One of the best things about doing a PhD is that you get to meet people you have read and respected and can put a face to the famous name. What’s even better is when these people you respect react with apparent enthusiasm towards your own research!

Now in England I have already met with academics I respect greatly and who have written on Portugal. Jose Magone, Antonio Costa Pinto, Cristina Leston-Bandeira and others who I have run into at conferences who write on the EU. But now I am in Portugal I can rub shoulders with the great and the good.

I had lunch with the aforementioned Antonio Costa Pinto a couple of weeks back as he is director of the research institute where I am based here in Lisbon. Today I met with Nuno Severiano Teixeira, someone who I had actually met before as I was taught by him when I was in Lisbon for my Erasmus year. He was in fact quite an inspiration for me doing the undergrad dissertation topic and eventually this PhD. However over the past three years he has been busy being Portugal’s defence minister! But now he has left the government he has got a bit of time spare to talk to the likes of me again! But he was tremendously helpful and enthusiastic about my research and it helps me to have someone as well connected and known as him to help me through my fieldwork.

I’ve met up with several other Portuguese academics over the past few weeks and they have been very helpful and my list of contacts is snowballing! I still need to get properly on the inside of the Foreign Ministry, but I will. And these meetings have helped me think about potential case studies to focus my research further. I am thinking about looking at development aid and Portugal’s role in peacekeeping missions.

On the subject of Portugal and peacekeeping (of course having a former defence minister in my contact book will help) but I will be going to see another academic who I have read and cited on the subject of Portugal and European Security and Defence Policy. I am going to take the train north to Braga on Thursday to visit Laura Ferreira Pereira at the University of Minho. Really looking forward to briefly seeing Braga, I’ve never been that far north in Portugal either.

In other news, I have been looking ahead to April – I have submitted my proposal to a conference in Bath and have been accepted to present a conference in Reading. I am also looking forward to presenting at the UACES conference in Bruges in September, should I be accepted.

But I am enjoying my time in Lisbon. It’s great to be back and it’s going quite well so far I must say.

Ola todos!

That’s Portuguese for “hi everybody”. God, I’m good at this foreign language lark aren’t I!?!

Well I’m finally here, Lisbon! It’s all been very exciting and a bit hectic.

The main thing is that I made it here and as I read the BBC news, it seems that lots of people have had enough trouble getting out of their front doors this week! So I’m counting myself damn lucky that the snow wasn’t as bad on Tuesday and I was able to catch my train to London and catch my plane from Heathrow without any delays.

So I landed in Lisbon on Tuesday. We had a bit of drizzle yesterday but it’s been nice and sunny, not hot but pleasantly mild for the time of year. Certainly a stark contrast to back home!!!

Quick tip for anyone wanting to fly to Portugal – Fly TAP! They are brilliant! BA are shit and ‘budget’ airlines are shit and more expensive than they say they are!

As I didn’t arrive until early evening Tuesday I knew I wouldn’t be able to get much else sorted so I just wanted to make sure I had a guaranteed hotel room bed for the night. So I stayed in a hotel, which was very nice! I dined in a nice restaurant a stone’s throw from my hotel and had the Portuguese national dish – Bacalhau (dried, salted cod), the particular dish I had was the one where the fish and potatoes are swimming in a pot of bubbling olive oil! Was delightful, I definitely felt I was back in my spiritual home Lisbon when that beauty arrived!

And then on Wednesday, after my breakfast, I checked out and wheeled my suitcase to the Metro. The plan was to find my residence and get myself set up there. Eventually I got there and discovered a really old building but a nice place and was met by Dona Rosa who runs the place on behalf of the University of Lisbon. There’s about 10 bedrooms and I have got a double room, but I’m the only person occupying it! So I’ve got lots of space and access to all the facilities I need – including wireless Internet in my room! Which is a real bonus, not only will I be able to organise PhD things and check my emails with ease, but I will be able to maintain my blog without even needing to leave my bed!

I should point out that I am sat at my desk writing this at the moment. I’m not that lazy! What do you take me for?!?!

Yesterday I also did a bit of shopping, so I now have a cheap and basic Portuguese mobile phone. And had a roam around the city to look at some old haunts and explore the new area in which I am living and will be based for the next 12 weeks!

Today, after a lie in and a nice shower, so not until this afternoon, I tried to sort out some of the organisational things I need to take care of before I can start researching properly. Namely, getting a Metro pass, organising my Portuguese bank account, getting a Portuguese fiscal number so I can open said bank account and get my grant money paid in, and registering with the University.

However, those tasks are not mutually exclusive and it transpired that I need documentation from the University in order to get the fiscal number. By which time it was too late to actually go and register, so I will do that tomorrow. I did however grab a Metro pass form and took myself to a cafe to fill it in. I then queued to hand my form in. But I should be able to pick up my card tomorrow afternoon which is handy.

So with lots to get on with tomorrow I think I better sign off now. Hopefully I can get started properly next week and meet some academics and case out the archives and ministries sooner rather than later.

Boa Noite!