I did an intership in Switzerland, in the city of Basel. Basel is the city in the north-western corner of Switzerland. It lays literally just on the borders with France and Germany. Both countries are easily reachable by Basel city transport.

Basel, city with historical centre with industrial memory. Basel has pretty maintained historical centre but further from the centre it is transforming into numerous industrial areas because lot of world based chemical companies have their HQ in the city. Plenty of abandoned industrial areas are tranformed into several leisure time centres. In spite of smallness of the city (only 170 00 inhabitans) Basel can offer everything you need, from vivid cultural and night life, shops, services, historical and contemporary architecture up to very relaxing time by the Rhine river or in the parks.

First, it is about the Alps. It is very common, that people are going hiking during the weekends, even in the winter. Basel is in the north-western corner but you can cross the country within 3 hours by train or by car. Another possibility is the low-cost airlines. From basel you can catch a flight to many places via EasyJet with very reasonable prices.

Rapp Architekten, I was working in the big company with many professional departments (Civil engineering, industrial planning etc.). As an architect I was in architecture section with ca. 70 employees.

Work position as architectural intern,I was making physical models, visualisations, all kind of drawings, participation on competitions etc. Some of the excursion at the building site, new opening of the building were provided by the emloyer.

Was enough, covered everyday living expenses, living, food, hobbies and also travelling.

English and German. In the company they required particular language level of German, they provided me German courses which I attended twice a week. From the beginning I spoke mainly in English, second half of the intership I became confortable with conversation in German.

550 CHF monthly, provided by IAESTE Basel. I was accommodated in a share 4-room flat. I shared flat together with another trainee from Argentina and a landlord who owned the flat. We had common living romm and a kitchen.

Picked up by landlord, bunch of events organized during the year by IAESTE members Basel/Switzerland. I visited many cities thanks to the organized IAESTE weekends. There were also plenty of possibilities to meet for a beer in the city or by there Rhine in the summer during the whole year.

I was sharing flat with another trainee, we hang out a lot together with the other trainees from the city. During the year there were many ways how to meet another trainees. Weekly meetings in Zurich, Basel, lots of IAESTE events (hiking, city tours, excursions and so on), well connected social media with another trainees in the Switzerland.

Via IAESTE events, city tours, hiking, rafting weekend etc. or by myself. In Switzerland there is everytime anyting to do. You can just go hiking, in the winter skiing, or especially in the Basel just go swimming in the Rhine in the summer and then just have a beer by the river :)

During there year there are bunch of traditional events in Basel or in the Switzerland in overall, for example Herbsmesse, winter markets, Fasnacht etc. You can taste lots of local dishes, Raclette, cheese and chocolate in general :P.

Via skype, cell phone, mail etc.

Buy Halbtax (50% discount on all trains) as soon as possible, also buy Gleis 7 (after 7pm travelling for free) and Color Key (almost all museums free entry- works in Basel pretty well). Gleis 7 and Color Key are only obtainable if you are under 25 years old. Enjoy your internship in general and do not stress too much about locakl byrocracy, sometimes it can be pretty stressful :-D

Adapter for swiss electrical plugers (or you can buy it it he local shops). Pass photos for official documents (Auslanderausweis, SBB Halb Tax, approximately 3 pieces)

Improvement in many ways, professional, language skills (both German and English), I have seen lots of places (cities, mountains, nature and so) and have met lots of people and have made some friends.

IAESTE Switzerland is nicely organized, members are really helpful and kind. During the whole year they are providing a lot of events and meeting for trainees.