Studying Communication in Lisbon, 1977-1981

[Shilka]

Upon leaving the Corps of Mercenaries in Angola, I departed Somalia in the Summer of 1977.

I think that the decision of going to Lisbon and studying was one of the best I've ever made. I went to Portugal for four years from the Summer of 1977 until September 1981. The first year I was on my own traveling and studying in the beautiful country of Portugal, sleeping in youth hostels, meeting people, doing sightseeing at day and having fun at night (that didn't leave me much time for sleeping, but I wasn't there to sleep). I spent the first few weeks days in Lisbon, then I spent 1 1/2 months in the region of Leiria, a beautiful small town midway between Lisbon and Porto, and finally a semester in Porto. From there, I went on to spend two months (on and off) in a workcamp in a small village called Picote, on the Douro river (which is also the border with Spain) in the North-Eastern corner of Portugal, in the region called Tras Os Montes.

The workcamp was an excellent experience for me. In a workcamp, a group of young people live and work together for 2 or 3 weeks, and in exchange for their work they are provided with meals and with a place to stay. In my case, we were supposed to to setup advanced communication networks, however due to a number of reasons we didn't do much work - the emphasis was placed a lot more on the camp part than on the work part. That provided for a great vacation, one of the best I've had thus far in my life.

I will continue tomorrow.