Francisco Costa sits on a crowded bench waiting for the train home to Porto. With his backpack on and head down, his body language suggested he wasn’t interested in talking to anyone, but as we began to interview the girl sitting next to him his curiosity got the best of him, and he started to listen in.

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After we had finished our interview with the girl, we walked away, deciding to give her some space and wait for the train with other students from our program. A few minutes had gone by when we were suddenly approached by Francisco. He wanted to know what we were doing and why a bunch of Americans were approaching random people at the train station. We told him we were doing a project on the future of people in Portugal, specifically college students our age. He took our explanation as an invitation to be interviewed and stood in silence for a few seconds before confirming, “So you interview me now?”.

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Francisco is a second year student at the University of Aveiro, currently in their design program. The University’s program is unique in that students are required to learn and study all disciplines of design in an effort to make them more well rounded and help them discover other areas of designs they may not have been willing to initially try.

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In Francisco’s case, he is studying both communication design and project design, though he prefers project design. “My dream job is creating a prototype and developing it for an investor like Shark Tank”, he says.

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Francisco’s excitement really came through as he talked about designing. Although his full grown mustache made him look older, there was a youthful energy to him. The economic strife in Portugal didn’t halt Francisco’s attitude and he was still willing to aim for high goals.

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Although he is enjoying the university and new design lab (his eyes lit up when talking about the 3D printer), Francisco doesn’t plan on staying in Portugal. “I see (my future) somewhere else”. When we asked where he would go, he became speechless and started to laugh, unsure of where his future would take him. He said that a lot of his peers have a similar attitude about leaving Portugal. “I know many people that want to explore and travel and know the different opportunities that other countries can give”.

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Francisco seems eager to see the world, but he still has a soft spot for his homeland and the place where all of his family live. “[I don’t want to] run from Portugal, but explore”.