From May 15th to July 7th, the School of Medical Sciences (SMS) at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) welcomed Sophia Elisabeth Springer, a sixth-year medical student at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria. Sophia spent two months of her clinical year in the Infectious Diseases Unit at Unicamp Clinical Hospital.

During her stay, Sophia not only had the opportunity to get to know the ward and the outpatient clinics of the department for infectious diseases, but also to get an insight into the department for gastro and trauma surgery for a week.  
Sophia had the chance to participate in the daily activities of the local interns and residents. These activities include attending lectures, participating in morning rounds, assisting with outpatient treatment, observing operations and participating in emergency simulations. 

On the weekends, she spends time with the local students, who immediately made her friends and introduced her to Campinas and the surrounding area. She was also able to visit some climbing areas and take weekend trips to Rio de Janeiro and Caraguatatuba.

"I am beyond grateful for this opportunity and would like to thank everyone who helped make this possible. I was able to observe interesting patient cases, operations and infectious diseases that I would not have seen in Austria. Not only did I gain a lot of new medical knowledge, but I also developed personally through the Brazilian culture with its open and friendly people. All the professors, residents and students gave me a warm welcome and made a lot of effort to look after me and teach me as much as possible. I hope that the partnership between Innsbruck and Unicamp will continue for a long time and that many other students after me will have the opportunity to gain this valuable experience," said Sophia.