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Bc. Daniel Dominko, Technical University of Liberec,

ročník 4

Faculty

Faculty of Mechatronics, Informatics and Interdisciplinary Studies

Field of study

Mechatronics

Field of internship

Computer and Information Sciences

Specialization of Internship

Artificial Intelligence

Internship period (from - to)

1.7.2023 - 15.9.2023

Internship duration (weeks)

Transport (means, price)

Plane, about 80 euros

Insurance/Insurance company

Slavia Pojišťovna

Visa/Work permit (yes/no)

Price of Visa

N/A

City of Internship

Belgium, Leuven

Internship reference number

BE/2023-024-KUL

About the country

Location of the place

Its a city that is small enough to walk through, but still seems big, also you can get everywhere by bike, which is the main transportation device in the city.

City

Leuven has a lot of places to do outdoor workout (look up Beweegenbank on google), so that was nice.
Belgian culture is nice, people seem more open than in Czechia, and they also do a lot more free stuff, like open museum days, free festivals and so on. Especially in Leuven, even though its summer, the city was still very active and there was an event like every weekend that you could take part in.

Surroundings (possible trips, ...)

I traveled A LOT, and it really helps there is the Youth Holiday ticket (for 60 euros you get unlimited travel by train in the summer break). Leuven itself is really nice, as for the other cities, I would visit the major ones (Gent, Brugge, Antwerp, Brussels), but I would not go overboard since they start to blend together after some time, thats why you should probably also visit the national parks, which are pretty nice (Hoge Kempen, Eifel).

Employer

GOODIX. Main focus of my thesis was on data analysis and MLOps (two very different spectrums), but they had a similar goal in optimizing the machine learning model. It was also my first exprience working as a programmer in a company, after being self-taught, so I am maybe a more specific example in my opinions and views than most people would be.

Work description

The work expirience was mostly positive. Things such as a good coffee machine that is not limited are maybe not that standard in programming, free fruits to take in the kitchen are definetly not.
As for the work itself, it made me push a lot of my knowledge to new level, and since I had to handle a lot of stuff myself I think I got more expirience the if I was just handholded the whole way through.
People in the office were nice, but I mostly chatted to the other intern so I can't comment on this exactly.

Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)

Price of living in my case its questionable because I dont need much, so I spent very little, therefore I would agree with the amount specified (175 EURO/week) even if you travel a lot, but only during summer, otherwise the trains are expensive (7 eur per ticket).

Language requirements

In Vlaams, everybody can speak some English, once you go south, expect to have to know some French to get around, because most of them don't know English (similar situation as in Czechia). Both are pretty though, so I would not skip a visit on the southern part.

Accommodation (price, who provided it)

Accomodation was great for the price, with some minor quirks, but getting an accomodation like mine is not too easy, I guess I was lucky. Although it was right next to the noisy road, so I recommend packing earplugs and a sleeping mask for all cases and purposes (check the location of your apartment). It was also provided by IAESTE so I did not have to arrange anything myself.

Social life

Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)

IAESTE was also very active in doing various trips and events, and also paid for some stuff, which I am still very grateful for. I did most of the city trips myself though.

Meeting other foreign students

I met some of them at other events, they seemed nice but I mostly talked to the other intern at a company, but seems like the people going for an IAESTE internship are usually great people to talk to.

Sport and culture

Food, local specialties

Savory food is weird, they seem to slather everything with cheese and mushroom sauce, the weirdest I got was fries with pastry and mushroom cheese sauce, and its actually a legitimate food called Vol-au-vent. But beer was good and sweet stuff they know pretty well, compared to Czechia its on a another level, even if you just buy it in Aldi.

Other information

Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic

Messanger voice chat

Recommendations for students who will go to the same place

I already mentioned trips, just bring a rain jacket since it can rain here quite often. As for shipping, I would avoid Colryut, Delhaize and Carrefour, they are expensive or just a chore to shop in, go to Aldi or Lidl instead.