In just two months, international relations senior Kevin Penzien will be surrounded by foreign culture and living with a family he doesn't know more than 5,500 miles from his East Lansing home.

But he's not nervous - he's looking forward to it.

After graduating in December, Penzien will travel to Brazil for a year to work at the Student Center language school teaching English to the families and employees of a pulp and paper factory located near the Brazilian city of Bahia.

Penzien will be the fourth MSU student to take the job opportunity.

"I decided to go to Brazil about a year ago," Penzien said. "I was taking classes for Spanish and Latin America and I noticed the history of Brazil was something that was often overlooked."

Through connections with his Portuguese professors, Pedro Maligo, Penzien contacted Carlos Brunetto, a director of the Student Center language school, in July and sent him his résumé and waited for a reply.

The job is competitive, but Maligo said Penzien had the right qualifications.

"The company was looking for an outstanding student who was knowledgeable about Portuguese culture, and Kevin fits the bill; so, I could recommend him without hesitation," Maligo said.

And a month ago, Brunetto notified Penzien that he had received the position.

"It was nice to have some certainty of my life after I graduated," Penzien said, adding that his family has been supportive of his decision to spend a year away from home in a foreign country.

During his year in Brazil, Penzien said he will be living on a farm with a Brazilian family.

"I had the option of living in an apartment," Penzien said. "But I wanted to live with a family so that I could practice my Portuguese and learn to cook Brazilian food and be with the people."

David Gavlinski, a 2001 graduate, was the third MSU graduate to work at the Student Center in Brazil.

Gavlinski said patience was the most important virtue he learned while working through the sometimes difficult experiences in Brazil.

"Everything is new; humor is new and culture is new," Gavlinski said. "Sometimes I would think, 'How do I deal, and how do I cope without going batty or insane?'"

Gavlinski said he had options, but leaving Brazil wasn't one of them.

"You just learn to cope with it and find beauty in things that are difficult or hard to grasp," Gavlinski said.

But Penzien said he has no apprehensions about his trip except for the size of the city he will be living in.

"There may be no paved roads in the rural areas, because overall, the northeast region of Brazil is the poorest, and it has a lot of poverty," Penzien said.

Penzien will spend his first semester training for his job and getting adjusted to his new surroundings, and the remaining time introducing elements of American pop culture such as his indie rock CD collection.

"I am looking for ways to have them experience American culture first-hand," Penzien said.

Penzien said he is eager to apply his knowledge of South America to real experiences.

"I am just ready to get out of school and experience Brazil first-hand instead of reading about the country through newspapers and books," he said.