Ljubljiana and Lake Bled, Slovenia

It was so exciting to visit a small city in Central Europe, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Last year, Kings of Convenience released a new album for the first time in 12 years and are currently on tour in Europe, so it's the first chance for a long-time fan like me to see them live. I was looking at the list of tour countries, but they don't come to the area where I live at a convenient time, and they don't overlap with the destination country of my already-planned trips. so I planned a new trip to Ljubljana for 3 nights and 4 days, just to see their concert. I searched for a city that I could go to as cheaply as possible that I had never been to. Many of KOC's tour cities are small towns other than big cities, and Ljubljana was one of them.

To get to Ljubljana, the flight from Thessaloniki was quite expensive. So, I flew to Rome first and then took a night train to Trieste to the Italian/Slovenian border. From Trieste, we took the Flix Bus across the border to Ljubljana.

On the first day, I left home early in the morning and arrived in Rome in the afternoon. Since I had time until the 10:00 pm train from there, I spent the day sightseeing in Rome. By walking from Termini Station and walking in the direction of Vatican City, we were able to see many tourist attractions such as the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. Even if I don't go sightseeing that far, I'll be moving to Rome in two weeks, so I'll be back eventually. But since we had a lot of time, we did do quite a bit of sightseeing this day. At the Trevi Fountain, I threw a coin in the fountain facing my back. As the saying goes, it seems that we will return to Rome again.

After a full day of sightseeing, I stopped by a restaurant near Termini station called Acqua & Farina for dinner, but they charged me a 40% service charge when I paid. The pizza itself wasn't that expensive, just a few euros, but they took the fee for no reason when I could have ordered an appetizer and a drink or two. The waiters had poor service all the time, the owners were rude and I could see the difference in the treatment of tourists and locals. When I asked the European couple dining at the table next to me, they said they weren't charged a service charge and even got a free dessert. My friend made the payment without notice, but I was not happy with the service charge added afterward to increase the unit price without being informed in advance. Furthermore, when I arrived at Termini station and was sitting waiting for the train, a homeless woman approached me and suddenly hit me with a large bag on my head. A nearby security guard saw it and did absolutely nothing.

I had been told in the US that Italians were often racist, and I was quite disappointed to meet people who solidified that stereotype on my very first day in Rome. I got the impression that Romans in general hate tourists and treat them like animals. What I learned from this trip is to not pay the billed amount without checking in Italy, but to pay after confirming it. Rome is not like Thessaloniki where people keep offering you free drinks and snacks even if you are a tourist. Also, be aware that the area around Termini Station is not safe.

Departure from Termini to Trieste at 10pm on an overnight train. It was my first time in a sleeper car, and it reminded me of the movie Oriental Express.

The car can sleep four people in one room, and you can choose between a women's car or a unisex car. At the begging of the ride, we were given linens, blankets, toiletries, snacks, and drinks. In addition, the restrooms are kept clean and surprisingly comfortable.

However, I had a hard time getting to sleep. I was sleeping on the upper bed, but there was some pressure from the direction of travel, and it was not too comfortable to lie down. On the way back, I chose the lower bed, and it was much more comfortable than the upper berth. This time, I was able to sleep well.

Morning came without sleep and we arrived in Trieste. I stayed in Trieste for a few hours, but I walked around as much as time allowed. With the atmosphere of a port town, the square facing the sea reminded me of Lisbon.

From there to Ljubljana, we took FlixBus. Although the trip itself in total was 3 nights and 4 days, I only stayed in Ljubljana for 2 days. On the second day, I went to Lake Bled, so I actually only stayed in the center of Ljubljana on the first day, and KOC's concert was in the evening that day. The impression of the city is very tidy and stylish. The streets are lined with Art Nouveau architecture which reminded me of Riga, Latvia. There are many cute souvenirs such as hand-made wooden trinkets in souvenir shops. Slovenia has a rich food culture, and other Slovenian dishes are proudly served throughout the city.

 Another highlight was Tivoli Park. There are not only tennis and basketball courts, but also space for skate parks, trampolines, and other sports that are not always considered major. Spaces suitable for all kinds of sports were neatly organized into one park. I think it's the best playground for children. In a city where many bicycles and scooters are used, we have also tried their city bike system, Bicike Ljubljana. This was supposed to be fun and cheap; however, the system often registers errors and mischarged everyone. We came across a guy whose reserved bike was taken by another girl, which she drove off and he did not know what to do. We also got charged for unknown large amounts after the trip which was registered as a scam by our card companies. 

The next day, we went to Lake Bled for 1 hour by bus. The bus stop was in the city center (east of the lake), and when I got off, it was near Bled Castle, so I went to the castle first. It's on a hill and uphill, but you can reach it by hiking for about 15 minutes. The entrance fee is 13€ for adults and 8.5€ for students. The castle itself is small, and the exhibits and gift shops aren't all that impressive, only the view of the lake from up there was exceptional. After that, I was planning to walk around the lake and rent a boat, but I didn't have much time. I decided to go back to the bus station after walking along the lake. 

Before arriving at the bus stop, I stopped by a supermarket, where the famous Bled cakes around here were sold in packages. 2.5 euros for two with this volume is a great deal, considering one costs 4.5-5.5 euros at a cafe around here. Originally, I was planning to eat a fresh one at a cafe, but due to time constraints, I ended up buying it at a supermarket. I’m glad I did because I believe these cakes are made by a vendor and distributed to restaurants and shops throughout the city. Even though it's called a cake, almost everything is cream, and it's huge, so it's pretty heavy. But the cream itself was a light taste than it looked.

After that, following the way I came and returned home in the order of Lake Bled - Ljubljana Trieste - Rome - Thessaloniki. Although the long-awaited boat rental in Lake Bled did not come true, Slovenia was full of fun sites and amazing food. I had a very good time. Among the many Central European countries, it became one of my favorites, and I definitely recommend it if I was asked where to visit in the Central European Region.

 

Peraia Beach, Thessaloniki

This weekend, I went to Peraia Beach, a beach that can be reached by city bus from Thessaloniki city center.

Peraia Beach and nearby Neoi Epivates Beach are the nearest to the city center of Thessaloniki. Both can be reached in about 40 minutes by ferry from Thessaloniki's White Tower or the port. When I went to Neoi Epivates Beach before, I went by ferry. The ferry ticket price went up since then, and it became 10 euros round trip in the summer. The ferry I got on was so crowded that we even had to push each other to get on the ferry on the way back. The guys who run the ferry had a bit of a yakuza-like attitude, they sat down in the passenger seat trying to flirt with a group of women. What an easy job they seem to have… They also refused to accept card payment for obvious reasons, saying that the machine doesn't have a connection in the middle of the sea, but we insisted and paid by card in the end.

When I went to Neoi Epivates by ferry, my impression was that it wasn’t that convenient nor was it cheap. I recently heard that it would take about an hour by bus, so I decided to go by bus this time. First, take the 01X bus from the city to the airport, and change to 72 in front of a cafe before arriving at the airport.

Continue on 72 to the street in front of the beach. It's a simple transfer, but it took a while for the bus to come, and I think the total trip took about an hour and a half. Considering the transfer time, the ferry is a little faster. 

At Peraia, sunbeds are lined up on the beach, and some nice beach music is playing. It is quite an atmosphere for “the nearest beach.” The sunbeds are usually from café bars in front of the sea and are free to use with any drink or food order. This time we arrived around 3pm, so the sunbeds were already filled up. Of course, it is free to sit on our own blanket, so that’s what we did.

One thing I find hilarious when I was on beaches in Greece was that whenever you are relaxing on a sunbed, someone would come to sell you giant donuts. Beaches and donuts are a combination that was new to me, but donuts seem to be a common beach snack in Greece. It's true that swimming makes you hungry, and you can't help but feel like eating something sweet and high in calories like donuts. I will try one next time I see them. 

The water in Perea was clearer than I expected. It was shallow, there were no waves, and the water was warm, so it is a suitable place for anybody to swim in. The water is not as clear as Halkidiki, of course, but its visibility is quite good, and you can spot many fish swimming in the water. We even saw a woman catching fish with a plastic bag. When I went to nearby Neoi Epivates Beach before, there were jellyfish and the water wasn't that clear, so I thought Praia would have the same feel to it. Overall, it was a nicer beach than I expected.

I returned by the same bus route, but the waiting time for the bus was long, and it was not possible to return to the city in one hour. If I had a car, I would probably come every day during the summer. But after all, it is not the most convenient place to go by public transportation even though it is close in distance from the city center.

Thessaloniki is a port city, and there are no sandy beaches in the city where you can swim and relax. It takes more than an hour to reach the nearest beach. I find it such a shame and a missed opportunity as there is not much benefit to living near the beautiful sea if we can’t enjoy it. At least there is a way for tourists to get there, even though it takes quite a long time.

Day Trip to Neos Marmaras Beach

Since I had some free time during the summer, I went from Thessaloniki where I was staying to Halkidiki, a nearby beach area. Halkidiki is a popular resort area for the locals, so much so that the residents of Thessaloniki usually spend their summers on the beach of Halkidiki.

Halkidiki is an area with three peninsulas protruding like three feet. The left foot is named Kassandra, the middle one is Sithonia, and the right one is Athos. 

Cassandra is the most popular and touristic destination, and Sithonia seems to have cool hidden spots. Athos is mainly mountainous, where churches and monasteries are lined up. I went to Kassandra, the left foot, for summer school, but this time I went to Neos Marmaras, a beach in Sithonia, the middle peninsula.

Halkidiki is considered “nearby,” and it is the high season, so I anticipated that it would take about 1-2 hours by bus to get there. However, in reality, the transportation was quite inconvenient, and it took me 8 hours in total (!) for a round trip from Thessaloniki.

First, I called the Greek bus public transportation services (KTEL) the day before and asked if there was a bus from Macedonia, the main bus terminal in Thessaloniki, to Halkidiki. I was told that there is no bus from Macedonia; instead, buses to Halkidiki depart from the KTEL Halkidiki bus terminal in the south of the city. I was told to use the bus 45 from the city to get there.

I left home around 7:30 the next morning and went to the Kamara bus stop after 8:00am. I took bus 45A from there. 45 seems to be an express, but 45A came first, so I took that one. It took about 30-40 minutes and arrived at KTEL Halkidiki at around 8:50am. By the way, there is a convenient app to check the time of the bus in this city called Moovit, but in reality, the buses are almost always late. So, the most accurate way is to go to the bus stop and check the departure time on the electric bulletin board that corresponds to the real-time bus schedule.

KTEL Halkidiki is a small bus terminal, but there was a ticket office and a shop. There, I bought a bus ticket to Halkidiki. Originally it was 13 euros, but when I showed my student ID, it was 9.8 euros with a 25% student discount. I bought a round-trip ticket for 19,6 euros. Not so cheap considering the distance. There seem to be three buses a day to Marmaras, one in the morning and two in the afternoon.

The bus was leaving at 9:30am, so I bought some snacks and had breakfast, and waited for a while. A bus came and everybody got on, and it took about 2 hours and 15 minutes to finally get to Neos Marmaras. The beautiful Aegean sea eventually appears in the sight, and you can see resort areas here and there. After stopping several times in front of a large hotel, we finally reached our destination, Neos Marmaras.

I was planning to go to the beach, but I got off at the bus stop in the city center just before the beach and walked about 15 minutes to reach the beach. The streets are with restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops, creating an atmosphere of a tourist destination. We also passed in front of a church overlooking the sea called Taxiarch Angels.

Neos Marmaras was a beautiful beach. Although the water was not as vibrantly blue as it was in Kassandra, it was clear enough. However, the wind was strong, which created some waves. It also got cold after swimming for a while.

After relaxing on the beach for a while, I thought about going to the beach called Porto Carras next door, but I gave up because it was too deep to cross the river with my bags. But by swimming, you can easily cross this river.

After eating lunch at a nearby restaurant and swimming again, the departure time for the return bus at 6:30pm was already approaching. We waited for a while in front of the red bus stop in front of the beach, but even after 6:30pm, there was no sign of it coming and we were the only people waiting. We started to wonder if we were waiting at the wrong bus stop. When I called KTEL, I was told that it was definitely the red bus stop in front of the beach. The person said that the bus would come in about 10-15 minutes. If I missed this bus, I would be stuck in Marmaras another day, so I was a little worried if it would really come. In the end, it appeared at around 6:50pm.

Following the same route, we came back to KTEL Halkidiki. It was written on the electric bulletin board that the bus 45A would come in 30 minutes, but it never came even after waiting for an hour. It got completely dark by that time, and I started to wonder if it would really come. There were still around 10 people waiting at the stop including myself.

Suddenly, a bus approached us and told us all to get on the bus. the bus driver was on his way home from work when he noticed the people still waiting at the bus stop. He knew no bus would come after this hour. He took us to the nearest transfer stop so that we can catch another bus to the city center of Thessaloniki. What happened to the bus we were waiting for? No one knows…

Anyway, thanks to that bus driver, I was able to transfer to bus 2k and arrived home safely a little before 11:00pm. It took 4 hours each way to and from Neos Marmaras. Although it is considered a "nearby resort," it felt like it wasn't close at all. It was possibly cheaper and definitely more convenient to rent a car than take the bus. But the sea was beautiful, and it was a nice beach town that was well worth a visit.

Arriving in Evora, Portugal

Moving from California to Portugal was, obviously, not so easy.

First of all, since my status in the United States was a green card (permanent resident), I had to apply for a re-entry permit to leave the United States for more than half a year. It took a long time to collect the documents for the application, and it was not financially affordable either. In addition, since this permit is based on the assumption that I will return to the United States within two years, there is no option for me to do an internship in Europe after finishing graduate school. It is not the most convenient, but at this point, the only option was this permit.

Next, I needed to wrap up my life in the U.S. I moved out of the house I was renting in L.A, sold my car, and gave up all my belongings from my bicycle to furniture. I lived here for 10 years, so I accumulated most things needed for daily life, but I got rid of them by giving them away to friends or donating them to Goodwill. In the end, I minimally packed only what I needed into three suitcases: a large and a medium one for check-in, and a small one for carry-on.

I don’t have any relatives or family members in the United States. I thought of renting storage but I didn't have anything of such high value that I wanted to keep, so in the end, I thought it would be more economical to replace everything once I get back to the U.S.

The flight was from San Diego Airport, with a transfer to Newark, NJ. It was 5 hours flight from San Diego, 5 hours transfer to Newark, then 7 hours to Lisbon; a total of 17 hours. At this point, the fatigue from packing the previous days had already hit me. I wanted to have lunch at Newark Airport and ordered a slice of pizza, but the ordering and payment system was confusing, and I mistakenly brought the pizza without paying. It was purely due to a misunderstanding. It was a delicious slice and I enjoyed it, but it was too late when I realized I forgot to pay for it. If someone from that pizza store reading this blog, I am sorry that I accidentally stole your slice.

I arrived in Lisbon around 3pm. I was too tired and had a lot of luggage, so I went straight to the Airbnb I had reserved days before and took a nap. The owner was very kind and prepared dinner for me, even though it wasn't included in the payment. He said he was sure I was tired and I did not need to go out just for finding dinner. He even served me a whole plate of dessert. The owner had told me he used to live in New York, but he did not like to live there and came back to Europe. 

The next day, my classmate from the same program arrived at the same airport and I went to pick her up. We met each other for the first time. From there, we took the Rede Expresso bus to Evora. The trip was an hour and a half to the east of Lisbon. It's not that far, and we arrived while chatting. It's about a 30-minute walk from the bus stop to my new residence, but it's impossible to drag three suitcases over the cobblestones, so we used Uber. It seems that there are only two Uber drivers in Evora ever existing, and it is usually difficult to catch one, but this time we were able to catch one without any problems. The owner of the house hid the house key in the pipe in front of the house, so we were able to enter the house immediately after arriving. The next day, the owner came from Lisbon to collect the rent, and we met them for the first time.

I was worried about what would happen the entire time, from the time of preparation to traveling to Évora, but I arrived safely in the city and was absolutely fascinated by the beauty of the city. After all, it is a UNESCO world heritage site. When I thought about how I would be living here for half a year and going to graduate school, I was very excited and felt full of hope. How amazing life can be!

 

How to Get Euros before Traveling

Today's topic is how to prepare money for your stay in Europe. When we arrive in Europe, we all need more or less cash with us in euros. what is the best way to convert from your own currency to euros?

In my case, I traveled from the United States to Portugal. First of all, a friend of mine had previously traveled to Europe and had about 100€ left on hand, so I exchanged it for dollars. This will cover the minimum cost of food and drink on the first day, or even if the transportation from the airport to your destination is cash only. In today's cashless society, there is no need to bring large sums of money with you. It will only increase your liability for your cash.

I chose among various credit cards that can be used in foreign countries without fees and finally chose Amazon's Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card. It is a VISA card with no annual fee, and it can be used freely in any country. Every time you use it, you will earn 1% as points, which will be refunded later as cashback. My friend also had a Capital One card with similar perks, but every time she bought things online such as bus tickets, she had to authenticate through her US phone each time. She had canceled the cellphone contract before leaving the US and was often having a hard time using this card. Amazon card did not have such problems.

In Erasmus Mundus, you can get a non-refundable scholarship of 1000€ per month, but it is not coming in right away. For the first few months, you are on your own. In our case, the payment was finally processed about two months after the start of the program. Therefore, it is wise to prepare funds for visa fees and living expenses for the first few months in advance, assuming that you will be reimbursed later.

You can basically buy groceries with a credit card, but to pay your rent, it will be most likely in cash. When it comes to exchanging €1000-2000 to cover the first few months of living costs, the fees are also a concern. You can buy euros at a bank in your country, but sometimes it takes a long time to get euros and the fees are not so low, so it is not a recommended method. After doing some research, I found that an investment account Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking® account from Charles Schwab in the United States was suitable for foreign travel, so I immediately registered online. Normally, when you use an ATM in another country, you will be charged two types of fees: a foreign transaction fee (%) and an ATM fee (around 5 euros or so depending on the ATM). With this Charles Schwab debit card, you can exchange money without foreign transaction fees and withdraw cash at local ATMs. On top of that, the ATM fee will be fully refunded later.

After arriving in Évora, Portugal, I immediately went to an ATM to get cash for the rent and used this card to withdraw cash in Euros. Originally, I was planning to use the ATM of the local bank, but the entrance of Portuguese banks was locked and I could not enter without having their bank card. I found in a plaza they had ATMs outside on the walls. There were ATM systems called Euronet and Multibanco. When I was about to withdraw 1000€, I was surprised at how high their fees were. After looking around, it was already time to meet the landlord, and I was in a hurry. In the end, I gave up and withdrew with 12% at Multibanco’s ATM. The fee is an astonishing 120€!

As I learned later, Multibanco and Euronet will display a message on the screen that says, "Do you accept the 12%/13% fee?"  That is when you can switch to your own bank's commission system. When this message is displayed, you need to hit “No” TWICE. My bank does not charge any fees, so if I had known this in advance, I would not have had to pay the 120€ fee... This is almost like a scam targeting travelers who need immediate cash, so please be careful when visiting Europe.

Either way, Euronet is notorious for its outrageous fees with yellow-and-blue ATMs, so it's probably best to avoid using it in the first place. You will always conveniently find their ATMs anywhere near places that only accept cash. Multibanco is a Portuguese banking system that allows you to withdraw for free at any bank if you have a Portuguese bank account. With either ATM, you can also use this "No"-twice method to remove the fee for bank cards outside Portugal.

To summarize the above,

• if you have about 100€ in cash when you arrive, you don't have to worry about cash for things like public transportation in case they don’t take cards.
• Before departure, sign up for a credit card in your home country that does not charge fees even when used overseas, and use the credit card for shopping when possible. Credit cards often have insurance against loss or theft, so they are safer than cash that has no insurance.
• Do not carry large sums of money, such as rent, in your carry-on luggage. It is safer and more economical to withdraw in Europe using your home country's debit card at local ATMs. However, beware of ATM fee fraud.

Disclaimer: This post is not an advertisement. I was not paid by any of the mentioned companies to advertise their products. These recommendations are based on my own personal experiences.

Finding Accommodation in Erasmus Mundus

Once you have processed your visa and received your passport, the next step is to find a home at your study abroad destination. Frankly, there was no help in this process from the program coordinator. However, I found people on Facebook who got accepted to the same program, and I decided to become roommates and rent a house with one of them.

In Portugal, I heard that you can search for rooms on websites such as idealista and BQuarto, but when I contacted several listings, there were hardly any property owners that responded to my inquiries. At this point, it did not seem easy to find a room. 

Then, I was looking for more properties on Facebook groups, etc. In the end, my roommate wanted to use Airbnb. Although it would be more expensive than renting normally, we decided to look for Airbnb in the end because it was a short-term stay for only one semester after all, and the rent was not so high in the city of Evora where I was staying. After choosing a house that we liked, we used the message function on the app to contact the owner. In the end, we came to an agreement on our own outside of Airbnb.

However, there was no contract for this property and no deposit was required. We had no choice but to go to Evora, trusting that the owner would keep the house for us as promised. After arriving safely, we found our house as promised. Clearly, I was relieved. The second floor of a house on a quiet street, a 5-minute walk from the university, had been renovated as an apartment.

The rent was 900 euros a month for our two-bed apartment (the living room was in a separate room and the sofa was a foldable bed, so 3 beds were also possible.) I split the rent with my roommate and paid 450 euros per person. The design of the house was very cute and comfortable, and my friends from school often came to visit for the comfort of our house.

Although it was very comfortable, it was a little difficult to pay that amount considering that I was receiving a scholarship of 1000 euros a month. 450 euros was 45% of my income. After that, if I cook at home and traveled about once a month, I wouldn't have much money left, so it was difficult to save up for larger trip opportunities.

Most of the people in the same program found properties on Facebook and made a contract individually for an apartment or a room in a house and shared kitchens, baths, etc. with others. Most of their properties have 4 to 5 rooms, and in some cases, they rent an 8-bedroom property and share a common space with 7 other people. Others rented a larger room and shared it with another person, paying just under €200 each. Since we are students who don't have much money to spare, house-sharing is quite common in European cities.

I'd been sharing a house for the past 9 years with others, and I decided it was about time I get my own apartment. Thanks to that decision, I did have a very comfortable life in Evora, in exchange for the relatively expensive rent. Some of the people who shared and rented rooms said that their roommates were noisy, and they came into contact with them when they were sick with Coronavirus. I also heard stories of insects infesting the kitchen, water overflowing and flooding the house, and other troubles like that. Many of Evora's houses are old, so this kind of problem often comes up.

Based on my past experiences, here are some points to check when renting a house:

When renting a room, can the owner issue a proper contract, monthly payment receipt, and deposit receipt? Also, don't pay a deposit before you arrive, because it will increase the chance to get involved in fraud.

1. Negotiate the rent. Some property owners take advantage of the fact that we are international students. There are even businesses targeting Erasmus Mundus students because they tend to pay more than local students. It is always good to check with the local average, and if it is higher than average, it does not hurt to negotiate.
2. Is the location good? Properties that can be reached on foot to school greatly reduce the time spent commuting to school. In Portugal, it's fairly common for a class to be canceled without notice, so it's more convenient to be closer. Some people commuted for nearly an hour only to find out the class got canceled. If you can't go on foot, it would be nice if both the train station and the bus stop are near your house, so you can go by train even if the bus doesn't work due to a strike. If you don't have a car—which most likely you don’t in Erasmus programs—whether there is a supermarket near your home is also important if you cook at home often.
3. Is the property equipped and furnished? For short-term study abroad, it is important to choose a property with furniture and cooking utensils so that you do not need to purchase furniture and other items. You will leave in a semester or so, and most likely you will not take any items you brought for the house. My house was ready to move in, equipped with everything from cleaning supplies to clothespins.
4. Do they have a washing machine? If they don't have it, you have to go to the laundromat with heavy laundry and wait several hours until the laundry is finished, which is quite a waste of time and effort. Also, unlike in the United States, Europe does not use dryers as often, and clothes are hung-dry outside, so it is also important to check whether there is a balcony.
5. Do you have air conditioning? Some of the European homes are old and made of stone, so it can get freezing cold in the winter. Even my classmates who came from -40°C weather suffered from the home lack of a heating system and sometimes came to study in my warm home.
6. Are there any fees other than the rent? Depending on the property, there may be a separate charge for utilities. An apartment management fee may be required. Electricity bills are quite high in Portugal, you may want to rent a property with utilities included if you want to use a heater in the winter or AC in the summer.

Benefits of booking with Airbnb include:

1. Safety. Pages such as Facebook may contain scams, so be careful.
2. Simple procedure. It saves you the trouble of submitting your ID, and you don't need to make a Portuguese ID.
3. No deposit is required. When renting normally, at least one month's rent is taken as a deposit, but in the case of Airbnb, it is not necessary. Instead, you will be charged a non-refundable cleaning fee, handling fee, etc.
4. Guarantee of quality. If you happen to receive a room that doesn't match the photos or description, or if there's a problem and you don't like it, you can contact Airbnb directly to fix the problem or get a refund.

Happy house hunting!

 

Legalization of Diploma and Transcript

After receiving the letter of acceptance from Erasmus Mundus, I suddenly became busy with visa arrangements and so on. By the time I started preparing the paperwork, it was already June, and I was hoping to arrive in Portugal in mid-September. Naturally, I was worried about whether everything would be ready on time.

At the same time as preparing for my visa application, I had to go through the legalization of my university diploma and transcript, which later I would have to submit to the Universidade de Evora on my arrival in Portugal. In the United States, there seems to be no problem in submitting this type of document as it is. However, in Portugal, it seems that it takes more work than just submitting the document even if the documents were officially obtained from the university. In the case of the United States and Japan, the certification by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Apostille corresponds to this procedure of “legalizing” documents, and it is an effective certification for submission to foreign countries that are part of the Hague Convention, including EU member states.

That said, instead of going to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the procedures, the Secretary of State would take care of this procedure in California. I would need to go to the office of the Secretary of State in Los Angeles or San Francisco to submit the documents. Because of the pandemic, instead of having them do it on the spot, I would drop off the documents at their office lobby. They would send back the documents in the mail at a later date. 

It is not possible to submit a certificate from my undergraduate as it is, but first, have it notarized by the Notary and then take the document to the Secretary of State for authentication. That’s right, quite time-consuming work.

In my case, I was fortunate enough to have my university diploma and transcript both notarized free of charge at the university office. After that was done, I went to the office in Los Angeles to submit it with a check to cover the fees. If I remember correctly, I could send it to the office in San Francisco by mail. However, in LA, there is a mailbox on the first floor of the building where the office is located, so I was told to put it in there. Usually, the procedure is something that can be completed in about 30 minutes by going directly to the office, but due to the pandemic, it has become slightly more inconvenient when in a time crunch.

Dropping off the documents at the lobby of Ronald Raegan Building

In the end, all of these steps were completed before departure, and I was able to bring the documents to Portugal safely. After arriving, I submitted the documents to the academic center of the University of Evora. There, a copy was taken, and the document was returned on the spot.

Cost of Legalization of documents

1. Notarization of Diploma - free at college

2. Apostille fee - $20 each on diploma and transcript + money order fee 1.30 =41.30

3. Transportation fee to Downtown LA office (Ronald Raegan Building)

4. Tracking shipping label (Click N Ship service) - 7.70

Total $49