Santa Claus was this year from Poland

The Christmas Eve followed the Polish tradition for the Erasmus students that stayed in Covilhã. A rich dinner, many carols and religious service at midnight. That’s how the evening looked like.

The Christmas Eve dinner started for the Erasmus students from UBI at 19 o’clock. Having considered the fact that there were only two romanians and the rest only polish students, the celebration followed the rules of the Polish traditions. Before starting eating, like in Portugal, the Erasmus students exchanged wishes for the next year. Soup was the first dish of the dinner, followed by the Portuguese traditional “Bacalhau com todos”. This meal and the cake “Bolo Rei” were the only non-Polish dishes. After codfish came different kinds of salads and desserts. There was a toast too, for a better year, with wine received from UBI. During the dinner, the students listened and sang Polish and Romanian carols. Almost 40 Erasmus students from UBI decided this year to spend the Christmas in Covilhã. For them, the university prepared headquarters of Lions Association Covilhã. Here, they could cook the dinner for the Christmas Eve. UBI also assured them the grocery transport from the supermarket to the place of cooking. Most of the foreign students left Portugal at the beginning of December, to spend holidays home. Some will return for the second semester, but there are some Erasmus students that finished their activity at UBI.