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Ing Milan Krivanek, VSB - Technical University of Ostrava,
ročník 5About the country
Location of the place
Thalwil was a small city close to Zurich, there is a good connection thereby train.
City
Thalwil is quite boring, It's much better to hang out in Zurich or in nature around thalwil. I would reccomend visiting Turlersee, Uetliberg, botanical garden and landesmuseum in Zurich.
Surroundings (possible trips, ...)
Grindelwald, Limereensee, Rigi, Stoos, Pizol, Grosser Mythen, Genève, Aareschlucht, Thun and Interlaken. Travel a lot, it's worth it.
Employer
Employer
It was a big company, the conditions were pretty nice, good work life balance. Nice benefits (transportation allowence, home office,...). The people there are also nice.
Work description
I was a software engineer focused on creating a proper architecture, unit testing and code quality.
Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)
I got 3800 gross salary, paid 1450 for accommodation, 500 for food, fuel etc. And saved 1000 chf every month. The salary was really sufficient.
Language requirements
Ublox is a international company, English is a must and it is spoken everywhere. The meetings were English too.
Accommodation (price, who provided it)
Private accommodation, found on flatfox.ch. I paid 1450 chf for a two room apartment, I was lucky as I got it in the village close to Thalwil. I was also living in the city of Zurich (Fröhlichstrasse) for 3 months. Also a nice place, mostly for city lovers, crowded trams, clean streets, modern city infrastructure.
Social life
Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)
I didn't participate much in the IAESTE events, but I found a lot of friends there during the weekly sessions. I was also picked up by an IAESTE member at the train station... Very nice :)
Meeting other foreign students
As I said earlier, I met most of them during the weekly sessions and hiking.
Sport and culture
Hiking, hiking and hiking... That was the best activity, I have not seen more beautiful mountains and landscapes anywhere else. There are also a lot of opportunities for other sports at the ETH and Zurich. I was climbing a few times in a gym next to my office building (9grad boulderhalle). The ASVZ membership at ETH is really cheap (150 CHF for 3 months) and they provide you with many sport classes you can choose from (football, basketball, climbing, aikido, boxing, fitness and much, much more), I highly reccomend it.
Food, local specialties
I liked the idea of a cheese fondue. Nothing else caught my interest.
Other information
Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic
I used WhatsApp on a daily basis to communicate with my friends and family. I also paid 25 chf for unlimited Internet and calling in Switzerland.
Recommendations for students who will go to the same place
Car is a big advantage, fuel costs less than trains even when travelling alone. Get a proper hiking here before coming here. Meet with people, have fun, do sports and enjoy your time in Switzerland. You also have to have a cool head when looking at the prices of everything. Btw I was using Postfinance, it was not great, not terrible. The online support is quite useless though.
What not to forget with you
See my previous answer... Hiking shoes, waterproof because it rains a lot, I'm not joking.
Benefits of the internship
New experience, language improvement, understanding a different culture. I self improved myself there a lot. New friends.
Cooperation with IAESTE in the foreign country
I did not have to cooperate with IAESTE during my internship.
Overall experience with IAESTE
Great, thank you for giving me and the others such a wonderful opportunity to work in a foreign country!
Student's website
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Employer's webiste
https://www.u-blox.com/en
Other useful links
https://www.asvz.ch
Other comments
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