In my internship I lived in Bern and comuted to Burgdorf. Bern is in the big hearth of Switzerland but is rather smaller and calmer city than for example Zurich or Geneva.
Burgdorf is situated close to Bern towards north-east. To get there it takes apx. 30 minutes by train. Its a small historical city with nice environment.

Bern is Switzerland's capital, set by the Aare River, known for its medieval architecture, UNESCO World Heritage status, and cultural significance. Aare is very beautiful turquoise colored river that you can swim in, some residents use it as a form of transportation in the summer.

Burgdorf is a historic town near Bern, famous for its medieval castle and close proximity to nature in the Emmental Valley where is the true origin of Emmental cheese.

If you are a more comfortable kind of traveler you can visit close cities like Thun, Neuchatel or Zurich but general attractions and foods can get expensive quickly. On the other hand if you seek adventure, whole Switzerland is covered with beautiful nature. Through huge beautiful lakes, mountains and forests you can adore the huge biodiversity that the country offers. Getting anywhere is pretty simple and fairly quick once you figure out the trains, which were for me the main form of transportation.

BFH University of Applied Sciences is a nice and big academic institution.
Since the High Voltage, PV and automation departments are moving to Biel/Bienne the current facility in Burgdorf is quite empty. Therefore I spent most of the time alone, which didn't bother me that much, but would be nice to have some co-working company. Its an academic institution, so it comes with ups and downs that you would expect from this kind of workspace. My supervisor was a very nice and professional person and everyone helped me with any kind of problem. I was bit disappointed from HR department, when leaving the workspace they sent me general form for retiring employees so alot of things in departure document didn't suit my case and when I asked about it there was not much explanation for it.

While I was on the internship in BFH I had a pre-defined task list that I had to do before my departure. These tasks mostly consisted of preparation for laboratory classes in the upcoming semester. At first, I had to replicate and rewrite them to be more understandable and consistent. Later I created new laboratory assignments in the field of EMC compliance. In general, the tasks described in the o-form and personal meetings were up to what was stated.
On the other hand, I expected to work more with electronics and EMC testing than I ended up doing. Work mainly consisted of editing text and rewriting revisions.

My salary was adequate for the local costs of living even with the possibility of saving up some amount of money for myself and also enjoying my stay in Switzerland to the fullest (apx. 2500CHF). But this is only possible if you cook food for yourself and don't spend too much on eating out.

I could get by without knowing any German or French during my whole stay. When I traveled around there were a few encounters where I didn't understand someone but in general, It wasn't a huge issue. There may be some complications with the administration because every administrative document I received was in German. You can just simply translate it and work with it.

I looked for accommodation for myself with the suggestion of IAESTE to contact the "studentlodge" agency. I was confused at first because I agreed on IAESTE handling my accommodation but they didn't, so I had to do it myself. Later they told me that if they had done it, it would come cheaper. I paid 690 CHF per month, not including fees they charged the whole floor for leaving the oven dirty, which wasn't my concern but everyone had to pay anyway. It was a simple room with a common kitchen and socials for the whole floor. My neighbors were great people who studied there and we had a great time. The downside of common rooms was that the kitchen was always messy and no one cared for the hygiene.

I met up with some IAESTE members. They showed me where I was housed but haven't heard of them since. After A MONTH one IAESTE member reached out to me finding out that most of the IAESTE members in Bern didn't know that they had some interns already in Bern. In general, IAESTE Bern seems like they are past their best times and there are just people who joined for the fun but not for the responsibility. Their organization was very chaotic and lacked communication. So IAESTE Bern didn't organize many events and IAESTE Zurich was also quite disorganized, we ended up managing the events by ourselves or we had to put pressure on the members to start doing something. After these experiences, I decided to stay aside from IAESTE and made my stay a personal little adventure.

I met other foreign students from all over the world in dormitories (Turkey, Maroco, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Netherlands). It was nice meeting some new cultures and finding out our differences and common things that we have in our daily lives. I liked the experience, we went to some parties and had some nice evenings too.

I liked hiking and climbing in Switzerland, I would love to return just to travel around a bit more. One of the best moments was seeing Ibexes on multi-day hike and swimming in the Aare. Also, I adored the history of the country with its Confederate roots and how the state was formed over time. I also had the honor to see some folk festivals during my travels which was a very nice experience because folk is very distinctive and different from canton to canton. It is worth digging a bit into Switzerland's history.

I tried out local beers, wines, all of the cheeses, and also some foods. I liked the variety of cheese that the country offered and it was a huge eye-opening experience on what cheese can be. I tried some common brands as well as some cheese from Mountain Farms. Since Switzerland is close to the biggest wine countries in the whole Europe I also very huge variety of vines which was a great experience. A lot of foods were similar to our local foods but fondue caught my eye. Eating fondue in the mountains was awesome.

I communicated mostly by WhatsApp and email. You can buy a sim card there but I didn't use it at all, you could easily get access to the internet in most of the places.

I recommend getting the 1-month GA Travelcard for youth for each month if you are under 25. Traveling will be much easier and it's probably the cheapest way to travel for 260CHF per month (special price for this summer 2024) normally it costs 290 CHF but it is still worth it. Also, I strongly recommend getting the TooGoodToGo app for some cheap meals and groceries, I only found out about it at the end of the internship but it can save you some amount of money.

Some warm clothes, and something for the rain. For me, it was also some protein (meat is very expensive so it's good to find a way to get all the nutrients). And good hiking shoes of course :). Also I found well prepared med-kit with water filter quite useful. Water in Switzerland is very clean and accessible more than in any part of the world but when drinking from mountain springs just to prevent drinking some larger dirt particles and contamination. I used filter just for good measure and fear from past experiences of drinking mountain water. Medkit was very useful in dormitories and in the mountains as well. Every time in the mountains I had to use it (gladly not on myself) and in dormitories someone sharpened a knife once so 3 people got badly cut which required my aid.

I got to know Switzerland, I found some contacts in the working field, I found some new friends, and had a lot of unimaginable experiences. Apart from other internships you can save up a pretty decent amount of money as well which was nice. I learned a lot and leveled my communication skills more further (from none to some).

From what I wrote above you can tell it wasn't very pleasant. It wasn't horrible either. I would say there is a lot of room to improve but first they have to get more people that are eager to organize, communicate and be active. Not just joining for the ride and going parties.