My name is Fernanda Braga Seganfredo and I am a fourth year Medicine student at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS. I subscribed to Science without Borders with the idea of broadening my professional horizon and getting to know a different culture and a different research environment. I have been granted a scholarship to study one year abroad and out of all of my options I chose the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Since September 2012 I am enrolled as an exchange student in the master’s programme Medical and Pharmaceutical Drug Innovation. My choice for this university was based on its research excellence in my area of interest. I am very happy with my choice, since both the university and the program have exceeded my expectations.

Groningen is a student city with 190 thousand inhabitants in the north of the Netherlands. I feel very welcome here, safe, and there are many excellent opportunities for leisure. In short: an excellent place to live.

In the past months I have learned a lot about science and high-quality research, as well as that I have developed my capacity for critical-thinking. On a personal level, this opportunity has also been very important, because being away from home and out of my comfort-zone, living in a country with a very different language and culture, has taught me a lot about myself and allowed me to embrace new values and perspectives.

Only a few months have passed, but I am already seeing many new roads and opportunities for the future.