for gradschool in autumn 2011 and my first semester in ULisboa/Portugal in autumn 2012. We had a cool bunch of Erasmus Mundus EMDC MSc 2012 - 2014 group. Our EMDC batch was the middle one among the 5 years program. We had 2 years of seniors before us, and 2 years of juniors after us. That left me in a great spot to observe the past and future of EMDC masters program as I did that. (Same situation with my Erasmus Mundus Ph.D., EMJD-DC as well.) Some of us did a PhD. Others joined the industry after the MSc. Among those who left academia, some started companies. Most others joined big companies in Europe and elsewhere. A few others joined some crazy startups. Some of us left Europe and ended up in third countries (i.e., countries other than our home country and countries in the EU). Some stayed in Europe. Others went back to their home country. Among those who did a PhD, some did an Erasmus Mundus PhD (like me), while others did some other PhD program. Again, after PhD, some joined the industry while the others continued with academia. Among those who continued with academia, the lucky/smart ones became a tenure-track professor instantly, while the others like me became a postdoc. Now, I have the capability to reach out to everyone to give the exact numbers for these categories. But I think that is not important as this is just for my personal blog after all.
Neurasmus page showing students and alumni
EMDC first years were either in Portugal or Spain, where we all spent the 3rd semester in KTH/Sweden. For the forth semester, some of us came back to our host countries (Portugal or Spain), some stayed in Sweden (mostly just with KTH, while some went on to do an industrial internship at Sportify), and some did an internship in a third European country (such as France, Germany, or Switzerland). I came back to ULisboa/Portugal, making it ULisboa/Portugal -> KTH/Sweden -> ULisboa/Portugal for my MSc. That also means, I was one of the few with minimal diverse experiences during my MSc, as I spent time in just two countries where many of us were in three countries. I compensated for this lack of migrations during my Ph.D., with my 3 international research internships (Croatia, USA, and Saudi Arabia) that spanned continents, in addition to my two universities (ULisboa/Portugal and UCLouvain/Belgium). I started my affiliation with ULisboa in 2012 August and spent 7 years doing my MSc and Ph.D., making it the longest university of my life so far, even longer than my 5 years (so far) at Emory University. #WeAreTécnico!
Today a Twitter friend introduced me to Neurasmus, a EU joint-degree MSc program influenced by Erasmus Mundus, but with a neuroscience focus. They also have a nice web page that documents all the students and alumni of the programs in a single place neatly! I wish our Erasmus Mundus programs had something similar. We actually have one for our Ph.D. (EMJD-DC), although not as fancy. But we do not have one for our MSc (EMDC). I remember some of us from the EMDC 2012 intake made a pact to visit Lisboa in 2022 August/September (marking the 10 years). But a pandemic and 10 years have changed many things.
Ten years ago, on a day like this, I left home for Colombo airport to head towards Lisboa for my grad school. I thought I was going to grad school. To do coursework and do research. Maybe for a couple of years? I did not know I was on for a life of adventures of diving into cultures and making friends. A journey that changed me completely.
The journey was not direct. I first had to go to New Delhi to get my Portuguese student visa. Getting the visa was a story on its own. Then three days later, with the visa stamped on my passport, I headed towards Lisboa via Dubai. Two days of August 2012 are of high importance to me. One is the Monday 20th for leaving home to live abroad for the first time, and the other is the Thursday 23rd to arrive in Lisboa finally.
View from my apartment in Lisboa, August 2012
During those early days in Portugal, I would think about where I would be in 10 years. Here, I am writing this blog post from Atlanta. Arrival in Lisboa was smooth. Emirates upgraded me to business class. The border control was friendly to me. The landlord was waiting for me with my name typed on his tablet. On his drive, he mentioned, "Portugal is having economic hardship now. But we are always happy." I also asked him why it was cold in the summer, coming from Colombo. He replied it was the end of the summer and almost autumn. The following days, I walked the streets alone. Everyone was helpful, despite me not knowing the language. Most people there can and will speak English, unlike, for example, in France. In some ways, it was like the opposite of Emily in Paris. Lisboa was nicer to me. (Oh yes, I have made a blog series about my life in Lisboa, Pradeeban in Portugal!) But I did not know that I would end up doing my Ph.D., primarily based in Lisboa, eventually spending seven years of my life centered around Portugal until I completed my Ph.D. in 2019.
The Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica. June 2022
Moving to Lisboa started season 2 of my life. Due to Erasmus Mundus mobility requirements, I moved back and forth from Lisboa to cities in other countries - Sweden, Belgium, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, and the USA. Then in June 2018, I moved to Atlanta after submitting my thesis. I finally defended my Ph.D. thesis in July 2019 in Lisboa and August 2019 in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Erasmus Mundus joint degree requirements!
I moved out from Lisboa in June 2018, did not visit Portugal after July 2019, and my last connection to Portugal was completed with my final Ph.D. defense in August 2019. But I feel I am still in season 2, which Lisboa started in my life. The last three years of the pandemic have significantly changed many aspects of our life and even how we interact with people. Things have slowed down significantly. My travels since February 2020 are entirely restricted to local trips within the USA. My life in Lisboa and my seven years of Erasmus Mundus are like pleasant dreams. I believe I will have an equally exciting season 3 somewhere sometime later. Until then.
Some events in life - we anticipate those for a long time. Before they happen, they feel almost like a dream. Then it happens. Sometimes they disappoint, after all those hypes and hopes. Other times, they surprise us even beyond our expectations.
A few come to my mind. First, the Erasmus Mundus. Doing an MSc in Europe, not just in one country - but two! It felt like too good to be true. Then I got accepted and spent 2 years in Portugal and Sweden: 3 semesters in Lisboa and a semester in Stockholm, to be precise. I left Sri Lanka on the 20th August 2012, 10 years ago, and arrived in Lisboa on the 23rd August, after spending a few days in New Delhi. The Erasmus Mundus experience, especially as a masters student living alone for the first time, together with many similar students, felt special and it pleasantly surprised me.
Utqiagvik airport, summer 2021
When I was in my third semester of the MSc, I applied to the PhD program under the Erasmus Mundus (now discontinued and replaced by Marie Curie funding) funding again. It felt it is going to be a larger version of the Erasmus Mundus masters, spending time in 2 EU countries again - but for 4 - 5 years. More time for those pleasant encounters. Then it happened. I spent my PhD in not just 2 countries in 2 years - rather 5 countries in 5 years! In addition to my universities in Portugal and Belgium (the host universities of my PhD program), I spent a few months in other universities in Croatia (1 month), USA (7 months), and Saudi Arabia (2 months), with research internships. While my MSc started this mobility experience with Portugal -> Sweden -> Portugal, my PhD felt like my MSc experience on steroids. More diverse experience. Now, looking back, my MSc + PhD experience of 7 years, 2012 August - 2019 August (2 years of MSc followed by 5 years of PhD) feels like a sweet past birth. An ultimate nomad life. I surely want to go back to Portugal for those memories.
No sunrise in the midwinter in Arctic
My visit to the North Slope in Alaska in 2021 was a travel experience that exceeded my extremely high expectations. I visited Anchorage (and surrounding towns - Whittier and Spencer Glacier) and Utqiagvik (and Point Barrow) in the summer, after wanting to visit Alaska for 2 decades since 2001. Utqiagvik, the Arctic Alaska, felt other-worldly, despite being the USA. I had to visit Alaska again (!!!) within a few months, in the midwinter, as I was so mesmerized by Alaska - this time to Anchorage, Fairbanks (and College), and Utqiagvik. Again, Alaska exceeded my expectations, making me want to go there for the third time. I even like that tiny Utqiagvik Barrow Airport. It does not have restaurants or anything fancy. But it has a minimalist and home feeling to it. Love that.
I am happy for these memories. But that also means I also want to go back in time (i.e., visit these places again). Hope I will still love Alaska and Portugal the same when I visit them again.
One of my juniors asked my opinion on going for higher studies in Europe. I have blogged about Erasmus Mundus a few times. But I decided to make yet another blog post based off of our discussion.
Erasmus Mundus used to have both MSc and PhD programs - I did Erasmus Mundus MSc and Erasmus Mundus PhD. With the program restructuring, the Erasmus Mundus PhDs are discontinued. We have the Marie Curie scholarships for PhD instead.
He was planning to apply for a PhD with just a BSc. But EU PhDs almost always (there could be exceptions) require you to have an MSc unlike USA or Australia. So, if you want to do a PhD in EU, you are mostly going to do what we I did - do an MSc (go for Erasmus Mundus - it was a dream come true for me) first. Then apply for a PhD.
The 2-years MSc and 5-years PhD was my case. I wasn't in a rush - I took my own time. More likely scenario will be 2-years MSc and 4-years PhD. There
is really no rush to leave the school, unless you have no grant - but
always strive to get a grant - Erasmus Mundus, Marie Curie, etc will
help. Personally, I loved my MSc days. 2 years - 4 semesters. 4th semester was the thesis semester (research). The first 3 semesters were courses only (no research). It was like an extension to our BSc (Eng) from Sri Lanka - if you think about it, it makes sense in the EU - most do an integrated MSc there (i.e., enter the program after highschool and finish BSc + MSc combined in 5 years).
In comparison, in the USA, more likely you will spend 5 years of (MSc + PhD combined, as you go directly from BSc ➡ PhD. In such places where you start PhD directly after your BSc (like in the US or Australia), you don't have that relaxing period where you just attend the lectures and do coursework/group-projects. They had to already think about finding the advisor, etc.
Our EU MSc days were like fun, friendships, and feeling young.
Only one catch is, if you go for an MSc in the EU, by the early second year (i.e., 3rd semester) you have to apply for the PhD again (with recommendation letters and all). That gives a slight uncertainty and anxiety: for instance, what if you couldn't get into a good PhD program in the EU after the MSc? US does not have a good credit transfer system from MSc programs, especially from other countries. So, if you try to apply for a PhD in the USA after an EU MSc, you are mostly going to sit with those who arrived there just with a BSc (in other words, you may feel like you have wasted 2 years for nothing in the EU with your MSc). That's why the strategy is, if you do your MSc in EU, do your PhD there as well.
If time is a concern, USA, Canada, or Australia can be better choices. Australia is very quick. I have friends who completed their PhD in 3 - 4 years directly after their BSc. US universities will typically require IELTS and GRE for the PhD. EU did not require GRE, and we were exempted from IELTS since we come from an English-speaking university.
This week went ahead as usual. I got some time to reflect on my 2010s. Interesting how people come and go in our lives.
If we consider our life a novel or a teledrama, some people just take a few pages, some - perhaps a footnote, and some take whole chapters. Some people appear briefly before and later come back to occupy the later chapters. Life is quite dynamic, and more so for me since 2012 as I keep moving between countries. My friendships have become relatively shorter, as my friends and I, we all have been in continuous migrations thanks to the Erasmus Mundus, and its mobility during my MSc (2012 - 2014) and PhD (2014 - 2019). Sometimes, life is more interesting than a movie, with its twists and turns. Not forgetting to mention how nightmarish 2020 has been so far, for the whole world!
Since 2012, I've been living a kind of nomadic life, and my friends (2012 - 2019) themselves as well, thanks to @EUErasmusPlus.
So I recently defended my Erasmus Mundus double Ph.D. degree successfully. I defended on the 1st of July for my 1st university in Portugal, and then again on the 23rd of August for my 2nd university in Belgium. There are several questions on how all these work from the public. While there is no consensus on what is the difference between the double and joint degrees, I will explain here my interpretation. Even the professors of the Erasmus Mundus consortiums have conflicting opinions. Therefore, if you have objections to my interpretation, I am fine with that. There are blurred boundaries on what constitutes a joint degree or a double degree. As an Erasmus Mundus Association Program representative for 2 programs (EMDC and EMJDC-DC) in the past, I believe I have adequate understanding to write this post.
My program EMJD-DC is supposed to be a joint degree, but in practice, it is a double degree. Let's come to the meat of the discussion. A double degree involves two universities. The student must satisfy the superset of the requirements from both universities. Plus, he/she should also satisfy some certain additional requirements from the Erasmus Mundus consortium. In EMJD-DC, the students choose 2 universities out of the 4 universities based in 4 European countries (Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, and Spain). I choose IST-ULisboa, Portugal, and UCLouvain, Belgium as my 2 universities.
A joint doctorate degree typically chooses certain sets of requirements from both universities, and the student receives a single joint diploma signed by both universities. This creates an overhead on the university administrators, on figuring out the requirements and complexities of devising such a joint degree. There is no way a student can leave with a degree from a single university in a joint degree. It is an AND clause.
On the other hand, a double degree requires the student to complete a superset of requirements from both universities. This doesn't mean double workload or a sum of the workload from each university. But usually leads to a significantly larger workload compared to the workload of either of the universities. For example, my first university IST requires coursework of 30 ECTS. UCLouvain does not require coursework. It is optional. But it requires a much larger amount of credits that must be satisfied through conference visits, coursework, or research visits. IST requires submission of a CAT document, almost like a thesis, in half-way through the PhD. There are credit transfers. But some of these additional requirements do not translate well. Therefore, leading to additional work from both universities. The research is still the same single research though.
Although the universities have international students offices that handle these mobility programs, typically it is the student's responsibility to make sure that the credits are transferred across the participating universities. Furthermore, the students will also need to make sure she/he has 2 supervisors, one each from the universities. The student must manage the supervisors pretty well, and coordinate with them effectively.
A double degree leads to 2 degree certificates/diplomas. That means, if you fail one university, you can still pass the other one. It is an OR clause here. This is like 2 lifes. If you lose your first life, you still have the second. I have successfully passed the defense of both universities. I know at least one student who failed one university - but continued with the second university. It won't be a double degree anymore. Just a single degree from the university that the student passed.
My double degree certificates stand on their own. I can easily claim I have Ph.D. from 2 universities, without mentioning that this is a double degree of the same research since the degree certificates do not mention that.
Another benefit of EU double degrees are, the interesting set of colleagues that will be in your double degree. Those who choose such programs already has a desire for traveling and a preference for uncertainties. I also traveled to several EU countries, thanks to my MSc and PhD double degrees. I hope this post clarifies some questions on Erasmus Mundus double degrees. Please let me know in comments if you have additional questions.
My Ph.D. started 19 days before my MSc. defense. :) I got the happy news that I had received the Category "A" EMJD-DC Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, while I was attending the EMDC Winter Event in Evora. I started with IST, ULisboa, Portugal, as my first university. I continued with my MSc supervisor as my Ph.D. advisor also, as he is really a great supervisor and mentor.
I did 2 Google Summer of Code (GSoC) from Portugal. Once during my MSc (2014) and the other during my Ph.D. (2015). I also did an OpenDaylight internship. Then I moved to Atlanta for 7 months for an extended internship at Emory University, as a continuation of my GSoCs. When I returned from Atlanta to Lisbon, I had to apply for the Belgium visa quick since I was already in my third year and I must move to my second university (UCLouvain) in Belgium. After a short period of 4 months in Lisboa, we moved to Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium in February 2017. Later in 2017, I also spent 2 months in KAUST, Saudi Arabia, the 5th university of my Ph.D. Finally, I returned to Portugal for my 4th-year 2nd semester, December 2017. In the next 6 months, I made sure to satisfy all the thesis requirements of IST and UCLouvain, including the UCLouvain Thesis Confirmation and IST CAT. I also finished the thesis draft and moved to Emory University again before the defense.
Évora, Portugal
I should have finished my Ph.D. before leaving Portugal last year.
However, it dragged a bit longer than what I anticipated due to
administrative tasks and journal acceptances that were arriving at the
last minute. Consequently, in early 2019 I submitted the CRC of the
last journal of my Ph.D. and also submitted the final-final version of my
thesis to both universities to print.
I came back to Portugal to defend my thesis. My defense went very well, and I passed with a distinction! With the successful defense of my PhD in IST, I was already a Ph.D. (Dr.
Pradeeban Kathiravelu ;) ). But as far as UCLouvain is concerned, I
still had to do my public defense in Belgium. That intermittent period
of almost 2 months (July - August 2019): it was complex to explain
people where I stand in my Ph.D. - as both a Ph.D. student (as far as
UCLouvain/Belgium is concerned) as well as a Postdoc (elsewhere).
Especially an interesting conversation to those outside the EU who were
not familiar with double degree programs such as Erasmus Mundus.
Brussels: Fiesta Latina with friends
Yes, EMJD-DC is a double degree. I had to defend my thesis in Portugal and Belgium.
This year, I visited Belgium twice, for my Ph.D. defenses.
For my IST/ULisboa defense, I visited Belgium first before flying to
Portugal (June - July). Then, of course, I visited Belgium for my
UCLouvain defense (August). My time in Belgium was like time-traveling
to 2017 - meeting the familiar faces after quite some time and visiting the same places all over again. My 2nd defense (i.e., the UCLouvain public defense) was on the 23rd of
August 2019, exactly 7 years since my arrival to Lisbon on the 23rd of
August 2012 for my MSc. A pleasant coincidence.
Since
I already had the Ph.D. degree from IST, I was more relaxed during this second one. I also had ordered to print the thesis book, as per
UCLouvain requirements, prior to my arrival in Belgium. I had to go and collect the printed books from the printing shop, in an extreme corner of the Louvain-la-Neuve village. A neighborhood that I had never visited before. In fact, I wasn't even aware of the existence of those neighborhoods. My UCLouvain public defense also marked the end of my life as an Erasmus Mundus student. An interesting coincidence was, I
first arrived in Portugal on August 23rd, 2012 as an EMDC Erasmus Mundus masters student. I defended my thesis at UCLouvain on the very same day, after 7 years. Is the universe sending me signals already? :D
Lullwater Park, Atlanta, GA, USA
There are a few things I could have done better. For instance, looking back, I feel I should have defended the thesis before moving out of the EU. It was just defense pending, and moving away from the EU made the process much longer. Similarly, I also think I should have started writing the thesis early on, making sure the LaTex variables across my various papers do not have naming conflicts. That would have helped me when I consolidated the content from my various papers to the thesis document. But I am still happy with how everything went. During my two trips to the EU for my defenses, I also had to practice my presentation. I still managed to explore the cities a bit.
It was a happy moment. But that also made me miss the EU, as my student life attached to the EU came to an end with my Ph.D. defense. Somewhat bittersweet indeed.
I spent most of my 2017 in Belgium, specifically a university town named Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia, the French region of Belgium. We had a 2-floor 2-room apartment all for ourselves, for just 750 Euro with water bill included. Until this date, that is the best apartment I have lived. Thanks to UCLouvain for the accommodation. Initially, I was worried that living in Belgium with the same amount of money I received in Portugal would be challenging. But it turned out quite ok. We, of course, were a bit more careful with money while in Louvain-la-Neuve. We witnessed snowfall in Louvain-la-Nueve in early March. Feeding the ducks and geese across the lake was also quite fun.
Thanks to the central location of Belgium and its competitive coverage by different airlines, flights from Brussels were quite cheap, throughout Europe. During the long weekends, we flew to different cities and countries. This made 2017 to be the year with most countries visited ever for me, so far. We left very early in the morning to catch the train to the nearby countries (Luxembourg and the Netherlands) or to the Brussels airport (Romania and Hungary). A long walk with a suitcase to enjoy yet another country or a city (Ghent, Bruges, and Ostende). I also attended my one and only Erasmus Mundus Association General Assembly (EMA GA), while I have been an EMA program representative for EMDC and EMJD-DC a few times.
View from our apartment
My apartment was quite far from the lab. Nearly a 30 minutes walk. But it was fun. Also, the roads were entirely for pedestrians as the vehicles always go underground. We had a shopping mall called L'Esplanade with a Delhaize supermarket. We always visited there to buy our groceries. Vegetables and fruits were very expensive there. But it was convenient. Once we went to ALDI but figured that it is quite too far for walking. We still loved walking around the lake in the summer. It was pleasant. Belgium chocolates, Belgium beers, and Belgium desserts - all were the best! We often bought fresh sashimi and sushi from the Delhaize.
My new suitcase in my lab
When we left Belgium to return to Portugal in 2017 August, I did not realize that I would return soon. But I had to, as my funding for the last 4 months of 2017 was from Belgium. I had back-and-forth2 return trips from Belgium to Portugal. Eventually, I moved to Saudi Arabia for 2 months from Belgium. The Saudi visa did not take much time. During these days of back-and-forth travels between Portuguese airports (Lisboa and Faro) and Belgium airports (BRU and CRL), I stayed overnights in the 2 airports of Belgium, in my lab, in friends' homes, and also slept on a cat bed for 2 nights in an Airbnb-gone-wrong! Then I came back to Belgium and returned to Portugal in 4 days in December.
I also had 2 remarkable return trips to Belgium from Atlanta in 2019. First, was to fly to Portugal via Belgium, for my first defense in Portugal. I stayed in Leuven first, to meet my supervisor in Louvain-la-Neuve. Then, stayed in Antwerp before returning to Atlanta. I loved my stay in Antwerp. It was very pleasant. Then, I came back from Atlanta to defend my thesis once more (for the second and the last time!) at UCLouvain. This time, I stayed in Charleroi and Leuven. On the 23rd of August, after 7 years since my arrival to Lisboa, I completed my Ph.D. with my final Ph.D. defense. It was a remarkable journey of 7 years. Thanks Portugal and EU.
While I did not spend as much as time in Belgium, compared to I did in Portugal, Belgium still left me with very positive memories. I leave with positive memories of EU. I loved every bit of my stay in Europe. And goodbye, Belgium too.
Memories of Portugalis a series of blog posts, attempting to recall my vivid memories of Portugal for the past several years. I have been writing these posts for quite some time at intervals. It has been after all a long journey. When I look back, even the boring routine stuff I did in Portugal makes exciting memories.
My 6-year long stay in Portugal (2012 August - 2018 June) had 4 segments, with some interval between each segment as I had to migrate to another country in between due to the Erasmus Mundus mobility requirements. Given below are 4 episodes of my life in Portugal, each describing one such segment of my stay. My trip to Portugal for my Ph.D. defense would qualify as the Episode 5, and I have no idea when will I travel again after that to write an Episode 6. But I have a feeling we will, some day in the far future.
When I arrived at Lisboa airport on the 23rd August 2012, I did not know that Portugal and specifically Lisboa would become the one-word summary of my 2010s. I also did not realize Lisboa airport will become my most frequented airport, even more than the Colombo airport, the airport of my home country. Within the years, Lisboa airport had also become a second home to me - making me feel relaxed and comfortable while I wait for my next flight.
View from our apartment
My landlord was waiting for me at the airport with my name on his iPad. He showed me around the neighborhood - the supermarkets, my university, bank, university admissions office, and other closeby places of interest such as Campo Pequeno. Shopping in Lisboa - both for groceries and other fun shopping - was quite fun. It has many shopping malls and supermarket chains. There were 3 major supermarket chains - Pingo Doce - the one I would always visit, Minipreco - a smaller but cheaper one, and Continente - bigger but a bit more expensive one.
Unwrapping and first meal
I had to share the 4-room apartment with 3 others. However, I had arrived before everyone else. Therefore, I had the whole apartment for me for a few days. We also had a portion of an open-air balcony that belongs to us, that we later used for barbecues and parties. Our apartment was surrounded by 3 metro stations - Saldanha, Alameda, and Arroios. Alameda neighborhood has a beautiful park with a water fountain. For the first few days when I was still alone in Lisboa, my life was mostly limited to this triangle where I was walking around. I realized how much time I had saved while living in Sri Lanka, thanks to my parents who were doing many things for me - such as cooking, grocery shopping, and taking care of managing everything that does not need me personally. Now I am on my own, and I had to spend time doing a considerable amount of 'boring' things such as cleaning and grocery shopping. However, since the environment is new, I was still excited. I did feel like a fish out of water at times. My mom had gifted me a God Ganesh statue before I left Sri Lanka, which I had taken with me to Lisboa. The God Ganesh always secured a spot in all my apartments in Lisboa and elsewhere afterward.
1.2: Feeling young 2012 September - 2012 December
Campo Pequeno
Eventually, my three apartment mates arrived, and we lived like a team during our stay. Our landlord also made sure to help every one of us settle in, with the bank accounts, school administration, and initial shopping. He went above and beyond, showing us the spirit of Portuguese hospitality. We all went to the same university, and our university was at a walking distance. My classmates of the same Erasmus Mundus program arrived soon after, and the courses began on the 17th of September. We all became good friends, as we all had come from various parts of the world. Thanks to Erasmus Mundus, we all had a clique though. No one was left around.
The Alameda Park, in front of IST
The early days, i.e., the year 2012 was exciting. Everything looked new and fresh. I had visited France (Paris), India (Bangalore and Hyderabad), and USA (Mountain View/Googleplex) before. But this was my first experience living abroad. Luckily I was not alone in this journey, and it was pleasant! During my first year in Portugal, I maintained a weekly blog on my life in Lisboa. Everything seemed new and fresh, and I never ran out of things to blog about. We tried to learn Portuguese. I even got a certificate for the A1 level. However, my only regret in Portugal was not truly learning Portuguese. I never realized I would stay in the country for around 7 years. Indeed, it was not a continuous stay of 7 years — more of an on-and-off stay due to the Erasmus Mundus mobility requirements. Still, Portugal was my base country for the entire period. My initial plan was to stay just a year. But this lovely country and circumstances made me stay much longer.
Cascais Beach - my first beach outside Sri Lanka
We spent some time visiting popular places in and around Lisboa. We used the yellow bus, the Lisboa's version of the hop-on-hop-off buses you would find in any major cities. We paid visits to major museums and churches. Belem, Estrela, Oceanario, Sao Jorge Castle, Sintra, and Cascais/Estoril beaches - all those popular touristic destinations in Lisboa. Sao Jorge Castle, despite being within the city limits, feels like otherworldly. Sintra is just outside Lisboa. It is blessed with the beauty of nature and architecture. Lisboa Oceanario is undoubtedly one of the best in the world. Cascais beach was clean and nice - but later I would visit much better beaches in Portugal. We do not have a metro in Sri Lanka. I started to getting used to (and love) the metro journeys in Lisboa.
IST/ULisboa - Alameda Campus
Our EMDC program was a coordination of 3 universities - IST/Lisboa, UPC/Barcelona, and KTH/Stockholm. While half of us spent the first year in Lisboa, the other half was in Barcelona. We all would meet in KTH/Stockholm for the third semester, before breaking away for the thesis in the 4th/final semester. I also became the Erasmus Mundus Association (EMA) program representative (PR) for EMDC. It was fun, representing EMDC. Later, I also represented EMDC and EMJD-DC at EMA in the following several years and organized EMA days and participated in an EMA General Assembly.
Taguspark Campus
Some of our classes in the first semester were in Taguspark. A long shuttle journey twice a week also became part of our life. Taguspark is in the middle of nowhere. So when we had lectures there, we had to spend the whole day on the campus. Luckily, the Tagupark canteen offered relatively good food. All you can pick at once with a fixed price. We also had some good memories and made some local friends at the Taguspark campus. The Taguspark campus was also more modern than the Alameda one. Later during the Ph.D. I had the Data Quality course in Taguspark - thus reliving those Taguspark memories after 2 years.
Praca do Comercio
In Saldanha, right next to our campus was "Canela e Acucar", a cafe restaurant that offered cheap food, starting from 4.45 Euro. Bacalhau, the salty dry cod fish is a popular Portuguese food that we tried often. We also had several fish including Carapasinhos (the small fish, fried), Dourada, and Robalo. We also had other options such as Francasinhas. We learned one thing quick. If you ask for "Sumo de Laranja" you will get some orange soda. Not the real orange juice. You must ask for "Sumo de Laranja natural" for freshly squeezed orange juice for like 2 Euro or 2.50 Euro. The orange juice maker was virtually in every cafe in Portugal. We liked to have orange juice as it is natural and 100% orange. No water, sugar, or anything else added. The Civil department canteen food was 4.50 Euro, with daily options for 3 Euro food also. Then there were also subsidized canteens for students in the main building, as cheap as 2.35 Euro. We tried all the canteens - their food options and desserts.
Despite our busy schedules and group projects, we still had lots of fun. Our university also hosted some interesting events, such as the annual musical evening of Arraial Do Tecnico. Music, snacks, and beer. That was fun. Thanks to our diverse friends, we even had our own "cultural days" or international students' days - including a Chinese party and a Brazilian party. We also visited the Hindu temple close to Telheiras in Lisboa, as well as the mosque in Sao Sebastiao! As time passed by, I experienced my first autumn in Lisboa - much wetter and colder than the summer. I enjoyed my first Halloween in Lisboa, meeting new friends.
Bairro Alto
Every Friday evening we would visit the "Erasmus Corner" in Bairro Alto where we have beers and some drinks and meet other exchange students as well as some locals. Bairro Alto hosts the Erasmus Student Networks and an Erasmus Bar. The place had a unique smell of beer, Portuguese and international food, and the occasional smell of urine from some corners. Bairro Alto is popular for its cheap beer - 1 euro per cup. Bairro Alto neighborhood was also special for me - especially the view from the corridor where I had a birthday celebration in 2013.
My first new year in Lisboa was exciting. Despite the exams, I decided to do a big shopping, because I was so energetic. I also had received my scholarship money. So why not? Falling in love in Lisboa was a wonderful feeling. The experience was mesmerizing. We recall the new year of 2013 and the romantic memories of Praca do Comercio (with the Terreiro da Paco metro station) every now and then. After several years, we still fondly recall those first 6 months of 2013 as "those days".
On the way to Freeport from Oriente
I also had started to travel outside Lisboa. I first visited Fatima with 2 of my Sri Lankan friends. It was an average Portuguese village, if you remove the religious significance. But it was also my first trip in Portugal outside Lisboa. Therefore, it was special to me. During these days, EMDC also had our Winter Event in Nuria, Spain. We met our EMDC mates from Barcelona for the first time. It was also our first international trip from Lisboa. We traveled to Madrid and Barcelona and stayed in cheap youth hostels - dorm rooms and bunk beds. We enjoyed the snow and a real winter of -11 C. It was also my first time getting drunk. In my entire life, I had got drunk only twice. First in Barcelona (2013) and then in San Francisco (2016). Strong memories.
Romantic Parque das Nacoes
Not all walks are memorable as our extended weekend (Thursday evenings - Monday mornings) walks. Parque das Nações had become our regular romantic getaway. We walked by the riverside, from Cabo Ruivo, Oriente, Moscavide, and until Sacavem. Over the years, we witnessed how the Parque das Nacoes neighborhood evolve. We visited all the restaurants along the river. Some restaurants later closed down and new ones, including a fancy Chinese restaurant appeared years later. We also visited the newly popping up restaurants in Parque das Nacoes. We fed the seagulls close to Oceanario and also fed the geese in Estrela park. I got used to walks and metro rides between my university (IST) and ISCTE-IUL. We also frequented the Hard Rock Cafe in Restauradores and Starbucks in Rossio train station, as they both are close to each other. In the blue metro line, we also visited Santa Apolonia. The photos bring back vivid memories.
Drinks at Hard Rock Cafe Lisboa
Arroios neighborhood had a Dim Sum restaurant. Although the service was bad, the food was good. Therefore, we visited it several times. There was also a Chinese buffet restaurant, which was similar to every other Chinese buffets in Lisboa. There was also a Portugalia that we visited once. Estefania neighborhood, in between Arroios and Saldanha was a good one for a walk from our apartment. We used to buy lots of things from Pingo Doce and take them back home. Eventually, we also started to visit the nearby Continente.
A night walk in the Avenida neighborhood
We watched several movies. At times, two movies back-to-back in the same day in the same shopping mall. We also had the loyalty cards from the movie theatres! There was also a night we decided to stay in the streets just outside Centro Comercial Colombo after a late night movie from 2 am until 6.30 am when the metro station eventually opened. Yes, we were crazy. :) I also started cooking in Lisboa. Initially I started for fun and to save money. I became quite good with cooking eventually. I actually was enjoying cooking various interesting recipes. First I followed the recipes to the letter. Later, I started to innovate. I used to post photos of my cooking to Facebook, until I retired from Facebook in 2015 December. Eventually, as I started cooking, I reduced the freqeuncy of my visit to the Nepal restaurents. However, I would still take my friends to a Nepal buffet.
Beautiful view of Obidos
My first spring in Lisboa was refreshing and romantic. We made boat trips to cross the Tagus river, which separated Lisboa from most of everything. From Cais do Sodre port, we would take a boat to Cacilhas in the other side of the Tagus river. From Cacilhas, then we take a bus to the beach towns such as Costa da Caparica. We attempted our best to see dolphins in Setubal. But we failed several attempts. ;) Óbidos was a town that we loved visiting - its cherry wine / ginjinha (ginja) in a chocolate cup was truly unique, best of both worlds. We played Chess there while enjoying some ginja in a romantic hotel (Pousado do Obidos). We visited Obidos once again later for its chocolate festival. We also went to the Freeport open-area shopping mall twice, taking the bus from Oriente.
Typical Portuguese food along the river
We frequented many good restaurants in the city. There was a Nepal restaurant, Restaurante Kathmandu, in our road. I was frequenting it, especially because it was the closest to Sri Lankan food I was able to get while in Lisboa. I took many of my friends to that restaurant at several occasions. I also visited some other Nepal restaurents. We also frequented Restaurente Destino, a friendly restaurant in Restauradores neighborhood. We would often walk from Restauradores to Avenida, along Avenida da Liberdade.
Finally, the summer was back to Lisboa again. By this time,
Porto Matosinhos Beach
I decided that I would come back to Lisboa for my master thesis. Therefore, my stay in Lisboa is not going to be limited to just one year. :) We also started to feel the pain of friends saying goodbye, as the semester ended. Some were in Lisboa for just one semester! I would love it if every wonderful people stay with me, and not to leave in the middle. :) But life is always moving.
My move to Stockholm came close too. I had to go to Sri Lanka before that. We visited Porto and Lagos before I left Portugal. Saying goodbye is hard. But I reassured I would come back. Since we were spending time in Porto and Lagos before I left Lisboa, time went real quick when we were finally back in Lisboa. I came to Lisboa 10 months back with a free memory. I left Lisboa with a strong association to the city. I knew I would be back soon.
1.4: Party Never Ends 2013 August - 2013 December
Vila Franca de Xira riverside walk
While I was in Stockholm, I visited Lisboa twice. First, immediately after arriving in Stockholm, to enjoy the summer in Lisboa and Setubal. Then, during the mid-semester break, which was already wet autumn in Lisboa. During my second visit, we also made a metro station trip, visiting each and every neighborhood connected by Lisboa's extensive metro line - that we had missed previously. We also visited Alcantara-Terra, the touristic riverside of Lisboa. We also visited Vila Franca de Xira by train. It is a riverside town that can be reached by the train from Lisboa that goes towards Azambuja. The town hall had a free open wifi by the riverside in the town. But when I visited the town later, the wifi was no more open for public.
The beautiful Lagos
When I am away from Lisboa, I often think of the days I spent there. Despite my 7 years there, most of my memories revolve around 2013 - specifically those days, the first 6 months there. The memories are addictive and intense, and they are like a drug - I can feel the blood circulations with the memories. My memories of Portugal also is correlated with a few songs I listened to during my stay in Portugal. There are a few songs, mostly of Romanian origin - I always associate them with those romantic memories of Lisboa - because I listened to them for the first time during those days. Some songs bring back the memories of youthful moments, nostalgia, and the longing feeling that is defined as Saudade in Portuguese.
I always made sure to revisit the places that I loved visiting such as Obidos and Evora. But I never revisited Porto and Lagos later. Therefore, those memories are sealed as the memories of 2013 summer. But I, of course, want to revisit Porto and relive those memories. It will always be like time traveling to 2013 if I revisit Porto or Lagos. On the other hand, the place may still be the same. But it may not be possible to recreate the exact moments. We can try.
Yagheli da?
I am Pradeeban, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Alaska Anchorage. My research focuses on networking and big data innovations for healthcare and Circumpolar North.
Before moving to Alaska, as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. I researched and built efficient frameworks to schedule and execute biomedical informatics workflows.
I have an EU Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Distributed Computing (EMJD-DC) from INESC-ID Lisboa / Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal and Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium. I received my MSc degree, Erasmus Mundus European Master in Distributed Computing (EMDC), from Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal, and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
