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Bc. Zuzana Ruberová, UCT Prague, ročník 3

Faculty Faculty of chemical engineering
Field of study Process engineering and management
Field of internship Physical Sciences, Other
Specialization of Internship- - - - - - - - - -
Internship period (from - to) 4.7.2016 - 15.10.2016
Internship duration (weeks) 15
Transport (means, price) Student agency bus - with ISIC card for 1998 Kč, reimbursed by university
Insurance/Insurance company UNIQUA
Visa/Work permit (yes/no) no
Price of Visa 0
City of Internship Zobrazit místo na mapě  Switzerland, Lausanne
Internship reference number CH-2016-000050

About the country

Location of the place

EPFL university takes place right in Lausanne, just next to the Lake Geneva. It´s about 20 minutes far from the city centre by metro.

City

Lausanne is beautiful city in the french part of Switzerland, that is quite large but it´s composed from small villages so you don´t feel like living in the big town. The Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) is the most impressive place there where every citizien spends its free time. Another place that is worth visiting is the magnificent cathedral close to the city centre. In fact it is very calm city but it has also its party street and a lot of events - at least during the summer.

Surroundings (possible trips, ...)

Switzerland is quite small and actually it is possible to get to the other side of the country in 4 hours. So you can make a trips everywhere. If you are fun of sightseeing you should definitely go to Bern, Geneva, Neuchatel or to Zurich. If you like hiking (and you will after arriving to Switzerland), the closest beautiful place to hike is Creux du vin in Jura mountains. And finally I would definitely recommend to go to Zermat to see Matterhorn and enjoy beautiful views from the top of its mountains.

Employer

Employer

I worked in the lab of materials science, namely in laboratory of powder technologies. I was working with supervisor in collaboration with the head proffesor of the lab. Everyone was very nice, smart and helpful.

Work description

My task consisted of toxicology experiments with nanoparticles and their behaviour in cell culture environment. Although I have never worked with cells before, they taught me everything and I was able to work alone soon.

Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)

Although the salary at the university is quite low - 1600 CHF/month, it was sufficient for paying the rent, other living expenses and also for the trips.

Language requirements

Knowledge of english was sufficient for working in the lab. For living and communication in the shops or at the post, the french is good to know but not necessary.

Accommodation (price, who provided it)

Since I worked at the university I was eglible for asking for the dormitory. Luckily it was free during the summer so I was accommodated there. The price was around 540 CHF/month (what is one of the lowest prices of accommodation in Lausanne).

Looking for the accommodation was provided by IAESTE Lausanne, so I didn´t have to do anything, just sign the papers that came to my e-mail.

Social life

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

I was in touch with one member of IAESTE even before I came there. Luckily he was a Slovak so it was much easier to discuss all the things about accommodation and arrival. Afterwards he picked me up at the station and took at the dormitory. He also showed me some places around and the way how to get to university. After that it was up to me.

Every week there was a weekly meeting organised by IAESTE for trainees and members from Lausanne. This way we got to know Lausanne´s bars and enjoyed time together at the lake.

For weekends there was always a trip somewhere to Switzerland organised by different swiss LCs. These trips were payed but always well organised and through that I got to know a lot of different places in there.

Meeting other foreign students

As I mentioned before, we had weekly meetings with trainees in Lausanne. Through the weekend events I met other trainees who were at the same time doing an internship somewhere in Switzerland.

Sport and culture

As for the culture, during the summer there is a lot of festivals in every city. Nice thing is also the day of museums for free - every first Saturday of month.

About the sport it was more difficult during the summer because there are more opportunities during the term provided by the university. But there is always possibility to go running, what was very popular at the lake side.

Food, local specialties

Cheese! Chocolate! Wine! That´s Switzerland. Cheese fondue and raclette are definitely worth tasting. And with swiss wine it´s a perfect combination.

Other information

Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic

Well, there was no problem in Switzerland, although I might mention the price of roaming - e.g. for SMS it was 5 times more than in Germany. (2CZK and 10CZK). But there was no problem with internet connection, moreover there was Eduroam at the university.

Recommendations for students who will go to the same place

Go there for the longest time you can! Believe me, you´ll fall in love with that place the first time you arrive ;)

What not to forget with you

Good hiking shoes and sleeping bag!

Benefits of the internship

Aaah where to start...English! Not that I would have learnt a lot but now I am more certain in communication and speech.

Learning new things in the lab, gain new experience.

Meeting new people and becoming friends with different nationalities and having a lot of invites to different countries ;)

Cooperation with IAESTE in the foreign country

There was no problem. We were in touch all the time via whatsapp group chat and we were doing lot of things together. If there was any problem they are always helpful.

Overall experience with IAESTE

Very good!

Student's website

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Employer's webiste

http://ltp.epfl.ch/

Other useful links

http://www.iaeste.ch/

Other comments

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