Veterinary medical school is hard work for anyone. Imagine taking Small Animal Medicine in Chinese.
That’s the kind of challenge Ana Berreta and Jacqueline Hanassaka are tackling as exchange students enrolled full-time in CVM classes. Although the two students from Brazil speak English well, processing large quantities of technical information in a foreign language can be exhausting. “It is a lot of stuff to learn and get into the English,” says Berreta. “You have to keep concentrated translating and putting it on the computer. It’s like you have to pay attention twice.”
The two women were selected to study at OSU by Science without Borders, an initiative of the Brazilian Government that provides scholarships for their best students to study abroad. The goal of the program is to strengthen and expand science and technology in Brazil.
Both women are enrolled in veterinary medical school in Brazil, Berreta at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, and Hanassake at the University of Sao Paolo. With a population of 17 million, Sao Paolo is Brazil’s largest city and Hanassaka takes a two hour bus-ride to get from home to university. Berreta also has a long bus-ride to school. They find the small town atmosphere of OSU to be a nice change. “You have a better quality of life living so close to the school. You don’t have to stay so long on the bus and sometimes the buses are full of people and you have to stand up. It is really complicated,” says Berreta. “You have more time to study,” adds Hanassaka.
In Brazil, the veterinary medicine curriculum includes more animal science. “We have a lot of food animal production [classes],” says Berreta. “Veterinarians are responsible for food inspection; everything that comes from animals, veterinarians have to take care of that in Brazil.” That is why veterinary college takes more than five years to complete. “Its been nice here because I want to work with equine medicine so for me it’s good to focus on one thing and not have to think about all the other stuff” she adds.
Berreta and Hanassaka will study at OSU through Spring term then return to Brazil to complete their degrees. Meanwhile, they are working hard to take advantage of their time here. “We want to keep up, have good grades and learn a lot,” says Berreta.
As a counterpart of Science without Borders, Brazil provides ‘Inbound Fellowships’ for researchers from around the world. The ‘Young Talent’ awards fully fund 1-3 year research stays in Brazil (round-trip tickets, relocation expenses, a tax-free highly competitive lecturer-level monthly allowance, a contribution toward research costs and funding for research assistantship). To learn more about this opportunity, visit http://www.cienciasemfronteiras.gov.br/web/csf-eng/opportunities-for-individuals-from-abroad.
