Soccer match, Blood donation and melted container

As you may know already, Brussels is in a level 4 terror threat warning since Saturday morning.

Although we have might have the fear of a bombing attack, I've decided to still go to watch a soccer match. (20 minutes by bike, and we went to see FC Brugge scoring 3 goals to none.)

Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep my habits from Porto, and decide to go to Red Cross, so I could donate blood. The doctor told me that it is not possible: because I'm from Portugal, I'd have to wait at least five years before I could be able to donate. (Hepatitis B spread in Portugal was the reason.)

Well, and as a student, I keep doing student things. Like having my microwave-safe container in a microwave, using oven functionality.

Fridge, bed and IoT

Last Thursday I had a problem with my bed. It broke. I've asked for a repair, but no one was able to fix it on Friday. So, until Monday, I was sleeping with the mattress on the floor. I was also having troubles with the fact that there are not enough space in the fridge.

Well, a friend of mine just changed place and I got myself a new bed and a new fridge. When you have friends...

And about classes, I'm having a blast. Every day I learn more and more. And I can't say I'm not happy about it. Just see what I've been doing in classes.

Schiev, Bike and Portugal

Fall break is one week only, and it's gone. Since I'm doing classes worth 18 ECTs and don't have Project class (and this week is fully dedicated to Project!), I have another free week. How boring! :)
There is not too much to talk about Erasmus these days... So, I'll say some random things about last week.

Schiev
I've been listening to Zamilska and noticed she would be playing in Brussels in a festival Schiev.
Since I'm in Bruges and not Brussels, I had to take a train. The cool things are: each train trip cost only 5€, and it is 40 minutes away. (Can you imagine going from Porto to Lisbon for only €5 ?)

Bicycle
After three weeks of recovery and 70€ later, I'm ready to take my repaired bike again. In fact, all this post was written in the city center.
Almost had another accident today, though. With the autumn season, leafs fall from trees and lay on the ground. Leafs, rain and brakes. Guess what could happen...

Portugal
Portugal had elections on October, 4th. One month later, Portugal had a government. Yesterday, they were kicked out of government. Why? Because left-wing parties joined forces to kick the government out. (Quick reminder: Communist party wants Portugal to leave the European Union and get back to our old currency, Escudo. How proud :) )

Fall break

In Flanders, there is a fall break for one week. That being said, no classes for this week and a lot of travels have happened so far. I've met with an old friend of mine and went to travel four cities: Oostende, Kortrijk, Lille and Brussels.

Oostende is located near the seashore. On weekends, trains to Oostende from Bruges cost only five euros for both trips. Nothing better than being on the beach, enjoying the sun and only thirty-five minutes away.

Kortrijk is near the border with France. From Kortrijk, we can take a thirty-minute train to Lille, that costs about six euros. I've seen some places, but the most amazing thing that I've seen was the contemporary art exhibition "tu dois changer ta vie!" (You must change your life!) that explored the idea of Renaissance - from brain (binaural beats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats ) ) to daily life (random situations in someone's life; different people playing music in different locations) to the unknown/unexplainable (myth-based animals, fake mirrors). Four euros for this exhibition for under 26. (I really recommend this exhibition. I spent an amazing amount of two hours there.)

"Some books act as electroshock:
they turn our lives upside down,
helping us define who we are as a person.
There are books that have the power to change our lives!"


Well, I'm spending too much time now in this post. I'm just going back to my assignments due next week.

Amsterdam

If you're going to be judgemental, stop right away! Go back to facebook.

On Saturday, I began my first trip to Amsterdam. Fourteen international students and I went on a 4-hour long train trip in which we changed trains in Antwerp and Rotterdam. Our room was booked through AirBnB. For 2 people, we paid €115.

As an overview, I think that this city is the most liberal city I've been: same sex marriage, soft drugs, and hookers are allowed by law.

At McDonald's, I tried a milkshake.  We were in the so acclaimed coffee shops, where we can buy and smoke weed as long as we're eighteen and for a maximum of 5 grams. We were in a sex museum where every kind of fetish we're exposed. We were in a hemp museum where we could learn about the history of Marijuana, the products made with it and the history of the liberal laws. As you go to the red light district, you would be amazed how the sex business works.

There is also live porn shows and condom shops, but we haven't been there... There is more that I can tell about it, but it is better for you to go see for yourself.

Photos:

What happened?

"What happened?", everyone I've met in the past days have asked me.

"bicycle broke. Stering wheel and wheel went into different directions and fell on the ground", my answer.

And that's it.

Backstory: Friday I lost my ultrabook's charger. Didn't know where it was. Maybe in a classroom, maybe in another one. Maybe someone stole it, maybe someone took it. Either way, I had to had a charger to work on the weekend. Saturday morning went to Media Markt in a 5 km bicycle ride. After getting home, the charger I just bought didn't match my ultrabook needs. Time to go back to Media Markt to get a refund. Got the money back and got home. While thinking where I could buy a Samsung charger and talking with friends, I realized that FNAC might have a charger and it is open on saturday. Time to go to city center get my charger to work in the weekend!

On my way to city center, going under a tunnel, my bicycle broke. Stering wheel and wheel went into different directions and fell on the ground. After five minutes of pain and not knowing how bad I was, someone called the energency number, got in an ambulance and headed to the hospital. After two hours filling forms and taking x-rays on my right hand, a nurse took care of my wounds. One hour later, I was home. Outcome: Broken bicycle, broken glasses, lost money and didn't get my charger back.

When I checked my email account later that day, saw a message from a teacher saying that he has my charger. :)

---
Some photos of this experience:

BruCON

Today I'll be talking about BruCON, a security conference hosted in Ghent for two days (October 8 and 9).

What do you expect in a security conference filled with professional hackers, security companies and students? Passwords being leaked live, hacking challenges, and an insecure feeling? Right! That's what really happened!

As an overview of BruCON, it was like this: free T-shirts, retro games (Duck hunt anyone?), hacking challenges (an IP address was all we knew), talks (some of them boring), workshops (learned a lot) and, last but not the least, Belgian beers.

On Thursday, I had planned to go to one workshop and all remaining talks. (In big events such as this, there's always different venues with different talks/workshops going at the same time; and you plan your own day.)

The first talk on Thursday was given by Chris Nickerson and it was called "Nightmares of a pentester", in another words, how to keep your systems secure. (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ufBtLw6QgY ) After a workshop on effective communication in a company, went for lunch where they were also having a DJ workshop with Count Ninjula and Keith Myers. (Amazing stuff!) For the evening, I was trying all talks on the main venue, but they weren't as good as I expected. So, I would go to a talk, left fifteen minutes later to have a chat with other students, teachers, companies and making sure I had some beer.

On Friday, after the not-so-interesting-talk-leave-the-room lesson, I choose to be in a 4-hour workshop named Hands-on Incident Response (with my Forensic Analysis teacher): we were given a compromised windows virtual machine. This was a set up pretending that we were playing the role of the information security guy in a company where one guy had been hacked. We only knew that one file was encrypted. Some time later, and after using different tools, we knew that this guy had a ransomware on his computer, he was surfing Russian porn website that downloaded the malware into his computer (Yes, just by accessing a website, you can get a virus on your computer!), we could read the Java code in which the malware was written and understand how this guy was infected. After three hours and a half, we were really close to solving the problem. In the end, no one other than my teacher was able to get the file decrypted. The feeling of accomplishment amused me. For the rest of the afternoon, I was talking, once again, with some security companies (got some business cards!), students and the Linux Security teacher.

Overall, the BruCON was a nice experience: No classes, all security students and teachers were there, and learned a lot about all different people I've met in the conference and the workshops.

The BruCON talks are online and can be found in here: https://www.youtube.com/user/brucontalks

Accomodation

In Porto, I used to have a big room for myself, a kitchen where I could cook, and 4 other people living with me. My internet connection was a commercial one and I could use my connection as I please. My commute time was about 15 minutes.

Now, in Bruges, I'm living in a dorm with about 25 other people (studying computer science, psychology and architecture), and we have a kitchen with no frying pan, pot or dishes. (Every student has to have their own.) This dorm is 2 minutes from the university by foot. My internet connection is university's internet and some services are unavailable, but has unlimited usage.

Quick overview of my place: I have a room for me, with a nice view for the sunset :) ; I have to use a shared bathroom with 25 other people; I can use the common kitchen but there are no pans and such to prepare my meals (I'm not being precise here. There is ONE pot that everyone uses, so, most of the time, I have to wait to get it clean.); we have an area with 6 nice sofas and a bunch of tables where we can socialize; There is a waste container and a place for the bikes just outside of the building.

I've been talking about how I don't really enjoy my place with other international students. I asked them what their rooms are like.

They have shared rooms (2 people per room), they have no sofas, and don't have a shared room where they can talk with other students. Their internet connection is limited to 50GB per month. Also, they don't have a waste container near their building but have a pickup system every Tuesday (if they fail to do it, or do it improperly they may get a 250€ fine).

What I mean with this post is that we shouldn't be so picky with the stuff we don't have. Be grateful and humble that you have a nice place.

Last but not the least, the accommodation costs €250 for both of these two examples.

My thoughts on Erasmus

More than three weeks went by since I got to Bruges. I've had problems and I've had nice experiences. Today, I'll be talking about what I enjoyed this last week, and what it means to me to study abroad, meet people from other countries and to travel.

Study abroad
So far, my classes are amazing. Back in Porto, I was used to some PHP, Java and Android development. Here, at Howest, I'm doing Linux Server code, Internet of Things class using DPT board and Javascript. Also, a Forensic Analysis in which we learn how to check if a machine was compromised on either Linux or Windows, and a different approach to Android machines. The teachers are amazing: classes are taught in English, they are always friendly and looking to help you. There's one teacher that will record the lessons and put them online, so, if you miss a class or you need to rewatch it, you'll be able to.

Next week, I'll be at BruCON, a security conference in Gent (20 minutes train trip), for 2 days. There will be no classes because everyone will be there. (I wish we had something like this in Portugal! Can you think about it for a while? How would people react to this idea?)

Meeting people
Meeting people has been one of the most amazing perks. Being able to talk with people from different countries, different countries and different cultures. I've been around with people from Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands, South Korea, Romania, China, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. Learning about their cultures really amazes me: people from Netherlands have dinner at 6 pm, beer in Finland cost about €6 each, the number of South Korean students who can speak English, is low. (I wouldn't be able to be here, if I didn't learn English. How can people, in 2015, not learning an almost universal language as English?)
I'm glad I'm doing an exchange program in a country without any Portuguese friends - not that I don't enjoy my friends, but this way, I force myself to talk in English, I don't stick to my habits, and meanwhile, I learn with them. (Gotta leave my comfort zone :) ) However, it is always a pleasure to meet Portuguese people. I've met two Portuguese girls, at a welcoming party in the city hall for international students - I find it quite amusing being with Portuguese-speaking people, and speaking in English so that everyone feels free to join our conversation. (Do an exchange program and go study abroad, this is really amazing!)

Travel to cities and countries
Yesterday, I was planning my first trip to another country while on Erasmus. Being in Belgium really helps when it comes to travelling. From my hometown to Porto, by train, I'd pay 35 euros each trip. Next month, I'm going to Amsterdam and the ticket costs 30 euros for one trip. (I'm still thinking about other places to go. Berlin? Paris? London?)

To end this blog post, I'll leave two videos that are related to the ideas I've shared. The first one, about people who have done Erasmus in Porto (Obrigado Gonçalo!). The second one, in Portuguese, about having fears.

Bicycles are cool

If you're not American, you might know that bicycles are a highly used transportation system in northern Europe. The bicycle is the favorite transportation in Bruges. To get a bike, you can rent one for fourteen euros or seven euros per month if you're a student. Why bicycles? First of all, everyone uses bicycles. You wouldn't feel the need of getting a bicycle if no one had a bicycle. It is one of the most amazing systems ever. Bicycles are green, cheap and fast. The cool thing about bicycles is that we can get to anywhere quite faster than by walking, by bus and I would say by car: that happens due to bicycle lanes in the entire city (also outside the city) and the bicycle stops everywhere. If there are no bicycle stops, or they are full, we can still park the bike with the bike rest and make sure it is not stolen using the locking system. If you're into helping the environment, bikes are your friends. It's also useful to have some lights at night. Every intersection in which pedestrians, cars or bikes have to choose who's first, usually bikes have priority over all - I'm saying usually because, in bicycle lanes, people stop; when crossing a road, bicycles can cross like pedestrians; and they can also go on the streets. Some roads are one-way for cars; in most of them, bikes can go both ways. I've paid seventy euros for my bike for five months. My bike has lights, horn, a 3-gear system, and a locking system. I enjoy having a bicycle in Bruges. Bicycles are useful to take groceries home and getting to places quicker. Do I have to go to the city center? By foot, I'll take half an hour. By bike? Ten minutes if there is some traffic. I've had a flat tire that I've paid ten euros to fix. Filling your tires are free and can be done at a bicycle store. (Not in gas stations, like in Portugal) I could keep talking about this, but I have some classes... (As of today, every entry will happen once every week.)

Orientation Week

A Orientation Week são um conjunto de atividades que ocorrem na semana antes das aulas começar. As atividades, pelo menos aqui em Howest, incluem conhecer a cidade, visitar outras cidades (Gent e Bruxelas) e conhecer também os outros alunos que estão a fazer Erasmus. (Toda esta semana de atividades vai ter um custo de 84€, devido às viagens às outras cidades, algumas entradas em museus e outros sítios.) Ontem foi o meu primeiro dia da Orientation Week: o ponto de encontro era na estação e ainda só tinha conhecido 3 pessoas, que vivem no mesmo edifício que eu. Fiquei a saber que no total seriam 31 pessoas que iriam estar em Bruges a fazer um programa de mobilidade.

Quando ia a caminho da estação, o ponto de encontro onde ia conhecer toda a gente, tinha uma coisa em mente: eu tinha que falar com todas as pessoas. Não era preciso ser a melhor conversa de sempre, nem sabia o que iria acabar por falar; porém, sabia que teria de ser o primeiro a apresentar-me: "Hi, I'm Rafael from Portugal. I'm studying computer science at howest. You?", enquanto estendia a minha mão para dar-mos um aperto de mão. Algumas pessoas não sabiam o que era computer science, outras não conheciam nada de Portugal e outros não conseguiam dizer o meu nome. A verdade é que cada um destes pontos era motivo para prolongar a conversa e explicar algo mais sobre mim ou o meu país.

Bem, depois de nos conhecermos e de fazer algumas atividades de team building, fomos conhecer a cidade. Tivemos que fazer uma interrupção porque a chuva intensificou. (digo a chuva intensificou, porque aqui, mesmo estando a chover, as pessoas continuam a fazer o que estão a fazer). Fizemos uma pausa numa cervejaria onde tivemos a desfrutar de uma cerveja (3,75€) e tive a oportunidade de aprofundar alguns temas com as pessoas que estavam comigo: algumas pessoas da alemanha outras pessoas que conhecem a cidade e fomos conhecendo alguns sítios de interesse para o dia a dia, alguns sítios para visitar que não vem no mapa e outras dicas que os habitantes locais conhecem e partilharam; acabamos também por falar dos objetivos da nossa estadia: conhecer outra cultura, aprender outra língua, melhorar os conhecimentos, encontrar propostas de estágio...

Se existe algo que aprendi ontem, nesta conversa, é que ter objetivos bem definidos é útil e agradável. Mais do que isso, ser capaz de falar dos objetivos, justificando-os, é ainda melhor.

Entretanto a chuva parou, retomámos a nossa viagem pela cidade e fomos conhecer mais um pouco sobre a cidade.

Descobrir mais sobre a cidade e melhorar o meu veículo

Bicicleta
Aqui em Bruges, e dizem-me que em toda a Bélgica, é aconselhado e praticamente obrigatório andar de bicicleta para nos deslocarmos. Portanto, fiz questão de ir buscar a minha. Para cinco meses, a bicicleta teve um custo de 70 euros, o que faz 14€/mês. (Nada mau, comparando com o passe do Porto: posso ir onde quiser, sem ter que esperar por autocarros e a minha bicicleta não faz greves. :) )

Sim, amarelo não é um cor muito gira. Achei um pouco ridículo, mas após falar com algumas pessoas, descobri que isto é um mecanismo de segurança. As bicicletas amarelas, para estudantes, estão todas numeradas. Ou seja, caso alguém a roube, irá ter problemas e eu estarei protegido.

A minha bicicleta antes de ser equipada

Bruges
Mas nada melhor do que dar uma volta à cidade para me habituar à bicicleta. Como não percebo o que está escrito nos sinais de transito, ou seja, se as bicicletas são permitidas naquela rua, vi-me novamente no auxílio da técnica do rebanho: se vejo um ciclista a passar por uma rua com um sinal proibído, talvez seja permitido eu ir. Com isto, segui algumas pessoas e cheguei ao outro lado da cidade. Em cerca de uma hora, percorri a cidade um lado ao outro e voltei para casa.

Sim, um moinho em Bruges.

Sinto-me tão contente com o facto de ter uma bicicleta que todos os dias quando acordo, depois de tomar banho, vou dar uma volta da bicicleta. É agradável estar em contacto com as pessoas, a interação bicicleta-carros-pessoas e a tentar aprender mais, o mais rápido possível.

Terça-feira, quando saí de casa, tinha dois objetivos: melhorar a minha bicicleta de forma a poder trazer algumas compras com ela e aprender mais alguma coisa sobre a cidade.
Bem, como se aprende mais sobre uma cidade? Fácil, vai-se aos pontos de informação! Como se arranja suportes para a bicicleta? Pergunta-se no ponto de informação?

O ponto de informação era num castelo na praça principal.

Fui até ao ponto de informação onde me arranjaram dois mapas da cidade gratuitos: um sobre a cidade, outro sobre a região. Acabei ainda por perguntar onde podia comprar um livro para aprender holandês, onde podia comprar uns sacos para meter na bicicleta e por último se havia alguns supermercados perto de casa que eu ainda não conhecesse. A verdade é que todas as minhas perguntas foram respondidas: tenho agora um livro para me ajudar com o holandês, tenho agora uma bicicleta com saco para as compras e sei de mais uns sítios para ir às compras.

O meu suporte para as compras: bastante útil!

Quarta de manhã fui andar de bicicleta e fui ao centro da cidade onde descobri que estava a ocorrer uma feira: esta feira ocorre todas as quartas de manhã e vende-se fruta, flores, chouriços (pensava que era só em Portugal), queijos, frangos e outras coisas. Após algumas compras, decidi ir comprar uma perna de frango para comer em casa: quando peço batatas cozidas para acompanhar, perguntaram-me se queria batatas com bacon. Ainda não percebi se é apenas naquele sítio ou se um hábito desta cidade; mas estavam a sugerir comer batatas com bacon cortado aos bocados como acompanhamento. De uma coisa tenho certeza: O acompanhamento era batata; com ou sem bacon, era batata.

Tem acontecido tantas coisas que esta entrada no blog ocorreu mais cedo. Em princípio, o próximo é na terça-feira, depois de começar a Orientation Week e de já estar a viver com 20 pessoas em casa!

Primeiro post, primeiras impressões

Viagem

No Sábado, 5 de Setembro de 2015, aterrei pela primeira vez na Bélgica, no aeroporto de Zaventem, depois de uma viagem de duas horas e meia vindo de Lisboa.

Como o meu bilhete era de prioridade, tive o prazer de ser o primeiro a entrar e também o primeiro a sair; o que fez com que fosse à descoberta do caminho para encontrar as malas. (Nestes casos, o instinto de rebanho sempre me ajudou: se muitas pessoas estão a ir para um sítio, provavelmente estão a ir para onde quero ir.) Apesar de estar confiante que estava a caminho das malas, tudo o que eu observava era indecifrável: indicações, avisos, letreiros, lojas, as vozes que ouvia. Por vezes, num momento ou outro, via algo em inglês que me voltava a dar esperanças que estava no caminho certo. Após alguns minutos, cheguei ao local das malas, esperei que elas chegassem (20 minutos) e fui em direção à saída. Após apanhar as malas e encontrar-me com o meu buddy Jan, apanhei o comboio para Bruges. (11,20 €)

Sobre o dia a dia

O local onde vou ficar a dormir fica num 3º andar, dentro do recinto da universidade: é um quarto simples de 10 m², onde vou partilhar a cozinha e casas de banho com outras 20 pessoas. Até ao momento, ainda estou sozinho: os alunos que estudam na universidade estão ainda de férias e os que vem de Erasmus chegam esta semana. Não estou habituado a viver com tantas pessoas ao mesmo tempo e lidar com tudo isto vai ser um grande desafio. Na próxima semana, talvez já tenha comentários a fazer.


Para já, o sentimento que tenho sobre as pessoas é que são bastante educadas: Não se vê lixo no chão, não se ouve gritos, as ações das pessoas na estrada são no sentido de manter a ordem e sempre que tentei falar com alguém sempre se mostraram disponíveis para falar inglês. Outra coisa que também aprecio no dia a dia em bruges é a atitude em relação às bicicletas: elas são o meio de transporte favorito. Todos os sítios tem lugares para deixar as bicicletas, as ruas estão bem delineadas onde os ciclistas devem estar e existe respeito pelos ciclistas, pois quem conduz, também tem uma bicicleta.

Em relação aos supermercados, algumas lojas são claramente mais caras do que o que se vê em Portugal. Por exemplo, fui comprar uma caixa de cereais numa loja chamada Proxy e custou-me quatro euros. Fiquei assustado com estes valores. Fiquei tão preocupado que pensei que não dava para viver com estes custos. Decidi procurar outras soluções e acabei por encontrar outras lojas que são mais acessíveis. Porém, uma coisa eu já aprendi: praticamente todas as lojas estão fechadas ao domingo! As poucas lojas que estão abertas tem um horário das 9h30 às 12h30.

É isto, por agora. Próximo post com experiências no sábado.