In the summer of 2003 I traveled to Brazil for a ten week externship arranged through the University of Georgia School of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria in Santa Maria, Brazil. Our exchange was funded by the U.S. Department of Education Fund for Improvement in Postsecondary Education US-Brazil program. I was part of a group of seven students from the two American veterinary schools that was chosen to interact with students and faculty at the veterinary school in this southern Brazilian town.

When we arrived in Santa Maria in early May, we instantly felt at home because of the warmth and friendliness of our hosts, Claudio Barros and Glaucia Kommers. Both of them are professors at the university there and have visited the United States, so they knew some of what we were going through, adjusting to our new surroundings. After a wonderful “churrasco” meal (Brazilian bar-b-que) on our first night, we settled into our digs at the Hotel Paraiso, right in the middle of town.

Over the next few weeks, members of our group were free to pursue different interests at the university. Almost everyone participated in daily Portuguese classes, which helped us fit in and communicate. We worked in virology, avian pathology, small animal surgery, general pathology, equine medicine and embryology laboratories and were free to gravitate towards our personal areas of interest.

Our days consisted of waking up at 7 am, eating breakfast in the hotel lobby, riding the public bus to the university and walking to class or the laboratory, usually staying until about 5 pm. During the day we usually had some leisure time to read textbooks, check email and chat with professors over coffee.

I was constantly surprised at how friendly and easygoing everyone there was, even when we couldn’t communicate well. They invited us to parties, churrascos, wine festivals and weekends with their families, and we always obliged! If we weren’t busy in the evenings we usually ate at one of the small restaurants close-by or went to a movie at the local shopping center. We recognized Brazilian friends almost everywhere we went - it was hard to get lost as part of a group of Americans!

	Many of us also took time after the externships to travel more extensively within Brazil, to the Pantanal, the Amazon, Rio de Janeiro and to the beaches of the northeast. Traveling afterward helped me realize how different the southern part of the country is from the rest of Brazil (and how absolutely huge Brazil really is!)

So I hope you’ve gotten a good overview of our time in Santa Maria. We all appreciate the hospitality of everyone there and can’t wait to visit Brazil in the future!