Porto Subway Love offers second chance for Love at First Sight

Facebook has a group called Porto Subway Love, which is seeking to facilitate the reunion of people who have "exchanged romantic looks" on the Porto metro and want to see each other again.  The group, which was created just over a month ago, already has more than 250 members.

Daniel Micaelo-Rosa, the creator of the group, explains that falling in love (or just finding new friends) through exchanged glances on a subway is extremely common.  Hence this group aims to facilitate such meetings that arise from a glance, a smile or a gesture that happen daily on the metro.  But even though such an exchange can be quite common, the two parties rarely get off at the same station.

The metro meeting group is not a new idea, and Daniel actually got the idea after speaking with a couple from Berlin.  He found there are people who want to start a discussion to try and find someone on the metro who they could not take their eyes off, but did't actually approach them out of shyness.

A new Center of Innovation for University of Porto

The Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia of the University of Porto is continuing to grow.  The next phase will be a new center for innovation coming up in Asprela.  The building is intended to develop new products through the work of local researchers and in conjuction with major companies.

The project is being driven by the UPTEC (Association of Technology Transfer of Asprela) which launched the bidding process for the new construction at the end of August.  They are planning to announce the winning bid and contractor within the next few days and construction will proceed later this year.

The new center represents and investment of nearly 2 million euros and is expected to be completed by the end of next year.  The new center will be almost 20,000 sq feet in size with two floors and will be built next to the existing Engineering Faculty building at the University of Porto.  This proximity will facilitate the the campus as one of the floors of the new building will be reserved for PhD Students and Faculty that are developing new products.

The building will be used for continual technological development, as teams with completed project move out of the new building and new developement teams come in.  All of the currently planned space has already been reserved, and plans for an additional construction for the School of Psychology are underway.

Daily Linguistic Features #309

Daily Thought

• Todo o homem é culpado do bem que poderia ter feito e não fez.

Word of the Day / Palavra do Dia

•  POLINIZAÇÃO = pollination

Porto Slang / Calão do porto

• "Ter uma branca" - um instante de esquecimento.

Portuguese Dictionary

• panaceia

1. s.f. pretenso remédio universal para todos os males físicos e morais
2. Fig. tudo aquilo que se considerava válido para resolver qualquer problema

Crossing the Rio Douro in Porto

You don't really need an excuse to go back to Porto, but if you're still looking for one, then the Palácio do Freixo is awaiting you at the doorstep.  As you come across the Rio Douro, you will see nestled on the river banks the first national hostel in Porto.  Opened in October 2009, the Palácio do Freixo is finally enjoying a dignified way of life.  The elegant 18th Century building was designed by David Sinclair, who also designed the mill works that sit next to the palace.

The new opening was a bit of a conversion project for the old edifice as both it and another wing of the palace were extensively recovered to their original brilliance, including many pieces of furniture and frescoes which adorn the walls throughout the old palace.  It now has 87 rooms and suites, many large common spaces and a spa area for its guests.

The hostel has been extremely popular since it opened and required some time to fine tune its daily services, but with its friendly atmosphere and location, even many locals from the city take the opportunity to get a peek inside the former palace.  A special emphasis is put on the comfort and functionality of the rooms, with most overlooking the river.  With the historic charm of its garden area and the unexpected infinity pool at its border, it creates the illusion of being the first "resort" city of Porto.

Portugal Pavilion film at the World Expo in China

This is a 7 minute film that is currently running at the Worlds Fair in China at the Portugal Pavilion.  It will run for six months and will have an estimated 3 million visitors.

Daily Linguistic Features #308

Daily Thought

• Aqueles que monopolizam a palavra não sabem escutar.

Word of the Day / Palavra do Dia

• SOBREVIVER = to outlast; to outlive; to survive

Porto Slang / Calão do porto

• "Cromo" - pessoa invulgar, castiça ou com determinada característica bem ou mal aceite.

Portuguese Dictionary

• tonificar

1. o que faz esticar ou pode ser esticado
2. v. tr. Dar tom ou vigor a
3. fortalecer

Porto Site Seeing in Style

It is well known that the city of Porto is rather concerned about style, unlike many other cities, including Lisbon.  And now anyone visiting Porto will be able to get to know the city, all while traveling in style.  The Kyrostur CityTour company is currently promoting urban tourism within Porto and have defined themselves by offering individuals the ability to site see from their own personal Mini Cooper.

Through agreements with Mini, Kyrostur can offer their clients the option of traveling to many parts of the city while doing it in style with one of the German made models from Mini Cooper, including the Cabrio and the Countryman.

Among the tours offered (all of which are customizable) are the Urban, Cultural and Landscape circuits; Nightlife tours; Gay Travel Tourism; Nature Tours of the Douro Valley; and the Sport Tour.  The company is looking forward to expanding their tour offerings to Lisbon and the Algarve in the near future.

Parents required to replace staff in schools

At the Filipa de Lencastre secondary school in Lisbon, parents are going to school at lunch time to help supervise students in the 5th and 6th grades, that have to cross a street to go eat lunch at the school headquarters.  The president of the local PTA, Maria Graça Castro, explains that this solution was necessary to address the lack of teaching assistants that has been evident since the start of the school year.


At this school, the lack of teaching assistants is being filled by the parents who go to school at certain times to help monitor students.  According to the national PTA group, the Lisbon and Tejo valley areas have been most affected by the assistant shortage.  The Education Ministry and local leaders are still working to solve the problem that parents have complained about since the first of the school year, nearly 2 months ago.  When asked about this situation, the Education Ministry says that they can only help in Curriculum Enrichment Activities that are promoted by the local towns and cities in conjunction with the PTA.

A major roblem is that the lack of helpers is leavin many of the younger children, down to the 1st Grade, alone and unable to care for themselves.  Although some say the problem was worse at the first of the school year, there are still many cases in which parents are being invited to serve as non-teaching staff.