My experience in Europe was amazing! I started with an exchange program at Coimbra - Portugal, where I studied complementary subjects that didn't exist in my standard schedule. In this period, I traveled a lot around Europe, since it is very easy and quite cheap with all the trains, buses and low cost airlines.
During this, I heard from my Brazilian university (UNICAMP) about the UNIGOU program, and their objects and facilities. I applied to a membrane project at MemBrain Research Center, and after some interviews, I was approved! So, in the beginning of September 2013 I went to Straz pod Ralskem, a very tiny city near to the Germany board, and stayed there for 3 months.
Despite of the small size of the city, It was an amazing experience! My tutor at MemBrain, Mr Kincl, has a huge technical knowledge, and I learned a lot not only with him, but also with all the other employees. The working environment was very interesting, with a lot of researches, tests and discussion .
Because I was living in a the small city at the countryside of Czech Republic, I had a lot of contact with their culture. And I loved it! Their food, beer and dishes were very very tasty, and their language and costumes, very interesting!
Czech people are amazing! They are a closed people, but they know how to party, specially with that fantastic beer! Between the technical discussions, I got closer to them, and spent a lot of time discussing and studying the their culture. At the end, I had a lot of friends!
Once I was in Europe and it is very easy (and relatively cheap) to travel, I went to another Czech cities, and also to another countries, like German, Italy, Austria. So I extended my staying in Europe and enlarged my knowledge about Europe at all.
The UNIGOU team gave me all the support to my staying at Czech Republic. Petr and Rebeca gave me full attention, since it was just a Skype interview, passing for the reception at the Prague airport and taking me to Straz por Ralkem, and helping with other things like how to take a bus to Prague, among other things. They were very organized, professional and responsible in every action. The partnership to MemBrain Researh Center, in my opinion, was very fruitful, and (probably) will be very promising in the future.
My staying at Straz pod Ralskem was amazing. I learned a lot about membrane process, had great times with people, traveled to other places, thanks to MemBrain Research Center, UNIGOU, and specially, Czech Republic!