Yes very exciting! I do hope as well but so far its looking good. I know 12 months is crazy, you can get either 3, 6 or 12 months and as long as you can convince them that you have enough funds to cover your time there its all fine.
It is expensive, at least more than south east asia but I always tell people that it mostly only seems too expensive. Cigarettes, alcohol and dining out is really expensive everything else is not really more than in europe, at least as long as you earning euro. :) Fuel for example is way cheaper...Pretty sure we won´t spend more money than in Portugal right now.
would be awesome to meet you there ;)
Thanks for all the info, good to know ;)