Hi, I am an undergrad student from Brazil, in my 4th year of biomedical sciences. I really want to take a pos-graduation course in Europe, and build a life there, I should say. I still have one year and a half to finish my course, but I am already looking at possibilities. I know which area I want to work in, and have been looking for labs that would be interesting for me. I am sorry if my doubts are too basic, but some things are making me a bit worried. First of all, is it too soon to contact a teacher? I don`t know if they would appreciate that, or think that I am rushing too much. It is just because I thought it would be a good idea to let the teacher know I am interested, maybe say I have read some of the papers etc (ofc, just for the ones I am really interested). Is it stupid or...? Also, I can`t afford the fees (and the living costs), so I would have to apply for a fully funded place. But I don`t if I got it right but, do I have to do that after I have accepted a place somewhere? If I don`t get the scholarship, will I just say I can`t take the course anymore? Finally, here in Brazil I have to take a masters degree first, and then do a doctoral research. If I don`t have to do masters there, why would I choose this? I mean, what would be the best for me?
I am sorry for the long post, and I would really appreciate any type of advice (even not about the questions I pointed out) you could give.
Thanks!

I think your best bet is to look for funded PhD places open to worldwide applicants on sites such as findaphd.com. You need to be continually looking as places are advertised all the time. You will probably find that most of the places have a start date of between 6 months and one year in advance, but these are often flexible.

If the PhD is funded when you apply, the funding won't be withdrawn so you don't need to worry about being accepted and then not taking it as long as you apply for a funded course initially.

You can also look on websites of the labs and see if they list any projects with funding on there directly.

The only advantage of doing a MSc first is that you gain valuable research experience. It just makes it a little harder without an MSc but perfectly possible, since the majority of people in sciences go straight from BSc to PhD these days, as MSc funding has been drastically reduced.

Good luck with your search!