The potential opportunity to visit another continent and observe its healthcare system seemed very tempting to us. There were the following requirements for applicants:

• high academic performance;
• active participation in social and scientific activities of the university;
• English proficiency.

Once we were selected for the internship, we started active preparation. We underwent all the necessary medical examinations, vaccinations and even attended a few Portuguese lessons.

In the first week of our internship, we were assigned to the therapy department. During this time, we encountered a huge list of nosologies from a wide variety of therapeutic areas, ranging from trivial pneumonia and ischaemic heart disease to acute transplant kidney injury and pellagra. Brazilian students and professors had an excellent command of English so we had no communication problems.

Also, we were lucky enough to visit the ICU (intensive care unit). We treated patients on a daily basis together with the hospital residents and participated actively in discussions about the patient's care.

Brazil is an equatorial country where you can meet a huge number of tropical diseases. Malaria, Dengue fever, Chagas disease - these and many other diseases we not only dealt with in theoretical lectures, but also saw in real clinical practice.

The second part of our internship was the winter school of infectious diseases. As part of the winter school, we visited the leprosarium, a specialised hospital for leprosy patients. There we listened to a series of lectures and saw a large number of patients with this diagnosis. Thus, in Russia leprosy is almost unknown, but in Brazil there are more than 300 thousand cases. Participation in the winter school was a unique opportunity for us to encounter infectious diseases that we will probably never see in our country.

Alongside the internship program we got to know Brazilian culture, tasted national dishes and drinks, visited excursions and made friends with interesting people from different parts of the world. We even got to see the Iguazu Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world!

During the internship we got acquainted with the Brazilian healthcare system, strengthened our theoretical knowledge and practical skills, and discovered many new things. We sincerely advise all students to participate in international exchange programs - it is a unique and invaluable experience!

Daria Blinnikova, Anastasia Kladnitskaia