Details

• Brazil
• BaWiSo-19
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Be yourself and therefore honest. Show your interest in the country and the culture. Brazil is more than football and Samba. Study basic portuguese. Not many people speak english and natives are way more open and kind if you speak portuguese. It does not have to be perfect. The application is not particular hard. The coordinator will pick the country you match the most.

2. Accommodation

If you love to party constantly, be surrounded by a lot of people all the time - Uliving Paulista is the thing to go... but it is very expensive and the rooms... are rooms and not more. If I had the chance to go again I would get a flat from airbnb.

3. Academic life at host university

The campus is just two buildings and a small "park". It is very confusing and not the best campus in brazil. However, the location is amazing and you have everything you need near you. The academic culture is relaxed and the professors have a high know-how but the students are very noicy and it is hard to concentrate in class. It depends on the subject if there are a lot of group exercises or not - look at the syllabus.

5. Every day life in the host country

Being honest, I was driving just with Uber everywhere in Sao Paulo as it is so cheap (4€ on average). I did not go once with metro or bus but it is 5 reais per ticket. If you know where to go and when, it is safe but you have to constantly be aware of your surroundings. I was in the Handball university team of FGV and loved it! The people were amazing. The partys and bars are great here as well as food in generell. FGV is offering a big pool of sports but everyone has to go through try outs to see if you are good enough and the level is mostly high. I was travelling a lot outside of Sao Paulo and it was amazing.

6. Testimonial

To sum up - the first month was very hard for me to adjust fully and to get my routine here. Afterwards it was one if not the best time of my life. It changed my view on a lot of things and I was able to see amazing people and places, be part of advantures, eat the best food and laughed a lot. From the bottom of my heart, I want to encourage everyone to come to brazil and experience this wonderful country. I would recommend everyone to do one semester with 16 ECTS here and have time to travel as well as do things.