Since I had already experienced a semester abroad in Istanbul during my bachelor's degree and only gained positive knowledge from it, I decided to take the opportunity again during my master's degree and this time leave Europe and explore a new continent. I found out about partner universities on our university website and since South America has always interested me, my choice finally fell on Brazil. The partner university is the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (short: UFSC) and is located on the island of Florianopolis, which is also the capital of the state of Santa Catarina.

Preparations
As soon as the decision was made, it was time to take care of all the formalities. The contact to the partner university was established by the International Office of the HS Niederrhein and soon I wrote myself with Professor Weingärtner from the Brazilian university. The contact was very good and since the professor himself spoke German, this simplified the communication. Professor Weingärtner was very helpful and always answered all my questions quickly. For my 5-month stay, I had to apply for a visa. The consulate responsible for this is in Frankfurt and since I was very limited in time, I hired an agency to submit my application. The visa application is very time-consuming and requires an incredible number of documents, which in turn have to be certified with an apostille from the regional court in Düsseldorf. In addition, outbound and return flights must already be booked in order to submit the application at all. The documents were needed to present them at the police station in Florianopolis. Here one was obliged to make an appointment to present the visa at the latest one month after entering the country.

I also took care of accommodation in advance. When looking for an apartment, I focused on various Facebook groups for exchange students in Florianopolis, where rooms are exclusively offered to exchange students. After some time, I found what I was looking for and was accepted for a room in a 6-room house for exchange students. Unfortunately, I had the bad experience that the landlady gave the room to another person at short notice and only confessed this to me after I contacted her 2 days before departure to hand over the key. I quickly needed a new room and searched again in the Facebook groups and finally found one. Once in Brazil, however, the accommodation turned out to be a total mistake and I did not spend a night there. A week after arriving, I finally moved into my long-term accommodation. An apartment in which I lived with two Spaniards and a French woman. I was very satisfied with the accommodation. I had previously met the landlords at a churrasco (Brazilian barbecue). I would recommend spending the first week in a hostel and then looking for the right accommodation on site, as this makes the search much easier.

University and internship
Since I wanted to use my semester abroad in Brazil to write my research paper, Prof. Weingärtner referred me to a dyeing factory where I did my internship. I visited the dyeing factory only in phases and used the rest of the time to do research in the university library and to write my research paper. I also enrolled in a Portuguese language course offered by the university especially for exchange students. This course took place twice a week.

Since I wanted to put the specialisation of my research work on the topic of sustainability, I worked in the dyeing plant in wastewater management. The company was keen to make its processes more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Thus, I was happily given a topic for my research work and accordingly I researched a solution to minimize the salt content and dye residues of the wastewater in order to recycle the water and reintroduce it into the dyeing process. Communication with my two co-workers was difficult at first, as both spoke only broken English and I had only a minimal knowledge of Portuguese. But as time went on, mutual understanding improved. It was interesting to get an insight into the operations of a dyeing factory. I got a very positive impression of Brazilian hospitality. I was warmly welcomed everywhere and everyone was very open and friendly and always offered me their help.

Travel
After finishing my internship, I used my remaining time to explore the country, where I had been living and learning the language for 4 months now, outside of my island. As the largest South American country, Brazil has a lot to offer. Besides the two metropolises Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, I visited the Iguazu waterfalls in the west of the country and flew to Cuiaba in the state of Pantanal to see the breathtaking natural world of the largest wetland on earth. But I was most drawn to the Amazon, where I spent 5 days in a jungle camp.

Safety
Before I started my semester abroad, I was always advised by friends and acquaintances to be careful, because Brazil was not without danger. Personally, I never felt unsafe. Florianopolis is a very safe island where you can walk home at any time, even at night. The population of Florianopolis is on average very wealthy and reflects little of what is going on in the rest of the country. Brazil is characterized by great poverty and I became aware of this especially during my trip through the country. This also explains the high crime rate in Brazil, which should not be forgotten and which is especially noticeable in the big cities. Here, daily muggings on the open street are a reality. Especially at night, you should avoid certain areas and streets. The semester abroad in Florianopolis was a unique experience and enriched me in every way. From Brazil, in addition to my modest Forro dancing skills and a broken Portuguese, I take with me above all the always optimistic attitude to life of the Brazilians and take it to heart every day.